Piner High School STEAM Certificate L1

Trip to the Exploratorium: Color Blindness

Karen Sun

Presentation Topic: Trip to the Exploratorium: Color Blindness

Presenters: Trip hosted by Kurt Kruger, presentation by the Exploratorium
Date: Thursday, March 30, 2023

Presentation Summary

My trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco with Mr. Kruger and my classmates was a

very enjoyable experience. I had a wonderful time learning and experiencing different scientific

activities. I learned about cells, blood, the way our eyes see things, different traits in people,

water, different plants, and so much more. One thing that stood out to me the most at the

Exploratorium was the color blindness room. I have met quite a few people in my life that are

color blind and I got to experience how it is for them. This room was my favorite attraction as I

got to see how people who are colorblind see things. Once inside the room, all the color from

outside was no longer there. This attraction made me want to further research colorblindness as I

wondered how and why certain people have it and how it affects them as they've never been able

to see color. I learned while I was in the room, that all the color was gone because the room is lit

with the light of only one color whereas, in daily life and the world around us, life is lit with

many different colors. It was interesting to experience the different ways people see color. We

see different colors because when the multi-colored light bounces off of things, some of those

colors will get reflected or absorbed. Whereas, colorblind people cannot see color because they

don’t register that light. The light reflecting off certain objects is what gives them their color. An

example that was given to me was something that appears red will look red because it reflects

red light into the eyes. But, if someone is colorblind to the color red, this would not work the

same for them as they cannot see the color red. Since the room only had one light, no red, green,
blue, or any other colored light, the objects looked to be very similar colors. This attraction

provided by the Exploratorium explained what it is like to be colorblind very well, and, was a

super interesting part of my trip.

Reflection

This trip to the Exploratorium was such a wonderful learning experience as I got to learn

about so much while having fun. The Exploratorium felt like a never-ending ride, there was so

much to look at and experience which led to so much joy and laughter between my friends and

me. Learning about the experience of how colorblindness works was something that really stood

out to me especially since I’ve had teachers and I have friends who are colorblind. While

growing up, I would learn through them what their experience was like but never got to fully

understand it. I researched a little more about it after my trip to the Exploratorium as it inspired

me and reminded me of my previous curiosity on the topic. I also dug a little deeper into how it’s

developed and which races it is most likely to appear in. My trip was really what inspired me to

research more about this topic as there weren’t as many people there to ask questions to. It was

more of a walk-around and teach-yourself experience which made it all that much more

interesting and fun. Some activities I had to take a while to figure out, and some I had to read a

second time to understand. I truly enjoyed this trip and really think that the Exploratorium is a

wonderful place to visit and learn about all the different areas of science.

Related Article Summary

Author: NIH: National Eye Institute
Last Updated: July 3, 2019
Title: Color Blindness
Article: NIH: Color Blindness
 Color Blindness, published by the National Eye Institute explores color blindness and

everything that comes with it. It explores color blindness as a whole, the different types,

symptoms, risks, causes, diagnosis, and treatments. Color blindness is when somebody cannot

identify differences between certain colors or all colors. It’s when somebody sees color in a

different way than what most people see. There are different types of color blindness, such as,

green and red color blindness where it is made very ifficult to tell the difference between the two

or, blue and yellow color blindness, which is similar as people who have it also have a difficult

time telling the difference between the two. Lastly, there is also complete color blindness, this is

where people cannot see color at all. As for symptoms, the main symptoms for color blindness

are not seeing colors in a way that most people see them. This includes, not being able to tell the

difference between two different colors, not being able to tell how bright colors are, or, not being

able to tell the difference between two shades of a color. The risk factors for color blindness are

very interesting, men have a much higher risk of color blindness compared to woman. Other risk

factors of color blindness include, family history, certain eye diseases, certain health problems

like Alzheimer’s, taking certain medications, or race, for example, being white. The main cause

for color blindness is genetics, it is passed down, but, can also occur due to damage to the eye or

brain. Color vision similar to regular vision, can also get worse as you age. It is easy to get tested

for color blindness as it’s usually a simple color test provided by a doctor. There are also many

tests on the internet. As for treatments, there currently are no treatments, but most people find

ways to adjust to it since it does not provide many serious issues.