Goal and Overview:

This lesson is to assist the students in the understanding of their Central Nervous System. Specifically, the area of vision will be covered in this particular lesson. The students will get a chance to understand the working of the eye, tricks that the eye can play on them, define the terms of the eye, learn the where the parts of the eye are, and understand problems with the eye. Students will complete several labs and experiments that help them understand the workings of the eye. There will be several on-line experiments and games that will enhance the learning of the eye. An on-line cow’s eye dissection will be the culminating activity for this lesson plan. The students will get the opportunity to go into other areas of the Central Nervous System and perform several Internet projects at a later date.

Materials:

Computers with Internet Access, science textbooks, pencil, paper, dissecting tools, cow’s eyes.

Invitation:

The students will be asked to sit in a circle and I will assign each student a number. I will have a stack of numbers that correspond to the numbers that they were assigned. Their numbers will appear in the stack 2 times. I will take the stack of numbers that I have written on index cards and shuffle the cards until they are mixed. The numbers will be placed down on the floor in the center of our circle. I will turn the numbers over one at a time. If the number 3 is called, number 3 student must brainstorm a word or phrase that has the word eye in it. The student could say eye-to-eye, eye of the storm, eye of the tiger, eye for an eye, eyewitness, eye of a needle, eyed, giving one the eyes, having an eye for, keep an eye on, see eye to eye, eyebrow, etc. They each will get a turn when their number is called from the stack. They may not say a word or phrase that has been said by a classmate.

After we do the brainstorming with the word eye, I will ask them to tell me all they know concerning the eye and vision. We will discuss the eyes and vision of humans in comparison to other animals.

Exploration:

Students will be placed into 4 groups of 5 students in each group. The students will be given a topic that must be researched by using the Internet sites that are given to each of the groups. Students may also find sites that will enhance their topic of interest concerning the eye. The areas of concentration for the "Eye and Vision" are as follows:

1. The parts of the eye and how vision is possible.
2. Why do we wear glasses?
3. Some common problems of the eye?
4. How do basic optics of the eye form the images we perceive?

Group #1 should visit the website of http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/bigeye.html This particular site will assist them in locating the parts of the eye and how vision is possible.

Group #2 should visit the site of http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/sight.html. This site will explain the specifics of glasses and when the time is right to start wearing glass. The site will also aid them in understanding how glasses correct the vision. Problems such as far-sightedness and near-sightedness are also explained at this site.

Group #3 will visit the same site as group#2 since they are reporting on some problems that exist with the eye and vision. Another great site to help this group do their investigative study is

http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/~mmci/papers/meigan/physics.html

Group #4 will use the Internet site of http://server.esc.cquest.utoronto.ca/psych/psy280f/ch2/optics.html. This particular site will give the students information on reflection, absorption, and refraction. The site contains a detailed explanation of the workings of the concave and convex lens.

Students will use the above Internet addresses to explain their topic to the remainder of the class.

The entire class will also get the opportunity to explore some Internet assisted learning activities that relate to the eye and vision. The following Internet sites were found and I have included the rationale for using the mentioned sites:

1. Is your left eye or right eye dominant? The students will be able to decide by visiting
   http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/right1.html. The students will be asked to do 3 activities that will let them know which eye is dominant.
2. How do you model a retinal image? Students can find out by visiting http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/chmodel.html. The students will be able to see an inverted image.
3. Can our eyes deceive us? Students will be able to see for themselves by visiting http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/words.html. This site contains a game that visually tries to trick the eye. The students get the opportunity to see if they can override the tricks of the eye. This same site allows the students to predict what a person’s eye will look like if he or she has been in the sun for several hours. This is done in the form of a small quiz.
4. There are other games dealing with which eye has the best depth perception, and asking if you have a blind spot. The students can actually play games on-line to help determine those questions. This is found at the same site as the site mentioned in number 3.
5. The students can do dark adaptations experiments, visual experiments and X-ray vision experiments by visiting http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/words.html.

Explanation:

The students will have a large group discussion sharing their findings. I generally allow my gifted science class to create their own options for presenting their findings of their group. For example, some of the students may make charts explaining their topic, some may decide to do a skit explaining their topics; others may want to create a news program that gives the information. I must approve the idea that is chosen prior to the students using it. This tends to work well for my class. The students that I teach tend to be more creative at times than I am!

The audience will be responsible for understanding and knowing the material that is presented. I will have each group do a handout that will be given to the class. This handout will contain the information that the group feels is pertinent for the class to know. I will create a test or evaluation by using the handouts that have been supplied to me by the four groups.

Take Action:

The most exciting part of the lesson will now happen. The students have learned about the eye, eye parts, how it functions, tricks the eye can play, problems dealing with the eye, etc.. The students will now get the chance to actually dissect a cow’s eye. In pairs, they will follow step-by step instructions on dissecting a cow’s eye. The instructions will also give some experiments and interesting tidbits of information about the eye as they proceed. The students will use http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/cow_eye. (The cow eyes will be ordered from the Carolina Biological Supply Company.) Interactive!

I feel that this lesson plan will give the students ample information and experiences to allow them to fully understand their eye and the miracle of vision.