Indiana Science HS-PSII-8.3
The Standard
Develop graphical, mathematical, and pictorial representations (e.g., ray diagrams) that describe the relationships between the focal length, the image distance, and the object distance for both converging and diverging lenses and apply those representations to qualitatively and quantitatively describe how changing the object distance affects the image distance.
Indiana Academic Standards for Science (2023) · Geometric Optics
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students draw rays to locate images made by converging and diverging lenses. They use object distance and focal length to calculate image distance, then predict what happens when the object moves.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can sketch and label rays for either lens and calculate image distance using the correct signs. They can tell whether the image is real or virtual and predict its new location when the object moves.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may draw every lens bringing rays together or expect every image to appear on a screen. They may treat a negative image distance as a calculation error instead of a virtual image.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Place an object 30 cm, then 20 cm, from lenses with focal lengths +10 cm and -10 cm. Calculate all four image distances, sketch one ray diagram for each lens, and describe how each image moves.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Shine a flashlight through an arrow cutout and a converging lens; move a white card to locate the image at two object distances.
Ask: Why can you see an image through a diverging lens but not catch it on a screen? Support your answer with two rays.
Give pairs lens cards marked +10 cm and -10 cm and object-distance cards marked 20 cm and 30 cm; calculate the image distances.
Compare phone photos of a nearby pencil and a distant sign; sketch how object and image distances change as the camera focuses.
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Printable HS-PSII-8.3 Worksheet
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