Presentation on theme: "What do scientists do? Scientists: – Observe Brains, Eyes, Ears, Skull – Make predictions – Measurehow fast, how large."— Presentation transcript:
What do scientists do? Scientists: – Observe Brains, Eyes, Ears, Skull – Make predictions – Measurehow fast, how large
What does the brain do? Different parts of the brain do different things – See – Pay attention and think – Remember – Move – Hear, taste, balance
A. Seeing - The eye Materials – The Big Model of the Eye – Cow Eye to dissect – Flashlight – Slides Activities – Eye see u slide -> Flashlight on pupil; explain function – Inside eye slide -> show retina in model & in cow eye – Near sighted & cataract -> show lens in model & in cow eye – Color vision
Eye see you Iris: This is the colored part of your eye Pupil: This is the hole in your eye that lets light in. It gets bigger in the dark and smaller with bright light
Looking inside the eye In photos, the flash lights up the back of the eye which is red. Doctors use a flashlight with a magnifying glass to see the back of your eye This is what they see. The red lines are arteries that carry blood and oxygen that your eye needs
Seeing without eye-glasses For some people things near their eyes look clear, but things far away look blurry. These people are near-sighted and wear glasses or contact lenses that help them see better. All babies are near sighted until they are 6 month olds. So if you want a baby to see you clearly, make sure to get close to her (but ask mom first!) Near sighted Normal
Seeing blurry Inside the eye, there is a lens (a magnifying glass). As we grow older, the lens sometimes gets ‘dirty’. This disease is called ‘cataracts’. Doctors can do surgery to replace the lens with a new one. Normal
Seeing in Color Most people have three different types of color detectors in their eyes. Some boys have two types of detectors instead of three. To these boys, colors look slightly different than to the rest of us. If you have a hard time seeing the number 5 in the figure above you might be in that group. If so, your mom’s dad may also have a hard time seeing them. This is because this difference runs in families, and it is passed through the genes. all 3 detectorsonly 2 detectors
B. Visual illusions & experiences Materials – A brain model – Slides – Markers – Paper Activities – aftereffect -> Flashlight on pupil; explain function – Illusion let kids figure out that they should measure with a ruler, if they don’t do so, gently hint it to them – Circle illusion: idem – Lincoln face: show area in the brain model; also point to visual areas Extra: For kids who finish early –, use markers to experience aftereffect – Use scissors to create circle illusion
Stare at the mouth for 30 seconds. Next, quickly turn your eyes towards some white spot (for example, a piece of paper). What do you see? What is going on? Your eyes get ‘tired’, that is, the neurons start sending a weaker signal to the brain. When you stop looking at it, the signal is so weak that it is even lower than when seeing nothing. So you end up ‘seeing’ the opposite: the white parts look dark.
+ Stare at the dot in the center of the USA flag for 30 seconds. Next, quickly turn your eyes towards the + on the left. What do you see?
Which line looks longer? Which line is longer? How can you find out which line is truly the longest one? Important lesson: Sometimes our intuition is wrong. Good scientists always measure as a way to test their hypothesis.
Which of the two center circles looks larger? Which one is larger? How can you find out which center circle is truly the largest one? Important lesson: Sometimes our intuition is wrong. Good scientists always measure as a way to test their hypothesis.
Do you notice anything weird about Lincoln’s face? Turn it around to find out What is going on? Humans are really good at recognizing faces. We can notice very slight changes in people’s faces. Also, we see the whole face at once. That is, you don’t need to first look at the nose, then the eyes and the mouth before you recognize your mom, right? But when the face is upside down, it is just like any other object, we see it in parts instead of as a whole. So it becomes less obvious that it is wrong. Did you know? There is a part of the brain that specializes in recognizing faces.
Faces, Faces Everywhere! Faces are so important to us, and our brain is so good at noticing them, that we see faces even in clouds and pancakes!
Vision and Art If you get your eyes out of focus (or you take off your eyeglasses), you may see somebody’s face. Who is he? If you still cannot see it, get far away from the page, can you see it now? This is a picture by Dali, a famous Spanish painter
Vision and Art Look at the grapes, the leafs, the fruits and vegetables. Do you see something else? This painting was made by Giuseppe Arcimboldo more than 400 years ago!
Vision and Art This painting was made by Rene Magritte
Vision and Art This painting was made by Andy Warhol Although the colors are very different, it is easy to see that is always the same person
Vision and Art This painting was made by Rene Magritte
C. Attention Activities: In all, it is important to pay attention – Dalmatian dog: role of expectations – Old/young lady: ambiguity – Spot the difference – Beans – Stroop task (‘red’ in blue)
Try to find the dog. It is hard the first time, but easy after you found it once. What is going on? Once your brain knows what to look for, it can make ‘guesses’ and find it. It can pay attention to the important spots.
Do you see a young girl or an old lady? Both are there, which one do you see? What is going on? Sometimes, things can have two meanings. By paying attention to one or the other, we see different things
Try to find the difference between these two pictures What is going on? We only see things if we pay attention to them.
