Earlier today I shared the TED-Ed lesson Eye vs. Camera which explains how our eyes perceive light and color. Exploratorium’s Color Uncovered iPad app provides a good introduction or follow-up to the TED-Ed lesson Eye vs. Camera.
Exploratorium’s Color Uncovered iPad app is essentially a seventeen part ebook with some nice interactive activities and videos built into it to support the articles. In Color Uncovered students will why we sometimes see colors that aren’t really there, how light influences the colors we see, and why dogs would have trouble with traffic lights if they drove. One of the interactive features on Color Uncovered that I particularly like is the “Colors Add Up” activity. In “Colors Add Up” students use a clear CD case (I’m sure any other clear piece of plastic will work too) to mix colors projected from their iPads. The app also gives students a couple of short lessons on how and why artificial colors are added to foods like salmon, candy, cheese, and fruit.
Applications for Education
Color Uncovered could be a nice app for use in art lessons and science lessons. Or combine the two topics into one lesson in which students learn about the science of light and how colors blend together.
