Clear Vision Research – Young Visionaries School Outreach Program

One of the great things about research is being able to share our ideas with the next generation of thinkers. This was very true on our recent trip to visit the Yr 1 class at Bungendore Primary School in July, 2018. Members of the Clear Vision Research Team (Dr Riccardo Natoli (Head of Lab), Jacob De Puit (Hons Student), Riemke Aggio-Bruce (PhD Student) and Dr Nilisha Fernando (PostDoc) travelled out to Bungendore Primary school as part of their ‘Young Visionaries’ School outreach program. This program has been running for about 10 years and was originally conceived and designed by Dr Riccardo Natoli and other members of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Sciences as a way of captivating the minds of young students to think about science in a unique way; through the exploration of the wonder that is the human eye. Through a series of activities including exploring colour vision, anatomy of the eye, optical illusions, how to use a microscope and imitating visual disorders, students are encouraged to explore vision - how do we see, and perceive the world around us with our eyes.

We would like to thank Bungendore Primary School for allowing us to visit and for being such amazing listeners. We had some fantastic questions, including for example: Why do we see? Why do we see colours? Why do the eyes connect all the way to the back of the brain? If I close my eyes why do I still sometimes see lights?

If you would like the Clear Vision Research ‘Young Visionaries’ to come and visit your school please email riccardo.natoli@anu.edu.au.