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Lesson Plan
GRADE LEVEL: One/Two SUBJECT: Science UNIT/TOPIC: Senses
LESSON #: 3 DURATION: 35min
Overview & GLOs
In this lesson, the students will investigate
optical illusions, and explain how this
relates to the limitations of our senses.
Use the senses to make general and
specific observations, and communicate
observations orally and by producing
captioned pictures

SLOs
Recognize the limitations of our senses, and
identify situations where our senses can
mislead us; e.g., feeling hot or cold, optical
illusions, tasting with a plugged nose

Describe the role of the human senses and

the sense of other living things, in enabling
perception and action

Materials
Needed:
Thaumatrope
worksheet
Straws
Glue
Smart Board

Other Resources used:

Additional
Notes:

Alberta Program of Studies

(Topic D: Edmonton Public Schools)

Vocabulary:
Optics
Optical illusions
Illusions
Thaumatrope
Limitations
Deceptive
Misleading

Website:
http://www.optics4kids.org/home/conte
nt/illusions/

INTRODUCTION

Today we are going to talk

about the limitations of our
senses. Do you know what I
mean by limitations?
Whole class discussion on

TRANSITION

What do we think? Do our

eyes ALWAYS tell us the
truth? Can our eyes play
tricks on us?
Lets find out!
FINGER SAUSAGES
In this activity, the students
will investigate if their eyes
trick them into seeing
impossible things

BODY

Students will hold their

index fingers in front of

How can our senses be

limited? What happens
when our senses are
limited?

Can anyone tell me

what a Thaumatrope
is?
A Thaumatrope is a
toy that was popular in
the 19th century (over

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them with the tips just
touching each other. Move
their fingers just in front of
their eyes, and then focus
on an object drawn on the
whiteboard
What do you see? How
many fingers are there?
Does it look like your
fingers? Or a link of
sausage!
Like with our other
experiment dropping the
coin into our paper tube,
each eye is telling our brain
what it sees, however when
our brain combines the two
pictures from BOTH eyes, an
illusion appears!
Who can tell me what an
optical illusion is?
Now lets look at some
other illusions!
The students will gather
around the Smart Board and
look at the illusions on the
website Optics4Kids.org
(refer to TEACHER NOTES
for illusions)
Now, would you like to
make your very own
thaumatrope or optical
illusion? OKAY! Lets do it!
First, the students will watch
the demonstration of HOW
TO create their thaumatrope
(cut out shapes, glue
together with straw in the
middle)
Each student will take a
thaumatrope handout and
begin to create their own
thaumatrope to experiment
with.
By rolling the straw back
and forth quickly, can you
see both images turn into
one image? WHAT DO YOU
SEE?

TRANSITION

OKAY! Lets talk about what

100 YEARS ago!). It is a

small disc, or circle,
that has a picture
drawn on each side of
it. A person would
attach a string to each
side and spin it quickly
which makes the two
pictures look like they
blend together,
creating only one
image!
Do our fingers REALLY
turn into sausages??
NO!
An OPTICAL ILLUSION
use COLOUR, LIGHT
and PATTERNS which
create images that our
brain may find to be
deceptive or
misleading.
Do you know what
DECEPTIVE means?
What about
MISLEADING?
When our brains get
the information from
our eyes what our brain
sees and what is
REALLY there does not
always match!
Does everyone agree
these are two separate
pictures?
Okay lets see what
happens!

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CLOSURE

Objectives
(Specifically
skills/information
that will be learned)

Verification (Steps to
check for student
understanding)

Activity (Describe
the independent
activity to reinforce
this lesson)

we saw together as a class!

Alright! Did everyone SEE
the images come together?
WHO can tell me how a
Thaumatrope works?
Can we ALWAYS believe
what our eyes tell us?
GOOD WORK TODAY
EVERYONE!

Teacher Guide

Student Guide

The students will investigate

the information our senses
relay to our brain when
interpreting the world
around us. The students will
recognize limitations of our
senses and how certain
information may mislead us.
This will be demonstrated
with optical illusions and by
building and experimenting
with a thaumatrope
-Observation
-Class discussion
-Demonstration/participation

TSW build a thaumatrope

(optical illusion)
TSW explain how a
thaumatrope works
TSW define the senses used
during this experiment

The teacher will guide the

students in a class
discussion about the
limitations of our senses;
namely sight. By asking
guiding questions oriented
at the students own
experiences, the discussion
will focus on how our eyes
can play tricks on us.
By building an optical
illusion (in this case a
thaumatrope) of their very
own, the students will have
an opportunity to see how
our eye sight can mislead
us.
This activity and the class
discussion will reinforce the
SLOs of the lesson

Formative Assessment:
-Observe students during
each activity
-Ask questions to repeat
concepts learned/discussed
-Completion of thaumatrope
and having students explain
how it works
After seeing several
examples of optical illusions
the students will have a
better understanding of the
limitations on our senses.
The students will see that
how our brain interprets
information from our senses
is not always what is
actually happening.
By creating their own optical
illusion, the students will be
able to experiment with
their own understanding of
human vision

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