SUBJECTS: Science
YEARS: 7–8, 9–10
The ability to see colours is an important human trait, but did you know some people's colour vision is impaired.
View this clip to discover what it means to be colourblind and how it happens.
Find out also about the extraordinary colour vision of the dunnart, and why it is important for this nocturnal marsupial.
Things to think about
- 1.Have you heard of colour blindness? What does it mean to be colourblind? Do animals see in colour? How might they see things differently to you?
- 2.What does James say about the colours he sees? Is colour blindness more common in boys or girls? How do you become colourblind? When does James' colour blindness affect his ability to see the cricket or football? A species of dunnart, a tiny marsupial, has one more cone cell than humans. What does its fourth cone cell enable it to see?
- 3.Now you know a little more about colour blindness, explain what it is and why the term 'colour blindness' may not be the best name for this condition. Can you think of a more appropriate name? Make a list of situations where being colourblind might cause difficulties.
- 4.Research the structure of the eye and how it enables us to see. What role do the iris and pupil have? Where are the cone cells? How is information passed to the brain? For a further investigation, research why we are able to see in colour, and why it is more difficult to see colour in dark places.
Date of broadcast: 2005
Copyright
Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).