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Question Sheet: Look into My Eyes

SCIENCE

Before reading:

  1. Turn to a neighbor and look into his or her eyes. Name the parts of the eye that you can see.

  2. Now look into his or her eyes again. Record everything that you can see reflected in them.

During reading:

  1. What are the tiny glints of light that we see in other people's eyes?

  2. Explain in your own words Shree Nayar's new tracking technology.

  3. What are some of the problems with other kinds of eye-tracking technology that already existed?

  4. What is an environment map?

  5. Name three possible uses for Nayar's eye-tracking technology.

  6. How could this technology change the way people use computers?

After reading:

  1. How could eye-tracking technology improve video games? Think up two specific improvements you think might be possible with this technology. See www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060818005632.htm.

  2. Why might some people not want to allow a computer track their eyes?

  3. If your teacher could track your eyes during class, would that make you behave differently?

  4. Ask a neighbor to tell one thing that's true and then one thing that's false. While you watch their eyes, have them repeat the truth and the lie three times each. Do they move their eyes differently when they tell the truth than they do when they lie?

  5. Now ask the same neighbor a factual question, such as, What did you eat for dinner last night? Have him or her give two answers—the truth and a lie—without telling you which answer is which. If you look in the person's eyes while he or she answers, can you guess which is the falsehood?

  6. Now, while you stare into your neighbor's eyes, ask him or her to look to one side and stare at an object. From your perspective, does that object appear in your neighbor's pupil or does it appear a little to the side of the pupil that's closer to their nose? Can you explain why the object appears where it does in the reflected view you see?

SOCIAL STUDIES

Imagine you have created a Web site and can track the eyes of the people who use your site. Could eye tracking tell you which parts of your site visitors use most? How could you use that knowledge to make your site even better?

LANGUAGE ARTS

  1. Do portrait paintings show reflections in eyes? Go to a museum and look at five different painting by different artists. Do any of the paintings depict reflection of light in the eyes of the subject? (If you don't have time to visit a museum, you can search for portrait paintings on Google Images.) Write a short paper comparing the ways that different painters paint eyes.

  2. Pretend you are the manager of a store. How would you use eye-tracking technology to figure out which products your customers like most?

MATHEMATICS

What is an ellipse? How can you draw an ellipse using a pencil, string, and two pins? See www.mathopenref.com/constellipse1.html or, for a video, see www.metacafe.com/watch/399991/draw_a_perfect_ellipse/.

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