IPSE | Vision

IPSE Vision Activities

We usually don’t think much about our vision unless you are having trouble seeing something. However, vision is actually a complicated process occurring between our eyes and our brain! Actually, there are millions of little switches in our eyes that pick out what we see.

The following activities will help you discover how our eyes work and why we see things. We hope you enjoy these activities and do them together as a family.

	Seeing in the Dark Do we see things the same in the daytime as we do in the nighttime? Since there are two different types of cells in our eyes that help us see, then you actually may not! In this activity, you can see for yourself if colors look the same in day as in the evening. doc/pdf
	Modeling the Eye then Taking a Picture Does our brain change what we “see”? Actually, because of the shapes of our eyes, the images we see are turned upside down! Luckily, our brains change the image so we see it right side up. In this activity, you can see how the eye works using a pinhole scope!doc/pdf
	Depth Perception How do we know which objects are close and which are far away? Our eyes need to work together to figure this out! In this activity, you can observe how we need both eyes to see which objects are further away. doc/pdf
	Invisible Ink: Modeling a Molecular Switch Does our eye actually act like a switch? In our eye is a molecule called retinal. When light hits our eyes, the retinal in our eyes “switches on” our vision! In this activity, you can model the switch in our eyes using invisible ink!doc/pdf
	Blue Skies: The Answer to the Age-Old Question Why is the sky blue? Have you ever asked that question to be told a silly answer such as, “because the sky is the reflection of the ocean” or “because it’s your favorite color.” Although the answer is not easy to this question, we will explore it through experimentation with some common household items. doc/pdf
	Color Mixing with Roy G. Biv How do we see color? Our eyes see only see the colors red, green, and blue. In our eyes, these three colors “mix together” to make all of the colors that we see! In this activity, you can discover more about how our eyes see color..doc/pdf
	Make Your Own Optical Illusions Have you ever seen an optical illusion? A famous one is seeing something in the desert that isn’t there! Your brain makes “rules” about how you see things and your eye has a hard time of breaking them. Make your own optical illusions using this activity!doc/pdf
	UV Beads Have you ever been burned by the sun? This sunburn was due to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun! In this activity, you can use a special type of bead that reacts to UV radiation and discover the effectiveness of sunscreen.doc/pdf

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IPSE Vision Activities