Page 1 of 13
Student Bio Expo 2012
Submission Template for Electronic Projects
Before filling out this form, choose the “save as” function to rename this document. Label the document as follows:
2-Letter Category Abbreviation_2-Letter School Abbreviation_LastName
For example, Lucy Jones from Eastlake High School submitting a Lab Research project would label her file:
LR_EL_Jones
2-letter category and school abbreviations can be found on the last page of this document.
Please read through this form completely before beginning.
After completion, use the “save as” function to save this document as a PDF, if possible.
Part I
Cover Sheet
Student Name:
Maddie Thomas
School:
Ballard High School
Teacher Name:
Ellen Reimer
Grade Level:
11
Category:
Art
Title of Project:
Painting for the Colorblind
For Drama/Dance, Multimedia, and Teaching categories: enter the URL of your YouTube site
here:
For Drama/Dance, Multimedia, Music, SeaVuria and SMART Categories: Enter the name(s)
of team members, if applicable:
Mentor name, if applicable:
I understand that I need to supply any special AV or electrical equipment needed for my
project (i.e. CD player, DVD player, laptop computer, extension cord).
Page 2 of 13
Part II
Category Requirements
A.
Artist’s Statement
For Art, Drama/Dance, Multimedia and Music, insert your 1-5 page artist’s statement
here. All other categories skip to Part B.
Artistic Statement
For my Bio Expo art project reinterpreted Van Gogh’s famous sunflowers. I used acrylic paint on
canvas to accomplish this. The purpose of this painting was to create an art piece that would be
appreciated more by a colorblind person than by a person with normal vision. Hypothetically if a
colorblind person and a person with normal sight were both looking at my artwork, the colorblind person
would have the advantage over the other. My painting is titled “Painting for the Colorblind”. This peculiar
perspective of a colorblind person having the advantage, will be achieved by changing the color palette of
a traditional painting. I focused on the form of color blindness called protanopia; it’s a common form of
color blindness and distorts the red-green color spectrum of its forbearers. With protanopia red and orange
becomes olive and chartreuse, green might as well be the same color as orange because it also appears to
be a bright yellow/ chartreuse hue. However these same distorted colors, olive, yellow, chartreuse, are the
same colors that naturally appear in Van Gogh’s sunflower painting. In my interpretation of this painting,
I painted the flowers bright shades of orange and red. My version of the painting isn’t unappealing to a
person with normal vision, but it will not be what Van Gogh would have intended his audience to see; a
colorblind person will see his intention though. Therefore in this scenario the colorblind person will have
the advantage and see what they are “supposed” to see. Through this piece I hope to challenge traditional
perspectives and show that color blindness can have advantages; not just visual disadvantages.
B.
Additional Requirements
For this category:
Insert this requirement:
Art
 Photograph or detailed sketch of your art piece. Include a JPEG no
larger than 500 KG in size.
Page 3 of 13
Career/Industry
 8-12 page Business Plan, Annual Report or Paper.
 Journal, if in electronic form. If not, bring it to the Expo.
Drama/Dance

5-10 page script or outline of choreography.

Outline of PowerPoint presentation (or save PPT slides as handouts or
as a PDF and insert below)

Photograph or detailed sketch of your model. Include a JPEG no larger
than 500 KG in size.
Multimedia

Storyboards
Music


Lyrics/Score
Link to MP3 or URL containing music
SeaVuria

Copy of journal and interview notes
SMART Teams

No additional requirements. Skip to Part III.
Teaching

Student Handouts for lesson


Print out the information in Part I (Cover Sheet) and attach it to the CD
containing your Website. Give the cover sheet and CD to your teacher or
mail it directly to NWABR.
IF your website is hosted on an external server, insert the URL to access
the project in the gray square below.
You do not need to complete any more of this form.
Writing—Creative

