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CD Spinner
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In this activity, learners create a simple “top” from a CD, marble and bottle cap, and use it as a spinning platform for a variety of illusion-generating patterns.
Our Sense of Sight: Color Vision
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In this activity, learners investigate color vision as well as plan and conduct their own experiments.
Pupil
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In this activity, learners explore their eye pupils and how they change.
Pinhole Viewer
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In this activity, learners discuss and investigate how cameras, telescopes, and their own eyes use light in similar ways.
Blind Spot
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In this activity, learners conduct a simple test to find their blind spot.
Cylindrical Mirror
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In this activity, learners create a cylindrical mirror to see themselves as others see them.
Water Sphere Lens
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In this activity about light and refraction, learners make a lens and magnifying glass by filling a bowl with water.
Seeing Your Retina
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In this quick optics activity, learners use a dim point of light (a disassembled Mini MagLite and dowel set-up) to cast a shadow of the blood supply in their retina onto the retina itself.
Magic Wand
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In this activity about light and perception, learners create pictures in thin air.
Hole in Your Hand
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Create an illusion where it appears that your hand has a hole in it. You'll see the results from when one eye gets conflicting information.
Far-Out Corners
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Are there boxes, is this an illusion, or is this real life Q-bert? Illusions are always fun to build especially when you can build them.
Ambiguous Cube
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In this activity, learners construct a three-dimensional ambiguous cube to explore visual illusions and how our brains interpret or misinterpret information.
Stereoscope
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In this activity, learners construct a device that allows them to view 2-D images in 3-D.
Vanishing Rods
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This is a quick activity/demonstration that introduces learners to the concept of index of refraction. Learners place stirring rods in a jar of water and notice they can see them clearly.
Jacques Cousteau in Seashells
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Up close, an array of dots could look random, but take a step back, and an image forms. By tracing over an image, learners can create their own dot based image.
See the World Through Color-Filtering Lenses
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In this activity, learners examine how colored lenses act like filters and absorb all colors of light except for the color of the lenses.
Corner Reflector
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In this optics/mathematics activity, learners use two hinged mirrors to create a kaleidoscope that shows multiple images of an object.
Bird in the Cage
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In this activity about afterimages, learners explore what happens when receptor cells called cones in your eye's retina get tired.
Fading Dot
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In this activity, learners play with a fuzzy-colored dot that has no distinct edges seems to disappear. As learners stare at the dot, its color appears to blend with the colors surrounding it.
Experiencing Parallax With Your Thumb
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In this activity, learners investigate parallax, a method used to measure distances to stars and planets in the solar system.