This is the third Investigation of the LabLearner CELL Science and Art. In it, students continue the exploration of perspective and the illusion of depth in paintings. In addition, students will study the use of different perspectives and points of view in paintings.

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A. Begin the investigation by reviewing what students learned about perspective, point of view

Ask students:  What Cognitive Tool do we do when preparing to learn something new? Students should realize that the Recall tool is appropriate.

Pose the following questions to prompt student recall about art and perspective:

1. Ask students: What do you think of when I say the word “perspective?” Student answers may vary. However, their answers should reflect what they learned about perspective from Investigation One, such as the way in which an object appears depending upon your point of view, the ability to produce a three-dimensional image in two-dimensional artwork, or the change in the appearance of an object as the distance from the object changes.

2. Ask students: Imagine you are looking at a building up close and then later from farther away. Will the building look the same each time? Why or why not? Students should indicate that the building will appear different when viewed close and farther away because the point of view has changed.  In addition, the field of view changes, and the part of the field of view that the object takes up changes as when viewed from different distances.

3. Ask students: How will the building look different? Why? The building will look wider when closer because it takes up more of the field of view.  The building will look narrow when it is farther because it takes up less of the field of view.

4. Ask students: Complete the following statement: The smaller the visual angle either outside or inside the eye, the ________ the image of an object on the retina. Students should answer: “the smaller the image of an object on the retina.”

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C. Continue the review by encouraging students to apply what they have learned thus far by looking at some pictures and answering questions about those pictures.

1. Ask students: Are these trucks the same size? Yes. However, an optical illusion makes them look larger as you go from right to left.

2. Use a meter stick to prove that all three trucks are the same size.

Note: Optical Illusions allow students to think about how the visual system uses the context clues of visual angles and field of view to perceive the depth and dimensions of objects.  In addition, it also shows how those visual clues can lead to a misconception of reality, creating optical illusions.

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1. Ask students: Which line is longer, the red line or the blue line? Both lines are equal in length.

2. Use a meter stick to prove that the red and blue lines are the same length.

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1. Explain that artists can create a feeling of depth or perspective in drawings by showing the differences in the appearance of near and far objects.

2. Encourage students to try their hand at creating perspective by creating a drawing.

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D. End the PreLab by discussing perspective.

1. Tell students that in Investigations One and Two, they focused on thinking about perspective in terms of perceiving depth and in terms of how the height and width of an object appear when it is at different distances from the eye.

2. Explain that during the Lab in this Investigation, they will think about perspective in terms of point of view.

3. Ask students if they remember the five (5) drawings they created stories around from Investigation One. Remind students that each group created a different story because their drawings were from different points of view.

4. Show students the five Perspective Drawings again (on this slide). 

Ask students to think about where a person might be standing when viewing each of the Perspective Drawings. Allow time for open discussion. Student answers may vary.  Accept all answers that students can support with reason. Some sample answers are provided below.

In Drawing A the person may have been standing next to or across from the person holding the balloon and talking to him or her.

In Drawing B, the person may have been walking just in front of the person and the cat. In Drawing C, the person may have been standing next to or across from the person holding the birthday cake.

In Drawing D, the person may have been kneeling on the ground directly in front of the cat or walking next to the cat.

In Drawing E, the person may have been standing in front of the people holding the balloons and birthday cake.

5. After students have discussed differences in the points of view, explain that they should think about how their point of view may affect how objects appear when they are conducting their experiments in the lab.

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Ask students: In relation to this boy, where would you have to stand to see these four perspectives (points of view)?

1: In front of the boy.

2: On the boy’s right.

3: Behind the boy.

4: On the boy’s left.