Explorations
One of the main goals of this project is to build on the natural curiosity that makes people want to learn more and provide resources for those further explorations (not just the immediate answers to initial questions). As such, one of the main topics of will be Exploration that will include books and links for more information. To provide some of these resources as the project is being developed, I have created this page to collect the books and links that will likely end up in the modules. They are listed in approximately ascending order of level from those for young children to those for graduate students. But everyone is encouraged to explore everything! Don't forget to scroll all the way down the page. There is a lot of material here.
Please submit comments or suggestions for resources using this feedback form.
Books Updated: Nov. 3, 2009
Links Updated: July 30, 2008
Books
Monique Felix, The Colors, Creative Editions, Mankato (1993).
Alan Baker, White Rabbit's Color Book, Kingfisher, New York (1995).
Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon, Harper Collins, New York (1947).
Bentley & Cahoon, Good Night, Sweet Butterlies: A Color Dreamland, Little Simon, New York (2003).
Eric Carle, My Very First Book of Colors, Penguin, New York (2005).
Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Henry Holt, New York (1967).
Ruth Heller, Color, Putnam & Grosset, New York (1995).
Shane DeRolf, The Crayon Box that Talked, Scholastic, New York (1996).
Dr. Suess, My Many Colored Days, Knopf, New York (1996).
Dr. Suess, One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, Random House, New York (1960).
Hervé Tullet, Pink Lemon, Milet, London (2001).
Joanna Cole, The Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow: A Book About Color, Scholastic, New York (1997).
Betsy Maestro, Why Do Leaves Change Color?, Scholastic, New York (1994).
Anita Ganeri, Nature's Patterns: Season to Season, Heinemann Library, Chicago (2005).
Monica Hughes, Nature's Patterns: Water Cycle, Heinemann Library, Chicago (2004).
Samuel G. Woods, Crayons from Start to Finish, Blackbirch Press, Woodbridge (1999).
"Editors of Klutz", Oddball Eyeballs: A Book on Vision and How Weird it is, Klutz, Palo Alto, (2006).
Jon Richards, The Science Factory, Copper Beech, Brookfield (2000).
Wendy Mass, A Mango-Shaped Space, Little, Brown Young Readers (2003).
Judy Galens and Nancy Pear, The Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents), Visible Ink, Detroit (2002).
Al Seckel, Incredible Visual Illusions: You won't believe your eyes!, Arcturus, London (2003).
David M. Schwartz, Q is for Quark: A Science Alphabet Book, Tricycle Press, Berkeley (2001).
Jayne Parsons, Robin Kerrod, Sharron Ann Holgate, The Way Science Works, DK Children, New York (2002).
David Macaulay, The New Way Things Work, Houghton Mifflin, New York (1998).
Pat Murphy, Ellen Macaulay et al., Exploratopia, Little Brown, New York (2006).
M. Luckiesh, Visual Illusions: Their Causes, Characteristics & Applications, Dover, New York (1965).
Oliver Sacks, An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales, Vintage, New York (1996).
Christopher Griffith, Fall, powerHouse, New York (2004).
Faber Birren, Principles of Color, Schiffer, Atglen (1987).
Richard D. Zakia and Hollis N. Todd, Color Primer I & II, Morgan & Morgan, Dobbs Ferry (1974).
Josef Albers, Interaction of Color, Yale, New Haven (1972).
Hazel Rossotti, Colour: Why the World Isn't Grey, Princeton (1983).
Pat Murphy and Paul Doherty, The Color of Nature, Chronicle Books, San Francisco (1996).
Gideon Defoe, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, Pantheon, New York (2004).
Robert Greenler, Rainbows, Halos, and Glories, Cambridge (1980).
Jean Bourges, Color Bytes: Blending the Art and Science of Color, Chromatics Press, Forest Hills (1997).
Faber Birren, Color and Human Response, Wiley, New York (1978).
Jim Long and Joy Turner Luke, The New Munsell Student Color Set, 2nd Ed., Fairchild, New York (2001).
