Parts of the Eye and Their Function – Activities and Worksheets (NGSS MS-LS1-8)

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Are you looking to take your students a step beyond the cow eye dissection and explore more deeply how the eye works? Or perhaps eye dissections aren’t feasible for your classroom and you need a different way for your students to explore and discover the amazing phenomenon of sight? Either way, this lesson has everything you need to take your students on a journey through the parts of the eye and into an understanding of how the visual sensory system works.

This lesson begins with 3 “light and sight” inquiry challenges where students will explore some everyday phenomenon of light. After completing each challenge, students will reflect on how they think the phenomena worked. This is followed with a class discussion using the provided teacher slides (available in PowerPoint and Digital formats).

Handy, step-by-step cow eye dissection guides (in black & white and color) are available also (Plus a PowerPoint and digital presentation to guide students through the dissection!), should you choose to make it part of your lessons, along with a link to a step-by-step guided dissection which can be used as a tutorial or a virtual dissection portion to the lesson.

Following the inquiry lab(s), the lesson continues with a reading passage, teacher led slides, a parts of the eye worksheet, and a check-for-understanding 2-question assessment at the end of the lesson.

Students will investigate the question: How does the eye capture light waves and transmit it to the brain to be used as information?
Recommended Age Group: middle school, grades 6-8

Included Materials:
➜ Student worksheets and teacher instructions for inquiry-based phenomenon lab
➜ Easy-to-Use Teacher Slides for lab discussion
➜ Handy, step-by-step guides for use with a cow eye dissection, if using (video link for dissection available)

➜ Teacher slide presentation for cow eye dissection (PowerPoint and digital formats)
➜ Reading passage with 3 formats available for differentiation (a standard PDF, an interactive “note-taking” style, and a digital version available through Google Slides)
➜ Teacher presentation slides on the parts of the eye and visual cues (both PowerPoint and digital formats included)
➜ Parts of the eye and visual cues student worksheet
➜ Check-for-understanding assessment questions for end of lesson check-in, 3 versions of the questions included to allow for differentiation (all 3 versions are available in PDF and Google Slides format)
➜ Teaching Guide

This lesson is part of a focus on the NGSS standard MS-LS1-8 (Gather and Synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories). The standard is covered fully in the unit bundle… check it out here!

Related Products

• How the Ear Works (NGSS MS-LS1-8)

• Kinesthetic Sense and the Sense of Touch Lesson (NGSS MS-LS1-8)

• Learning Styles Questionnaire for Students (NGSS MS-LS1-8)

• Nervous System Middle School Lesson (NGSS MS-LS1-8)

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