Science For Monks 2011
Light and Color
Day 7 Monday
Modesto Morning
Mayan Math Modesto shows the monks how to cast a secret vote on Mayan Math using their robes as shields.
Perspective view window Use a transparent plastic to trace the world in perspective.
Modesto Night
Light Box
Lightbox, Build a simple lightbox out of a cardboard box.
Colored Shadows, add red green and blue light to make white, then subtract colors using shadows.
Use mirrors to reflect colored beams of light from a lightbox onto white paper where they are added.
Day 8 Tuesday
Paul Morning
Waves
Slow Waves on a phonecord Explore the speed of waves on a phonecord.
Phonecord harmonics Study the harmonics of a phonecord
Tape model of an electromagnetic wave, use electrically charged tapes to show that electric fields can cross empty space. Waves in the electric field are light.
Paul Night
Spectrum of light sources, At night under the moon and stars with incandescent, fluorescent and LED lights to observe using compact disks.
Project a rainbow with a CD, Hold a compact disk in the sunlight and use the shiny side to reflect light onto a white wall in the shade. Notice the rainbow.
Build a spectrometer with a CD, Use a compact disk to make a spectrometer to break light up into its component colors.
Diffraction Look at a bright point of light between two pencils and see bands of color, light and dark, which show light is a wave.
Peel a CD Scrape the coating off a CD to make a diffraction grating and look at lights.
Day 9 Wednesday
Paul and Modesto for Eric
Neuroscience Perception
Red and green filters Look through Green filters, red filters at red green and yellow papers.
Benhams disk Make color by spinning a black and white disk. Then make your own disk.
Paul Morning
Creating Activities and illustrated lecture.
Night
Light Box Create a spectrum and Image finding.
Use a bow full of water to break a beam of light into a spectrum. (Modesto then combined the colors using a cylinder full of water to make white again.)
Rays of light from a lightbox shine through a water filled cylinder converge to form a real image.
Subtractive colors with pens
Day 10 Thursday
Paul and Modesto for Eric
Neuroscience
Distance of Nearest Vision Look through a pinhole at a pin and compare the distance of nearest vision to looking directly at the pin.
Distance of nearest vision without and then with a pinhole. Looking at a pushpin through a pinhole gives a magnified image of the pushpin.
Peripheral vision Mark a disk with angles and move paddles with colors, shapes, and words around the rim while fixing one eye on a point. Note the angle from straight ahead where color shape and text become visible. (The disk should be at least 25cm in diameter.)
Paul
Light Walk: Use white paper to find the shape of shadows under trees, they are circular disks. Make images on the paper using black paper with a triangle and square hole in it see circular disks. Use a mirror with a square black place to project a black sun image.
Self Centered globe See the sunlight on earth, and feel the temperatures that result.
A globe in the sun with the polar axis toward Polaris and the location on earth top-dead-center.
Reflect Sunlight onto opaque white paper using a CD to create patterns.
Monks break into 14 groups to prepare for Class then teach their lesson to one other small group.
Day 11 Friday
Monk Presentations.
Light Box Add two colors with mirrors Monks not only learned the lessons they learned our style of teaching. They take images with their phone cameras to document their work.
Finding Rays and making an image. Monks got more laughs than we did, They used two lenses to make an inverted image of a candle and then a second lens to invert the image to right side up.
Benham's Disk The monks play the role of Richard, Paul Modesto. Large Benham's disk. Provacation...large disk with "Welcome" written on it.
Stroop Effect: Time how long it takes to read the color of: colored squares on paper, words with the correct color, then color names in different colors, then random non-color words in color.
Bird In a Cage The Nuns made dozens of birds in different colors.
Reflexes: Do the reflex test, model neurons in pipe cleaners, do the neuron communication game.
Blind Spot Pass out the Blind Spot on paper and observe it.
Waves on phonecords and Paco Lopez Illusions.
Master Eye Three ways point circle use 2 mirrors at right angles.
Sound Stretch a membrane across a cup, place dry rice on it, make the rice dance. Listen to tuning fork. Strike a spoon and listen to the sounds on a string. They already have a website!
More explorations of perception.
Expanding afterimages, Stare at the center of a colorful square then look at a distant wall, what size square do you see?
Moon Illusion, why does the full moon rise look larger on the horizon than at the zenith?
Size Constancy, Look at a person four steps away using outstretched arms place one hand on their head and one under their feet. Note the distance between the hands. Then have the person move eight steps away. Their image on your retina is half as high, do they look half as high?
Light travels in straight lines
Pinhole Use a pinhole in a film can to investigate the inversion of images on the retina.
Blind spot Investigate your blind spot.
Bird in the cage Afterimage. Stare at the image of a red bird for 30 seconds then look at white paper. What is the color of the afterimage?
Stroop Effect, Name the color of the ink used to print the name of a color.(Available in Tibetan.)