Students learn about the eye at Ruth Patrick center

As the North Augusta Elementary School fourth-graders looked at their friends in a classroom at the Ruth Patrick Science Education Center Monday, instructor John Hutchens surprised them a bit.

He explained that the eye actually sees things upside down because the lens inverts images onto the optic nerve.

"The brain flips over so we see it right side up," Hutchens said. "Otherwise, we would feel like we're walking on our heads all day."

The Ruth Patrick Special Programs Director, Hutchens talked with the students about the properties of light and how the eye functions.

"These are fourth grade standards that we're just starting to talk about," said teacher Beth Meyer. "It's a perfect hands-on experience for them in a different environment. This is our second visit to Ruth Patrick this year, as we saw the birds of prey on the first trip. The Ruth Patrick Center is such a great asset to the community."

Hutchens described and demonstrated just a few of the parts of the eye - the retina, the optic nerve, the iris, the pupil, the cornea and the lens. In one experiment, each student looked into the eyes of a partner and was told to hold that stare even when the lights were turned off for about a minute and then came back on. The kids immediately started giggling.

"Oh, the pupil just got smaller," one boy yelled.

Student Kathryn McGee was surprised by the drawings of the eyes' components that were provided by Hutchens.

"I didn't know all those things were there," she said. "I just thought it was a plain old eyeball."

Hutchens also explained that light doesn't always travel in a straight line. The students poured water into a beaker and found that the straw in the beaker appeared bent or even duplicated.

In another demonstration, the children looked at themselves in small mirrors. Yet they were not seeing themselves.

"What you are seeing is a reflection of yourself," Hutchens said. "None of us will ever actually see ourselves."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.