student news
LOWER SCHOOL SCIENCE
Eyeball Day written by Sara Cooper Lower School Science Teacher
WESLEYAN MAGAZINE • FALL 2012
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id you know that eyeballs are filled with jelly? Well, not jelly exactly, but a substance called the vitreous humor similar in consistentcy to jelly. Also, when the eye sees an object, the message sent to the brain shows the image upside-down and backwards. Luckily, the brain is able to interpret the information and flip the image right-side-up and with correct left-right orientation. These are a few of the fun facts the fourth graders in the lower school learned about the eye this fall. In order to help the students understand how the eye works, the science room was transformed into a three-dimensional eyeball for a day. A clear covering, the cornea, was draped over the outside of the science room door. The iris of the 3-D eyeball was blue and could be seen “contracting and relaxing” as students passed through the pupil of the eye to enter the inside of the eyeball. The clear lens was just inside the door and had to be traversed before one could enter the eyeball. Because the room was dark, flashlights were needed to see the inside of the eye. The white sclera was hanging around the outside wall of the eyeball. As light moved through the eye, it landed on the back of the eyeball where the red retina was hanging. The optic nerve on the back of the eyeball was represented by blinking white Christmas lights pulsing on and off, as messages were sent through the optic nerve to the brain, represented by the ceiling. After weeks of working hard to learn the parts and functions of the eye, the real fun came on Eyeball Day, when the fourth graders gave tours of the giant eye. In preparation for the tours, the fourth grade students learned to draw an eye in art class. They used their knowledge to illustrate personalized invitations for the kindergarten, first, and pre-first students. Then, on Eyeball Day, the fourth graders collected their assigned students from the classroom and, with a flashlight in hand,
Right & Above: Fourth grade students lead younger students through the 3-D eyeball.
gave the younger students tours through the eye, explaining how it worked. Several other visitors requested tours and the fourth graders were happy to oblige. Although the students enjoyed learning about the eye and sharing their knowledge with others, the fourth graders reported that the best part of the day was getting to interact with the children in the younger grades. The students also suggested that next fall’s Eyeball Day be a full sensory experience, adding a jelly-like substance to the inside of the eyeball in order for younger students to “feel” what the vitreous humor is like. A special thanks to the homeroom teachers and assistants who worked this exciting day into their schedules and to student teacher, Sarah Stalvey ’08, for helping prepare the science room for its Eyeball Day transformation.