No additional requirements. Skip to Part III.
Writing—Journalism

Interview notes
Lab Research
Molecular Modeling
Website

Insert your required items in the gray square below:
Part III
Science Content
For this category:
Insert this requirement:
Art, Career/Industry, Drama/Dance, Molecular Modeling,
Multimedia, Music
5-10 page Science Background Paper
Lab Research
10-15 page Science Background Paper
SeaVuria
10-15 page Background Report
SMART teams
Abstract. Skip to Part V for Annotated Bibliography
Teaching
8-12 page Lesson Plan
Writing—Creative and Journalism
8-12 page Paper
Page 4 of 13
Copy and paste the written portion of your project in the gray square below:
Color Blindness Research Paper
Color blindness is the inability to see color in the usual way. It can cause people to have trouble
seeing the brightness and shades of colors. Color blindness was first discovered in1794 by the scientist
and chemist, John Dalton [Boyer, The History of Colorblindness, Ehow.com]. Dalton was also known for
his development of the atomic theory. Dalton and his brother were color blind themselves. They originally
described color blindness as “the [faulty] perception of color was caused by discoloration of the liquid
medium in the eyeball” [Boyer, The History of Colorblindness, Ehow.com]. Dalton had deuteranopia, the
type of color blindness that prevents people from seeing the green-yellow-red section of the color
spectrum [Boyer, The History of Colorblindness, Ehow.com].
Color blindness occurs when there is a problem in the color sensing granules (pigments) in eye
nerve cells. These are called cones and are in the retina. No other known body parts are affected by this
disease. Most people who suffer from color blindness inherited the disorder. Color blindness is a recessive
X-linked genetic mutation. X-linked inherited mutations occur due to a mutation on a gene in the X
chromosome. Females have two X chromosomes while men only have one X chromosome and another Y
chromosome. Recessive genes need two expressions in alleles to be present in the phenotype (outward,
physical appearance). However males only have one X chromosome, so X-linked recessive genes show in
their phenotypes. If a female inherited an X-linked recessive trait she would be considered a carrier. Being
a genetic carrier means that she contains the genetic mutation on one of her X chromosomes, but the other
is free of the mutation and therefore she doesn’t physically display the problem. This is more clearly
displayed in Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2 below. Figure 1.1 shows a chart of X-linked recessive heredity.
Figure 1.2 shows a Punnett Square for an X-linked mutation where the mother is a carrier.
Page 5 of 13
Figure 1.1
[U.S. Natioal Library of Medicine]
Figure 1.2
[http://babyeggjournal.files.wordpress.com]
Very few women are color blind since most are carriers; however, one in every ten males has
some variation of color blindness. Though in most cases color blindness is hereditary, color blindness can
also develop from certain diseases and drugs. Tritanopia can be caused when an eye disease attacks the
retina. Protanopia can be caused when a disease attacks the optic nerve. Additionally, the drug
hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) can cause patients to develop color blindness. Hydroxychloroquine has
been used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Protanopia, deuteranopia, and trianopia are several different examples of color blindness.
Protanopia prevents one from seeing red and green; severe red-green color blindness can result in
someone seeing reds and greens as beiges and grays. Deuteranopia is the most common kind of color
blindness; approximately 6% of the entire male population has it [PubMed Health, Color Blindness,
ncbi.gov]. Deuteranopia results in the inability to see medium wavelength colors such as greens.
Tritanopia is the third leading form of color blindness but is very rare. Contrarily, tritanopia isn’t an xlinked mutation; the mutation is found on chromosome 7. Tritanopia distorts the perception of the violet
end of the color spectrum, causing forbears to only be able to see pink, blue and purple. In the world for
Page 6 of 13
patients with tritanopia; red, orange, green and yellow are nonexistent. Figure 2.1 shows the difference
between viewing the rainbow in normal vision and seeing it with red-green colorblindness (protanopia).
Figure 2.1
[PubMed Health, Color Blindness, ncbi.gov]
There is another uncommon form of color blindness called achromatopsia. Achromatopsia is the
only form of complete color blindness. Patients with achromatopsia only see variations of gray. Generally
they also possess nystamus, which is a disorder causing small, jerky, side to side eye movements.
Additionally people with achromatopsia are severely sensitive to light and have very poor vision.
Color blindness is often detected in children when they are beginning to learn their colors.
However some people containing more mild forms of color blindness are completely unaware that they
have the disorder until they are tested for it. There are no risks associated with taking color blindness
tests; tests involve patterns and primary colors. The most popular form of color blindness testing is the
“Ishihara” test. This is a test using pseudo- isochromatic plates. These plates contain dots on them varying
in different hues and colors. There will be a number or shape inside of the plate; that number will be in a
different color than the surrounding dots. For example in Figure 3.1 here is a green dotted number 2
inside of a series of red dots, this color test shows how patients with different types of color blindness will
view the image instead.
Page 7 of 13
Figure 3.1
Pictured: An Ishihara color test.
[PubMed Health, Color Blindness, ncbi.gov]
Though color blindness is a lifelong disorder, it is not life threatening. There is no official “cure”
for color blindness yet; however there are certain kinds of contact lenses and glasses that can artificially
