Psychology students participate in an interactive blindfold lab
Learning more about dependency on the senses, students guide each other through the halls without vision
October 31, 2021
Psychology teacher Kirsten Crandall’s classes have been partaking in a blindfold lab over the past two weeks where students are guided to 10 different locations around the school and have to guess where they are. Psychology students have been learning about sensation perception, and how humans use their five senses, predominantly vision.
Crandall explains that in their current unit, students have discussed the importance of vision.
“We talked about how the senses interact, and how vision is used for things like balance, and other things outside of just what it is that you’re seeing,” Crandall said.
The purpose of the lab is for the blindfolded student to guess their location using their visual memory of the school and their other senses. Classes “compete” through three rounds of the lab, switching roles in the group each time. For most participants, the lab was not an easy activity.
From the Silver 4 class, sophomore Kaelyn Russell said that she had the most trouble with walking and seeing light through the blindfold.
“It’s much harder to stay straight when you’re walking,” Russell said. “The light from the shadows would make one side of [the blindfold] go dark, so it made me think that there was a wall in front of me.”
Crandall noticed the struggle students had walking in a straight line, and how they relied heavily on their perception of the layout of the school.
“They think they understand the layout of the school really well, and they realize they don’t actually,” Crandall said.“The biggest struggle is usually figuring out how to navigate the space.
With the way the lab is set up, it is supposed to be difficult and challenge the students. Despite this presented difficulty, there were some surprising successes throughout the classes. Students enjoyed the reactions they got from everyone else in the school as they stumbled through the halls.
“I liked going into the hall where some of the lunch tables are and [hearing] everyone laughing,” Russell said.
From a holistic standpoint , Crandall says that she appreciates the fact that students have a good time with this lab, and use it as a time to bond with peers.
“Students do a good job of letting it be fun,” Crandall said, “and taking advantage of the opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better.”
