Pedagogical Content Knowledge

The ‘Photochemistry’ unit is mainly based on the chemical issues and can be carried out during chemistry lessons. The interdisciplinary character of discussed problems also predisposes it to be realized during nature lessons at the upper-secondary level. Some of the proposed experiments can also be used independently during biology and physics classes. The unit can therefore be carried out:

As an interdisciplinary path – recommended when all the students attend chemistry, biology and physics lessons.
As an interdisciplinary project - in cases where students attend only selected lessons from the natural science path. In that case, it is essential to ensure cooperation and information exchange between the subject teams.
As a topic of the nature lesson in the upper-secondary school:

Section 11 Light and vision

11.1. Colours and their submission (not sure what this means); the RBG and CMYK colour notation; light-sensitive elements in camcorders and digital cameras.
11.2. Photosensitive substances; formation of an image on the photosensitive material.
11.3. Photoreceptors and eyes of the animals; formation of an image on the retina and in the brain; a photographic print on a leaf; bioluminescence.
11.4 A picture civilization – picture as the transfer of information, its social and cultural conditioning.
As a topic for extracurricular activities for interested students.

Chemistry	Biology	Physics
structure of the atom excited state of electrons structure and properties of coordination compounds properties of d-block elements methods of measurement of the concentration of coloured solution chemical equilibrium extraction of dyes alternative sources of energy nanostructures	mechanism of color vision structure of the eye nutrition of plants – photosynthesis process anatomy and physiology of plants plants’ reserve material the flow of energy in nature	diffraction and scattering of light the concept of colour mono- and polychromatic light continuous and band spectrum of light types of radiation Lambert Beer’s law absorption and emission of light colorymetry UV-VIS spectroscopy determination of device capacity

During following issues from the „Photochemistry” unit, student:

explores how colours are formed,

becomes familiar with the RGB scale,
gets to know with the mechanism of the human eye action,
gets to know with the mechanism of colour vision,
gets to know with the concept of the primary and complementary colours, can explain their meaning,
gets to know with the phenomenon of splitting the light and is able to give its example in everyday life,
discovers the continuous and linear spectrum,
discovers the existence of UV and IR radiation,
learns to associate light with the wave of a certain energy,
learns about methods of invisible light detection,
becomes familiar with the structure and working of colorimeter,
becomes familiar with elements of the environmental analytics on the example of the contamination with the iron compounds,
becomes familiar with elements of the instrumental analysis and its application in measuring the concentration of given substances in solution,
gets to know with the chemistry of the photographic process and its chemical origin,
becomes familiar with the properties of complexes a discussion of their properties on the example of the cobalt compounds,
becomes familiar with the alternative energy sources on the example of the solar cell
consolidates knowledge from the field of structure and nutrition of autotrophic organisms,
learns about redox systems and their application in getting energy.

Realisation of the above educational purposes also influences on the student’s skills in the range of:

planning the course of experiments,
setting up the research hypotheses,
verification of hypotheses and making conclusions,
evaluation of the performed experiments,
an independent design and construction of research equipment.