help people see certain colors. Possessing color blindness may prevent people from being able to have job
positions in aviation, areas of law enforcement, transportation and the military. Culinary, technical, art
and design fields may also be challenging for color blind individuals [Pollack, When Color Blindness
Cramps Careers, New York Times]. However a contestant on the ninth season of the hit fashion designing
television show, Project Runway, Anthony Ryan, had color blindness and still made it very far into the
competition. The person I interviewed for my project, my neighbor K.C. Morgan, is an electronic and
software tester for Microsoft and also has color blindness. K.C. has slight red-green color blindness. It is
not intense enough to prevent him from seeing colors on traffic lights, but it is severe enough to have
made him think twice about his career. When he was younger he wanted to be a naval pilot, when he was
diagnosed with color blindness in middle school he needed to find new career possibilities. K.C. wasn’t
Page 8 of 13
held back in his career at Microsoft by his disorder; however it made him reconsider that Microsoft’s
software systems need to cater to people with all types of vision.
Anthony Ryan and K.C. Morgan are examples of creative people who have not been limited by their
disorder. They have been able to overcome their disabilities and still have creative, artistic careers.
Universities such as the University of Washington, University of California – Santa Barbara and
the University of Florida have come together and collectively found the cure to color blindness in squirrel
monkeys from specific gene therapy. William W. Hauswirth from the UF College of Medicine explained
the procedure gene therapy; “We’ve added red sensitivity to cone cells in animals that are born with a
condition that is exactly like human color blindness” [University of Florida News, Scientists Cure Color
Blindness in Monkeys, http://news.ufl.edu]. Hauswirth continues to state that a cure for color blindness in
humans is likely in the future, “Although color blindness is only moderately life-altering, we’ve shown
we can cure a cone disease in a primate, and that it can be done very safely. That’s extremely encouraging
for the development of therapies for human cone diseases that really are blinding” [University of Florida
News, Scientists Cure Color Blindness in Monkeys, http://news.ufl.edu].
Color blindness is a fascinating genetic mutation that affects millions of people worldwide. Within
the past decade there has been amazing discovery about color blindness and research projects and
inventions created to help fix the disease. From the temporary fix of color correcting contact lenses, to the
cure of color blindness in squirrel monkeys, the potential of ending color blindness is slowly starting to
become more likely.
Page 9 of 13
Part IV
Effort in Use of Resources
Include 1-2 typed pages describing the resource(s) you put the most effort into using. More weight is given in
judging to those students who put more effort into locating and using available resources. A good use of resources
may include working with an advisor or mentor, making arrangements to tour a company, interviewing an adult in
your field, or other sources. What did you learn? How did this resource help you? An interview with an adult in the
field carries far more weight than a Google search.
If a qualified adult (i.e. your Expo Mentor, someone you interviewed or a tour guide at site visit) significantly helped
you with your project, please include:
a) The person’s name, title and contact information.
b) Dates you emailed, talked on the phone or met.
Page 10 of 13
c) Your thoughtful reflections on the experience of working with that person.
Insert your Effort in Use of Resource in the gray square below:
Use of Resources
I interviewed my neighbor K.C. Morgon on December 4th, 2011. K.C. was a very insightful source
because he has protanopia (red-green color blindness). Though I was able to understand how people with
color blindness viewed the world with my research, I wasn’t able to comprehend how they interact with
the world until my interview.
I did not have an official mentor; however I met with the Ballard High School art teacher, Matt
Harkleroad for advisement. On Tuesday, February 21st I came to Mr.Harkleroad in need of motivation and
help with brainstorming for my project. He was very inspiring, and his ideas helped me form my final
concept. Mr. Harkleroad was the one who formed the “Painting for the Colorblind” idea.
On Thursday, April 5th I talked with my genetics teacher Ms.Reimer after class to clear up final
details with my art project. I was second guessing my concept, but she reassured me that my concept was
solid and that I should continue moving forward.
In addition to my interview, and my meetings with various teachers, I found information and
pictures online from Richard Ingram to be incredibly helpful. The article “Colour Blindness and the Web”
[http://www.richardingram.co.uk/2010/03/colour-blindness-and-the-web/] provided resourceful
information about color blindness, personal anecdotes about how Ingram himself has struggled with being
color blind, and fascinating pictures. The “Wheel of Fortune” photos on my poster come from Ingram’s
website. These photos helped my wrap my head around how people with different kinds of color
blindness would view the same object.
Page 11 of 13
Part V
Annotated Bibliography
Copy and paste your annotated bibliography in the gray square below:
Printed Sources:
1) "Color Blindness - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Color Blindness - NY Times Health
Information." Health News - The New York Times. Web. 03 Dec. 2011.
<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/color-blindness/overview.html?scp=1>. Print.
This source was from the New York Times, the majority of print articles were in fact. The New York Times one of the most
famous and most credible newspapers in the country. The intended audience for this article could be other doctors, students
