With a little light and a lot of time, you can create some amazing images. This NASA-related task instructs pupils to build a pinhole camera. The lesson provides suggestions for different pictures to try with the pinhole camera and concludes with a set of discussion questions.

Concepts

light, electromagnetic waves

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• After building the pinhole camera, have the class research the way light behaves as it interacts with the pinhole and the file
• Instruct leaners to research the history of both film and digital imaging 

Classroom Considerations

• There is a safety concern while using the knife to cut the cardboard
• If multiple cameras are going to be built, you will need several cereal boxes

Pros

• An actual-size template is provided as a pattern to cut from the cereal box

Cons

• The activity is not directly tied to a learning objective or a design project
• Building a pinhole camera takes a long time to get it right