One of these beans is not a bean, it’s a face! Can you find it? What is going on? Just like in ‘Where is Waldo?’, we only see things if we pay attention to them.
Stroop task Materials: – stopwatch, – pencil (to graph) – Kids work in pairs: One reads, the other times Instructions: – Name the color of the ink, do NOT read the word Results: Graph results (see sample) – Include y-axis (how many seconds), x-axis (condition) Discussion: – Which was slowest? Why? – what would happen if the kid doesn’t know how to read yet? Would he be faster? Slower? It depends? Why? – What would happen if you put 'funny’ words, like ‘poop’, and ‘fart’. Why
D. Memory Materials – A real penny – A brain model Activities – Penny – False memory: show the hippocampus (remember) and the frontal lobe
Only one of these images of a penny is correct. Which one is it? Answer: Most people have a hard time making this choice. You need to be able to recognize a penny when you see one. But you don't need to remember many details to tell it apart from a dime or quarter. This sort of test suggests that you're likely to remember only enough about an object to let you recognize it in everyday life. A is the correct image. Now you know! This activity is from the website of the ‘Museum of science, art, and human perception’ in San Francisco. For more activities, go to http://www.exploratorium.edu/mind/play.htmlhttp://www.exploratorium.edu/mind/play.html
False Memory Instructions: – I’m going to read a list of words. Try to remember them. – After I read them, you will count to 30. – When you are done counting, I will read some old words and some new words – Raise your hand when you hear an old word. – Ready to try? – Let’s start with a practice trial. Practice: List 1: Dog, shoe, mom Count to 30 List 2: Dog, hippopotamus, mom Good. Ready to start for real? List 1: read, pages, letters, school, study, reading, stories, sheets, cover, pen, pencil, magazine, paper, words List 2: ocean, pencil, apple, house, shoe, book, flag, rock, train, hill, music, water, glass, school Predicted Results: -few hands up for ‘ocean’ (correct rejection) -Lots hands for ‘Pencil, ‘school’ (hits) -Lots hands up for "book“: FALSE MEMORY
False memory: results How many kids? What type of word?
False Memory Another example (if you need to kill time) List 1: sheets, pillow, mattress, blanket, comfortable, room, dream, lay, chair, rest, tired, night, dark, time List 2: door, tree, eye, song, pillow, juice, orange, radio, rain, car, sleep, cat, dream, eat Did they say that "sleep" was on list 1? Only pillow and dream were on list 1.
E. Move Activities – Catch a ruler (& dollar bill) – Trace a maze with left/right hand
Catch a dollar bill Illustrate with a dollar bill trick – It is easy to catch the dollar bill if you release, – It is hard to catch if someone else releases it. Why? Catching the bill is like the game, ‘Whisper Down the Lane’ only it all happens inside the body. 1.The eye sees the bill drop. 2.The eye sends a message to the part of the brain that ‘sees’. 3.From there, it sends the message to the part that plans movement. 4.From there, it goes to the spinal cord. 5.The spinal cord sends a message to the hand/finger muscle. 6.The finger muscle contracts to catch the ruler. Activity: see brain poster; see parts of brain in model
F. Brains & Models Activities – See slides of rat brain (ppt & glass) – See brains of different animals (doc & glass) – See skull –
G. Touch, Taste&Smell, Hearing, Balance Materials – Brain model (show motor strip) – Toothpicks (or anything to gentle touch skin) – Ear Activities – Touch: Two point discrimination – Taste&Smell: jelly beans – Hearing: see eardrum (model & slide) – Balance:
Touch: two point discrimination Kids work in pairs (instructor illustrates first) Instructions – I will touch you with either one or two toothpicks, like this – If you feel one, say one. If you feel two, say two. – Keep your eyes closed Instructor touches tip & base of index finger: most likely kid says ‘2’ Instructor touches same gap in the arm: most likely kid says ‘1’. Repeat with eyes open, so kids see that there is always two stimulus Interpretation – there are more nerves in the finger than in the arm, – There is a larger part of the brain devoted to feeling fingers than to feeling arms (see homunculus)
Taste&Smell Instructions – With eyes closed, plug your nose and pop a jelly bean in your mouth. – Chew 5 times while holding your nose. What do you taste? – Unplug your nose and keep chewing. What flavor do you experience? Interpretation – The flavor of food depends on both taste and smell – When you have a cold, food does not have flavor (no smell)
Balance lllustrate the three sources of balance (vision, joints, inner ear) by asking them to balance on a mattress (no joints), after twirling (no inner ear), with their eyes closed (no vision) or open (vision) With eyes closed, they fall
Taste (no time for it) Taste and flavor are different. While you can taste only 5 things – sweet, salty, sour, bitter, fatty– you can identify thousands of flavors. This is because your nose adds smell to taste to create flavor. We will illustrate this by eating some Jelly beans. - pink bumps