Based on a post by Rob McEntarffer, we developed and ran a new demonstration for Perception this year. Unlike the brief and highly-targetted demonstrations – like peripheral color vision tests, sound localization tests, or even the gymnema sylvestre demo – this demonstration is designed to show several different principles related to perception.
Materials
I sorted one pound of Froot Loops by color into six different ziplock bags. This was our “show money” — it’s not meant to be spent, just flashed around. We created a Google Form for students to record their initial thoughts and feelings regarding “Fruit Loops.” And there was a PDF with six reflection questions for them to download onto their iPads and answer.
Procedure
The general procedure was simple. I held up the ziplock bags while talking about the orange flavor versus the strawberry flavor; I made sure to talk about why there is a lime flavored loop (because Toucan Sam is a tropical bird, and so all the flavors are “tropical”). After reinforcing the “fruit” connection, I invited students to take a sample cup which had 4 different colored Loops in it, and taste them. After tasting, they completed the Google Form. Then I told them that there is only one flavor, and that they’re not “Fruit Loops” but rather “Froot Loops.” Students then downloaded, completed, and submitted to Canvas, our LMS, the digital worksheet.
Conclusion
It went well enough. I think students got the point: that our perception is affected by our expectations and our past experiences.
It was not a stellar success though because many students noticed right away that “they all taste the same.” If you really taste Froot Loops, it’s fairly obvious that they do not taste like fruit, and that the different colors do not have different flavors. I’m glad we did the demo though, and I’m pretty sure we’ll do it again next year.