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Circles or Ovals?
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This science activity demonstrates the dominant eye phenomena. What does your brain do when it sees two images that conflict?

Cutify: What Makes for Cute?
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In this online activity exploring our perception of "cuteness," learners adjust various factors (like pupil size or length of limbs) on a face, a cat, and a hammer.

Mirror, Mirror
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In this activity, learners discover that it is difficult to trace a curve by using its reflection in a mirror. Use this activity to discuss how the brain works.

Gray Step
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In this activity, learners discover that it's difficult to distinguish between two different shades of gray when they aren't separated by a boundary.

Thaumatrope Illusion
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Design and create an optical illusion toy that makes two pictures appear to become one. This is called a thaumatrope and will allow the learner to investigate the phenomenon of persistence of vision.

Sliding Gray Step
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How can you make one shade of gray look like two? By putting it against two different color backgrounds! This activity allows learners to perform this sleight of hand very easily.

Moiré Patterns
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In this activity about light and perception, learners create and observe moire patterns.

Your Father's Nose
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In this fun optics activity, learners explore principles of light, reflection (mirrors), and perception. Learners work in pairs and sit on opposite sides of a "two-way" mirror.

Pinhole Magnifier
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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.

Tiny Pants Photo Challenge
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In this activity, learners use a simple trick of perspective to dress friends in tiny cutout clothing. Learners make tiny pants out of card stock and tape them to the end of a stick.

Thaumatropes
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In this activity, learners will make a thaumatrope, an old-fashioned optical illusion that dates back to the 1820s.

Whirling Watcher: Make a Stroboscope
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In this activity, learners make a stroboscope--a spinning disk with slits around the edge that you look through.

Benham’s Disk
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In this activity (on page 2 of the PDF under GPS: Light and Color Activity), learners will see the illusion of colors produced by a rotating black and white image known as Benham’s Disk.

Big Sun, Small Moon
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Learners will explore the concept of angular distance, and investigate why the moon appears to be the same size as the sun during a solar eclipse, despite the sun being much larger.

Mix-N-Match Light
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This is an online exhibit about color perception. Learners set a random background color and then try to mix red, blue, and green light to match.

Thread the Needle: Using Two Eyes Gives You Depth Perception
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Closing one eye eliminates one of the clues that your brain uses to judge depth. Trying to perform a simple task with one eye closed demonstrates how much you rely on your depth perception.

Colored Shadows
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In this optics activity, learners discover that not all shadows are black. Learners explore human color perception by using colored lights to make additive color mixtures.

Cafe Wall Illusion
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In this fun and interactive online exhibit, the straight lines of a tile wall appear to curve. The learner moves the rows of tiles and changes the color of the grout to achieve the intriguing effect.

Benham's Disk
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In this optics activity, learners discover that when they rotate a special black and white pattern called a Benham's Disk, it produces the illusion of colored rings.

Size It Up
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In this artistic activity, learners blow up a smaller picture into a larger one, by using a grid.