“Where Did That Come From?”

We’re going to build on the idea from the last experiment by adding a color component to the experiment.  Here’s what you need to do:

You need:

• Paper
• Pencils
• Volunteers

[am4show have=’p8;p9;p10;p37;’ guest_error=’Guest error message’ user_error=’User error message’ ]

1.      Tell your volunteers that you are going to give them 30 seconds to look at a picture and try to remember as many things as they can about the picture.

2.      Let them see the picture and count to 30 in your head.

3.      Now hand each of them a piece of paper and a pencil or pen.

4.      Tell them to draw as much of the picture as they can, in as much detail as possible. Tell them not to worry about being artistic but just try to include as much about the picture as possible in their drawing.

5.      Tell them to write the color of the objects on their drawing as well.

6.      Let them take about 2-5 minutes to create their drawing.

7.      When folks are done, show them the picture again so that they can compare their drawings with the picture.

Did your artist draw everything? Did something get forgotten? Did something get added? Was there something that was the wrong color? Now ask your artist how sure they were that something in their drawing was actually in the picture.

I always enjoy watching the faces of the students when I show them the picture the second time. They always get surprised when something is in the picture that was not in their drawing, or even more fun, when something was in their drawing that was not in the picture!

Chances are they were pretty confident that there was a cloud in the picture, or that the dog was yellow or whatever it may have been. Your eyes see what is there, all the colors and shapes. Your mind, however, has to interpret what your eyes see and pretty often it will forget things or completely change them around! Again, your eyes see but your mind perceives!

[/am4show]