Free Curriculum Guides Offer Engaging Teacher Tools for Health and Science Education
SAN FRANCISCO – As students and teachers head back to the classroom, the American Academy of Ophthalmology and its Museum of the Eye invite educators to take advantage of their free eye health and science of vision curriculum. The organization's curriculum guides focus on a variety of engaging eye-related topics including the differences between human and animal vision, and how the brain processes images like optical illusions and 3D. Each of the four guides is filled with discussion points and interactive activities, making it easy and enjoyable for teachers to plan their lessons and teach children about their eyes.
Most states require schools to teach eye health and vision to 6th, 7th and 8th-graders as part of their life science, physical science, and health curriculum. The Academy's eye health and vision curriculum guides help teachers present these subjects to children in an engaging, memorable way while also meeting statewide standards for science and health education.
"The wonders of the eye can mesmerize youngsters, so it's a really fun topic for teachers to present to their students," said Jenny Benjamin, director of the Museum of the Eye. "Learning about eye health can provide children with a lifetime of vision benefits."
The Museum of the Eye offers curriculum guides on the following topics:
- Healthy Eyes, Healthy Body teaches children about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle for their whole body, including their eyes. This curriculum was created for Let's Move! Museum & Gardens, a national initiative to teach kids about healthy choices.
- Eye Openers: Exploring Optical Illusions helps educators teach basic concepts of vision. It includes activities and handouts for an engaging learning experience.
- Animal Eyes explores the eyes of the animal kingdom, including how some animal eyes are designed to see sharp from a long distance or in the dark. Children learn how animals and humans see the world differently.
- Art and Vision: Seeing in 3-D helps educators teach basic concepts of vision and visual techniques that create the illusion of depth.
Intended for children age 10-14, each of the curriculum guides can be downloaded from the Museum of the Eye website free of charge. Learn more about the Museum of Eye's curriculum guides at: museumofvision.org/education.
In addition to the Museum of the Eye's curriculum guides, the American Academy of Ophthalmology also works to educate the public about eye health through its EyeSmart® public education program. EyeSmart provides the most trustworthy and medically accurate information for all ages to learn about eye diseases, conditions, risk factors and prevention to help maintain healthy vision. Learn more at www.aao.org/eye-health.
About the American Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons — Eye M.D.s — with 32,000 members worldwide. Eye health care is provided by the three "O's" – ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. It is the ophthalmologist, or Eye M.D., who can treat it all: eye diseases, infections and injuries, and perform eye surgery. For more information, visit www.aao.org. The Academy's EyeSmart® program educates the public about the importance of eye health and empowers them to preserve their healthy vision. EyeSmart provides the most trustworthy and medically accurate information about eye diseases, conditions and injuries. OjosSanos™ is the Spanish-language version of the program. Visit EyeSmart or OjosSanos to learn more.
About the Museum of the Eye
The Museum of the Eye is an educational program of the Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. It is the only institution in the United States whose sole purpose is to preserve the history of ophthalmology and celebrate its unique contributions to science and health. The Museum of the Eye strives to inspire an appreciation of vision science, the ophthalmic professions and contributions made toward preventing blindness. For more information on the Museum of the Eye, visit www.aao.org/museum.
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