ingridscience

Use the lens to magnify newsprint or other small things.
(The lens in our eye can do the same thing).

Hold the lens in front of a white piece of paper to project an inverted view of a window or a bright light.
(The lens in our eye does the same thing).

Students look at their eye in the mirror.
Ask them to find their pupil. That is where the light comes in. It looks black because no light comes out again.
Find the iris, the coloured part. This is a muscle that opens and closes the pupil. What colour is your iris? What colour is your neighbour’s iris? Different people have different coloured iris muscles.
Students can find other parts of their eye e.g. eyelashes, sclera (white of the eye), eyelids.

Students can draw their eye.

We regulate how much light is coming into our eye by changing the size of the hole, the pupil.
Look at your eye in the mirror. Move the flashlight onto your pupil, then away, watching it.
Look for the pupil changing size. It should get smaller when the light shines on it, and larger when the light moves away.

Please note that in a class of students it is likely that one of them is at least partially colourblind (1 in 12 males are colourblind). As this is an activity distinguishing colours, these students will not be able to tell some colours apart and perceive some colours differently. The common red/green colour blindness means reds and greens (or colours containing reds and greens such as browns) look similar. More information at colourblindawareness.org and colorblindguide.com/post/the-advantage-of-being-colorblind.

Activity 1: Stare at the red and green cross for 20 seconds, then look at some blank white paper. Try not to blink after you move your gaze.

Activity 2: Stare at the black spot in the centre of the red circle for 20 seconds. Then slowly move the image away from your eyes, still staring at the black spot. You will see the inverse colour (light blue, or cyan) appearing as a halo around red circle.

The cells sensitive to a particular colour get tired when you stare at one colour for along time and stop sending signals to the brain. When you put white into the same field of view (either by moving your gaze, or by moving the image away from you), all the colour cells are now stimulated. The tired cells send a weak signal and the other cells send a strong signal, so you see the inverse colour from the original colour stared at.
(Staring at green makes green cells tires. Red and blue cells give a strong signal, perceived as magenta; inverse of red is blue and green giving cyan. Inverse of blue is red and green giving yellow).

Activity 3: Try making your own shapes from one or two bold colours. Use the method in activity 1 or 2 to play with colour perception.

About colourblindness:
About 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women in the world are colourblind, though not all the cases are extreme, and someone might not even realise they have partial colourblindness. Colour blindness is usually from a genetic cause (in your DNA and inherited from parents). The most common kind is red/green colourblindness, and is partial or complete loss of sensitivity to red and green colours. In the more extreme cases (protanopia - loss of red, and deuteranopia - loss of green) colours containing red or green appear yellow or brown, and blues and purples are confused. Less extreme cases (deuteranomaly - partial loss of green) are most common, where reds appear browner and purples appear bluer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness#/media/File:Color_blindne…
Find out what it is like to be colour blind: http://www.colourblindawareness.org

Black bears are omnivores that eat some animal protein (insects, fish and winter-killed wildlife). More than 80% of their diet is vegetation most of the year: grasses, dandelions, berries, nuts and fruits. In the Fall, before hibernating, bears may eat a lot of salmon.

In the summer bears eat about 5,000 calories a day.
Before hibernating, a black bear will eat constantly to put on weight, consuming 20,000 calories a day (10 times more than an adult human). This is about 20kg of high-protein food or 40kg of plant food.

Look at the foods that a black bear eats (see materials).

Weigh bear food:
Either pile into a tray on a scale
OR set up a plank of wood with a rod as a pivot. Add a bin to one side, then slide the plank sideways until it is balanced. Then add a weight e.g. 5kg/10lb to the other side from the bin. Add food to the bin until the scale tips - students can each add an item, building anticipation until the scale tips.

In the summer a bear 'meal' is about 5kg of plants, berries and nuts.Compare with a person’s lunch (e.g. bagel and cheese).
Before hibernation 5kg is just a bear 'snack'. (They need 20kg high protein food, or 40kg plant food per day.)

Optionally, look at a bear skull or picture to see the kinds of teeth they have. Black bears are omnivores, eating mostly plants and berries, as well as salmon and carrion meat. Their teeth are also used for defence.

Black bear eating berries, using their flexible lips and tongues to pick them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV064dOMEQQ
Grizzly bears catching salmon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSSPDwAQLXs

See a real animal pelt and feel real fur.
My photos show underfur (of grizzly bear) that keeps them warm, and the guard hairs (of elk fur) that keep off rain and dirt.

Use a magnifier to look at the fur(s) closely, and optionally a ruler to measure the length of the hairs.
Compare to our own hair.

We wear clothes that have the same job as animal fur.

Animal fur is made of two types: the downy underfur, and the coarse guard hairs.
Underfur is soft and dense and is the insulator - air is trapped between the downy hairs and air is a good insulator.
The outer guard hairs are thicker, longer and coarser. They do insulate, but have other purposed as well: They keep out dirt, debris and insects. They repel water (bears shake just like a dog when they come out of water). 
Guard hairs can also be used to communicate. Raised hackles indicate that the bear is angry or frightened.

Use a metre stick to measure a template of a black bear, and find out how tall and how long a bear is. (It is on all fours, 2m long and 1m high). Record it on a worksheet.

Stand next to the bear template to compare its size to their own (are you taller/shorter, narrower/wider) and measure your own height if time and able.