Thomas D. Rossing and Christopher J. Chiaverina, Teaching Light & Color, AAPT, College Park (2001).
David P. Jackson, Priscilla W. Laws, and Scott V. Franklin, Explorations in Physics: An Activity-Based Approach to Understanding the World, Wiley, New York (2003).
Trevor Lamb and Janine Bourriau, Color: Art and Science, Cambridge (1995).
David K. Lynch and William Livingston, Color and Light in Nature, Cambridge (2001).
Samuel J. Williamson and Herman Z. Cummins, Light and Color in Nature and Art, Wiley, New York (1983).
Maureen C. Stone, A Field Guide to Digital Color, A.K. Peters, Natick (2003).
Richard D. Zakia, Perception and Imaging, 2nd Ed., Focal, Boston (2002).
Pete Turner, The Color of Jazz, Rizzoli, New York (2006).
Austin Richards, Alien Vision: Exploring the Electromagnetic Spectrum with Imaging Technology, SPIE, Bellingham (2007).
William L. Wolfe, optics Made Clear: The Nature of Light and How We Use It, SPIE Press, Bellingham (1999).
Thomas D. Rossing and Christopher J. Chiaverina, Light Science: Physics and the Visual Arts, Springer, New York (1999).
David Falk, Dieter Brill, and David Stork, Seeing the Light: Optics in Nature, Photography, Color, Vision, and Holography, Wiley, New York (1986).
Graham Saxby, The Science of Imaging: An Introduction, IoP, Bristol (2002).
Ralph M. Evans, Eye, Film, and Camera in Color Photography, Wiley, New York (1959).
Richard Jackson, Lindsay MacDonald, and Ken Freeman, Computer Generated Color, Wiley, Chichester (1994).
Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World, Random House, New York (2002).
Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses, Vintage Books, New York (1990).
Kenneth R. Fehrman and Cherie Fehrman, Color: The Secret Influence, 2nd Ed., Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey (2004).
David A. Goss and Roger W. West, Introduction to the Optics of the Eye, Butterworth Heinemann, Boston (2002).
Margaret Livingstone, Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing, Harry N. Abrams, New York (2002).
Leo M. Hurvich, Color Vision, Sinauer, Sunderland (1981).
Harvey Richard Schiffman, Sensation and Perception: An Integrated Approach, 4th Ed., Wiley, New York (1996).
Dale Purves and R. Beau Lotto, Why We See What We Do: An Empirical Theory of Vision, Sinauer, Sunderland (2003).
Philip Ball, Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color, Farrar, Straus And Giroux, New York (2001).
Raymond L. Lee and Alistair B. Fraser, The Rainbow Bridge: Rainbows in Art, Myth, and Science, Penn State Press (2001).
Heinrich Zollinger, Color: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Wiley, Weinheim (1999).
John Gage, Color and Meaning: Art, Science, and Symbolism, University of California Press, Berkeley (1999).
John Gage, Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction, University of California Press, Berkeley (1993).
Rolf G. Kuehni, Color: Essence and Logic, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York (1983).
Rolf G. Kuehni, Color: An Introduction to Practice and Principles, 2nd Ed., Wiley, New York (2005).
Rolf G. Kuehni and Andreas Schwarz, Color Ordered: A Survey of Color Systems from Antiquity to the Present, Oxford University Press, New York (2008).
Kurt Nassau, The Physics and Chemistry of Color: The Fifteen Causes of Color, Wiley, New York (1983).
R.W.G. Hunt, The Reproduction of Colour, 6th Ed., Wiley, Chichester (2004).
Roy S. Berns, Billmeyer and Saltzman's Principles of Color Technology, 3rd Ed., Wiley, New York (2000).
E. Reinhard, E.A. Khan, A.O. Akyüz, G.M. Johnson, Color Imaging: Fundamentals and Applications, A.K. Peters, Wellesley (2008).
