Why do we sometimes see the same thing differently?

Step 1 Depending on the age or grade level of the participants, either the facilitator or the participant/s read chapter one of The Little Prince. 

Step 2 Facilitator introduces the prompt (Step 3) and poses the questions (listed below each image) for participants to consider, discuss, and wonder about.

Step 3 Read or restate in your own words the following prompt to participants.

Did you know that it is possible for two people to look at the same thing, for example, a drawing, and yet see, understand, or interpret that thing differently from each other (at least initially, though sometimes indefinitely)? 

We will look at some drawings to help us understand how this is possible. 

Recall, in chapter one of The Little Prince, the narrator (a.k.a. the Pilot), an adult, starts his story by sharing a memory of his from when he was a young person. When he was six years old, he had learned the following facts from a book: There is a kind of large snake, called a boa constrictor, that swallows their prey (other animals they consume as food) whole, without chewing it. After the snake swallows its prey, it is not able to move. Instead, the snake sleeps for months while they digest their meal. After thinking about these facts, the narrator makes a drawing of a snake digesting an elephant, which he titles, “My Drawing Number One” (Chapter 1, The Little Prince).  

Show “My Drawing Number One” from chapter one of The Little Prince to participants.

Here is his drawing.

Questions: 

1. Check for understanding. Now, according to the narrator, what did he make a drawing of when he was a kid? And what does the narrator see when he looks at his own drawing?
2. Check for understanding. What did the adults see when they looked at his drawing?
3. Check for understanding. Do the adults see the same thing that the child who drew the picture sees when they look at the drawing?
4. In this case, why do you think the adults see the drawing differently than the child who drew it?
5. If you didn’t know the narrator had made this drawing to be of a snake digesting an elephant, what would you guess it was? In other words, what do you see when you look at this drawing? 
6. Have you ever had an experience like the narrator’s where you had to explain a drawing you made to an adult or another person to help them see and understand it? Was the person able to see and understand it after you explained it to them?
7. Why do you think young people and adults might sometimes see the same thing differently? Do you think people the same age sometimes see the same thing differently? Why?

Optional extension

Prompt continued: Let’s look at two other drawings. 

First, show the Duck-rabbit illusion image (public domain). Show the image, but do not name or describe it. Using the questions below, discuss the duck-rabbit illusion image. Then, show the young lady/old lady illusion image using the questions below.

Questions: 

1. Looking at this drawing, what do you see?
2. Does anyone see something different? What do you see?
3. Does anyone else see something different? What do you see?
4. Can anyone see more than one thing in this drawing? What do you see?
5. Check for understanding. Is it possible for us to sometimes see the same thing differently from each other?
6. Why do you think people sometimes see the same thing differently?
7. Imagine two people are having a disagreement about this (duck/rabbit or young lady/old lady) drawing. One person says the drawing is of a rabbit/old lady. The other person says, no, it is a drawing of a duck/young lady. Then, they ask you: Which one of us is right about this drawing? What do you say to them? 
8. Why might seeing the same thing differently lead two people to argue? 
9. Do you think it is a good thing, a bad thing, or neither a good nor bad thing, that people sometimes see the same thing differently? And why?