Do You See What I See?

Objective: 

• Students practice communicating their own point of view to another person who may not see things the same way

Materials:

• Four to six ambiguous optical illusions
• Ambiguous optical illusions have two pictures in one - the mind switches between seeing one, then the other
• See examples

Steps:

• Prepare several illusions to show to students, start out easy and make them progressively more difficult
• Depending on the size of the group either direct students to pair off and look at images, or stay together as a group
• Make sure that all students see both images
• If some students can’t see one part of the image then have other students help them see

Debriefing:

Ask students:

• How did you feel when you were trying to show someone something that they couldn’t see?
• How did it feel when you couldn’t see something that the others could?
• Did anyone lie and say they could see something when they really couldn’t?
• What worked to help someone see something they couldn’t see at first? Pointing to it? Describing it differently? Is there anything we could have done that we didn't do?
• How does this relate to communication and relationships?
• What does this activity tell us about communication?
• What did you learn from this activity that you could use next time you have a disagreement with someone?