Mark D. Fairchild, Color Appearance Models, 2nd Ed., Wiley, Chichester (2005).
Links
Linda's Learning Links (Colors)
A website for teachers and parents of young children. Tidbits collected and provided by a kindergarten teacher.Crayola
Learn about crayons and other color topics (like favorite colors). Lots of activities too. Here is a direct link to the pages with information on America's favorite colors.Color Can be Healthy for Kids!
Five a Day the Color Way! A fun site for kids that uses color to help remind everyone to eat their veggies and fruits..FOSSweb
A site with educational resources for students, teachers, and parents. Includes a variety of interactive science modules in three collections (K-2, 3-6, and Middle School). Great fun and great resources. FOSS stands for "Full Option Science System"..Earth Science Picture of the Day
Astronomy Picture of the Day
National Geographic Photo of the Day
Three very interesting "picture-of-the-day" sites.NASA Images
NASA Images offers public access to NASA's images, videos and audio collections. NASA Images is constantly growing with the addition of current media from NASA as well as newly digitized media from the archives of the NASA Centers. The goal of NASA Images is to increase our understanding of the earth, our solar system and the universe beyond in order to benefit humanity.Why Leaves Change Color
Here is a concise and accurate explanation from the US Dept. of Agriculture.Maple Syrup Color
Maple syrup is done when it reaches 7.5 degrees above the boiling point of water (at a density that is 67% sugar and 33% water). It is not made darker by boiling it longer (or lighter and therefore more expensive by boiling for less time). The colors of various grades come from the nature of the sap. This site provides a brief explanation and other information about Maple syrup.Liquid Scultpure - Water Art
Fun high-speed images of water droplets doing various things in various colors. It is interesting to observe the various color mixtures and formations in the images and ponder how they were made.Neuroscience for Kids
"Discover the exciting world of the brain, spinal cord, neurons and the senses. Use the experiments, activities and games to help you learn about the nervous system. There are plenty of links to other web sites for you to explore".Infrared Zoo
Part of a site on infrared astronomy at Caltech, CoolCosmos. The entire site is worth exploring. The link goes right to their "infrared zoo" that has images of various animals made with a thermal infrared camera (images of emitted heat, rather than relfected light). The only downside is that they make the all-too-common mistake of calling infrared energy, "infrared light". If you can't see it, it's not light!Coloring Carnations
A nice experiment on making carnations different colors. The site also includes other interesting experiments and other resources.Color in Motion
"An interactive experience of color communication and color symbolism.""Science Myths" in K-6 Textbooks and Popular Culture
If someone is taught something incorrectly first, it is very difficult to "unlearn" that mistake and "learn" the correct information. This website points out some errors and misconceptions that creep into students educational experiences. There is also a lot of other information to explore there.Ames Room Explanation
A nice explanation of the visual illusion of distorted space and size known as the Ames Room. Also explore the links to the "Hall of Illusions".Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena
A wonderful collection of visual phenomena with great interactive demonstrations and detailed explanations.Optics for Kids
"Exploring the science of light" for kids from the Optical Society of America.A Very Cool Illusion
My original link has expired, but here is a link to an explanation of a very cool illusion that has been popular on the internet. This one demonstration shows both how stimuli fade in the periphery and illustrates chromatic adaptation.Selective Perception
Follow these instructions before you click the link...In the video you will see a group of basketball players, some in white and some in black, passing two balls around. Your goal is to count how many times the ball is passed by those wearing white shirts. It's that simple. Remember, count just the passes of the ball by those wearing white. Once the movie is over, write down the number of passes you have counted.
Now WATCH THE VIDEO.
Did you see anything strange? Watch the video again without following the basketball.
More Visual Illusion Links
Several people have submitted links to pages with visual illusions. Here is a list of some of them. (Thanks, Seth!)Ted Adelson's Discounting-the-Illuminant Demo on APOD.
Grand Illusions.
Mo' Illusions.
Archimedes' Laboratory.
UML Illusions Gallery.
A YouTube Compilation.
