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Altered Reality
The human brain is highly adaptable. This activity demonstrates how the brain adapts to a new situation. Students investigate learning to toss beanbags at a target while wearing prism goggles.
Students collect and interpret data and then have an opportunity to design additional experiments.
Grade Level: 5-8
Lesson Length: 1-2 class periods
Watch a 10-minute video on how to use this lesson in a classroom.
Altered Reality was the topic of a poster for the November 30, 2010 STEM Center Open House.
NEW! Two BrainU participants created an activity based on the Altered Reality lesson. It's called "Impossible Made Possible" and you can download the teacher and student guides below. Thank you, Jacky and Brian!
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Teacher Guide | 75.71 KB |
| Student Guide | 73.59 KB |
| Making Goggles | 168.6 KB |
| Example Graphs | 93.33 KB |
| Documents in MS Word format | 678.46 KB |
| Teacher Guide: Impossible Made Possible | 63.27 KB |
| Student Guide: Impossible Made Possible | 26.86 KB |
Dynamic Changes in Brain Activity during Prism Adaptation. The Journal of Neuroscience. January 7, 2010, 29(1):169-178. Read the article.
Throwing while looking through prisms: I. Focal olivocerebellar lesions impair adaptation. Brain (1996), 119, 1183-1198. Read the abstract.
Throwing while looking through prisms: II. Specificity and storage of multiple gaze-throw calibrations. Brain (1996), 119, 1199-1211. Read the abstract.