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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.

In this activity, learners conduct a simple test to find their blind spot.

In this activity about light and refraction, learners make a lens and magnifying glass by filling a bowl with water.

In this activity (6th on the page), learners investigate how photoreceptors in the eye (rods and cones) "adapt" to low light conditions.

In this activity (1st on the page), learners find their blind spot--the area on the retina without receptors that respond to light.

In this activity, learners build inexpensive kaleidoscopes using transparency paper and foil (instead of mirrors).

In this optics activity, demonstrate diffraction using a candle or a small bright flashlight bulb and a slide made with two pencils.

In this activity (posted on March 14, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a camera projector to explore lenses and refraction.

In this activity, learners investigate parallax, a method used to measure distances to stars and planets in the solar system.

In this optics activity, learners discover how they can make glass objects "disappear." Learners submerge glass objects like stirring rods into a beaker of Wesson™ oil to explore how the principles of

In this lab (Activity #1 on page), learners explore how we see color.

In this quick activity, Dracula has a hole in his house and learners help solve the problem by using a mirror and protractor to reflect incoming light out of his house.

Have you ever heard of a camera without a lens? In this activity, learners create a pinhole camera out of simple materials. They'll see the world in a whole new way: upside down and backwards!

This is a series of three quick science activities to do with a spoon, knife, and fork. In the first two activities, learners use the flatware to explore optics, mirrors, reflection, and distortion.

In this activity, learners make a Benham Top to explore visual illusions and optics.

In this easy demonstration (3rd on the page), learners explore depth perception by conducting a test with two pencils.

In this activity (17th on the page), learners investigate why you cannot see colors in dim light.

In this demonstration (18th on the page), learners conduct a simple test to explore how the cornea refracts light, which is further bent by the eye lens through a process known as accommodation.

In this activity (posted on March 20, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a stroboscope, a device that exploits the persistence of vision to make moving objects appear slow or stationary.

In this activity related to light and perception, learners use a pinhole in an index card as a magnifying glass to help their eye focus on a nearby object.