Peer Review

Exploratorium: Explore Optical Illusions

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Feb 11, 2020 by Psychology

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This review highlights a series of optical illusions made available via the website for Exploratorium. The illusions allow students to explore, experience, and learn about perception. Detailed instructions and demonstration videos are included.

An excerpt from the "about us" link for Exploratorium provides explanatory background.

"Located in San Francisco, California, the Exploratorium is a public learning laboratory exploring the world through science, art, and human perception. Our mission is to create inquiry-based experiences that transform learning worldwide. Our vision is a world where people think for themselves and can confidently ask questions, question answers, and understand the world around them. We value lifelong learning and teaching, curiosity and inquiry, our community, iteration and evidence, integrity and authenticity, sustainability, and inclusion and respect."

Type of Material:

Collection of do-it-yourself optical illusions ranging from short instructional guides, to in-depth walkthroughs replete with how-to video demonstrations.

Recommended Uses:

The best use of this material would be as an active learning activity, either in class or as a supplemental homework assignment or project. It could be completed individually or as a group.

Technical Requirements:

Users will need a computer and a functional website browser.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The purpose of the site is to educate viewers on different types of optical illusions to engage them with the science of the visual system, and ultimately to encourage them to come to the Exploratorium Museum (the creator of the site). The learning goals for the user would be to develop hands-on experience with active learning activities in creating physical optical illusions.

Target Student Population:

Exploratorium is appropriate for most age groups from middle school through higher levels of college. At the lower levels (middle or high school) the activities would be a great way to engage learners with vision science without getting too in depth in the optics or physics. At the college level, the illusions could be explored at the theoretical or mathematical levels as active learning demonstrations of course concepts.
Undergraduate students studying Sensation and Perception (either in a dedicated course or as part of Introduction to Psychology) will especially enjoy the material.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

An introductory background in psychology or optics would be helpful to understand the material at an advanced level, but not necessary. Some of the do-it-yourself activities require basic construction or crafting ability.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

There are numerous activities that have a substantial amount of detail meant to walk a novice user through the entire process. There are great demonstrations of classic visual illusions that most learners only access through textbooks or occasionally streaming services, but this site allows them to be created with minimally expensive materials.
The collection covers a wide range of topics with interactive examples that are useful across a range of disciplines.

Concerns:

None.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Users can run these on themselves or others and observe reactions. The hands-on demonstrations help one better understand the different phenomena.
The majority of the activities have clear walkthroughs, with obvious listings of the subject matter involved, the materials necessary, and specific keywords related to the activity. Most of the activities are effective at engaging the learner in conceptual and practical understanding of the topic.

Concerns:

Some of the activities are not in English, although the page translates effectively.
There are no established learning goals; however, for individual classes or assignments these could easily be generated.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

This is incredibly easy to use. The learner would just have to click on obvious links to bring them to individual activities, where the material is presented in an easy to follow fashion.

Concerns:

The site is easy to use if the computer has the required add-ons. Before using in a class, one needs to ensure the appropriate adds-ons are installed.
The few exercises not in English might confuse English speakers if their browser does not have an effective translation function.

Other Issues and Comments:: Exploratorium allows users to observe or test themselves in multiple visual, auditory, and cognitive phenomena. The interactive demonstrations provide excellent examples in a variety of fields including Sensation and Perception, Cognitive Psychology, Physical Sciences, and Life Sciences.
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