We are really enjoying Science Week in Junior Infants. We watched ‘This is Science Week’ live show on Monday hosted by John Sharpson ( Múinteoir John from RTÉ’s Home School Hub) It was a 45-minute live show that celebrated all things Science! We learnt a lot about our brains and after images.
We made our very own illusion in school. We made something called a thaumatrope. All you need is two pieces of paper and a straw. We put a picture of a fish into a fish bowl and we didn’t cut it out. We didn’t draw the fish into the bowl. We coloured in a picture of a fish on one piece of paper and a fish bowl on the other. We used light colours as they work better than dark colours. Stick the pictures either side of the straw. Put your hands together and spin the straw and you will see the goldfish going into the bowl.
This is because of your after image and your persistence of vision. Your brain is holding the images for just a few seconds so it looks like the fish is in the bowl. The children really enjoyed this experiment.