(like myself) researching color blindness, or perhaps someone who has just been diagnosed with color blindness. This source is
an overview of the causes, symptoms and complications of color blindness. It was very informative and helped me get
information on the symptoms of being color blind.
2) Mohn, Tanya. "When Color Blindness Cramps Careers." The New York Times - Breaking News, World
News & Multimedia. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/23/jobs/whencolorblindness-cramps-careers.html?scp=5>. Print.
This is also from the New York Times. The intended audience of this article could be individuals searching for jobs who are
color blind. It could also be intended for company employers. This news article is about how different careers are influenced by
color blindness. Positions in the military and law enforcement are especially strict on employees having color blindness; some
restrict and ban it. This was helpful for my paper because it gave me scenarios to relate the disorder to the real world.
3) Pollack, Andrew. "A New Technology That Colors the World (Sort Of) - New York Times." The New York
Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 03 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/08/health/a-new-technology-that-colors-the-world-sortof.html>. Print.
This source is additionally from the New York Times. The intended audience for this source is people who are color blind.
This source is a breaking news piece saying that there’s new (new as of 2000), glasses that can help restore the vision of color
blind people. The article was very helpful to me because I had no idea that color correcting lenses existed until I read this
article.
4) Rosenthal, Odeda, and Robert H. Phillips. Coping with Colorblindness. New York: Avery Publ., 1997.
Print.
This source is a book by Odeda Rosenthal; her book seems well written and creditable. The intended audience for this book is
definitely people with color blindness. In this book Rosenthal fully explains color blindness, the history of the disorder and
specific techniques of coping with color blindness by using humor and positive thinking. I did not fully read this book but I
read portions of it online, it helped me get a better perspective on the daily life of a color blind person.
Online Sources:
5) "Color Blindness - PubMed Health." Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001997/>.
In my opinion, this source was creditable because it’s from a government run domain. This is a public health and medical site,
likely directed at students and researchers. This website includes a variety of different information about color blindness. It
mentions everything from a detailed description of the different types, to explaining why color blindness occurs. Overall this
was the most valuable source I found and the majority of my information is from this site.
Page 12 of 13
6) Boyer, Allison. "The History of Colorblindness | EHow.com." EHow | How to Videos, Articles & More Discover the Expert in You. | EHow.com. Web. 04 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.ehow.com/about_5245823_history-colorblindness.html>.
This source is creditable because it’s from a website dedicated to health news and healthy living. This article could be aimed at
students, researchers, doctors, or patients with color blindness. This website shows this history of color blindness. This was
very resourceful for my paper because I was able to gain a lot of information about John Dalton.
7) Dutton, Frank. "About Color Blindness - Dangers and Frustrations." Comprehensive Toledo Bend Lake
Information Resource - Toledo-Bend.Com. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://www.toledobend.com/colorblind/aboutCB.asp>.
The author is easy to find on this website; which shows that it’s fairly creditable. This is from some kind of informational site
based in Texas. The information informs the reader of day to day challenges that colorblind people have. I was aware of a few
of them, but many are outside of the box and very insightful. For example, someone who had red-green color blindness might
not always be able to tell if they are getting a sunburn and turning red. Additionally if someone is cooking meat, they might not
be able to tell if it still looks red or if the meat is well done. This was very helpful for developing a perspective of common
issues for people with this disorder.
8) Evans, Laura. "What It's LIke to Be Color Blind." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about
Children's Health. No Such Thing As Color. Web. 13 Jan. 2012.
<http://kidshealth.org/Features.jsp?lic=1>.
I found a video from a kid’s health website; this shows credibility. This video is simple and fairly cute. It’s from the
perspective of a little kid interviewing someone with color blindness. The interviewee in this video had a different type of color
blindness than the person I interviewed. This man had deutrantopia I believe, because he confused a wide range of colors,
instead of just reds and greens. This helped give me multiple perspectives about life with color blindness because most other
sources I found just focused on protanopia.
New Sources:
9) Photograph. See by Seeing. Web. <http://www.richardingram.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2009/07/colour_wheel_tritanopia.jpg>.
I cannot be certain that this photo is necessarily from a reliable source, since it was a random image that appeared when I
searched “tritanopia” on Google. Regardless of credibility, this image was definitely helpful in being able to further visualize
the difference between what a normal person sees and what a colorblind person sees. In this case, it’s specific to what a person
with tritanopia sees, meaning they can only see the violet end of the color spectrum and only see pink, blue and purple.
10) Photograph. Vincent Van Gogh. Web.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_127.jpg>.
This specific photo is from Wikipedia, so the credibility may be questionable. However this is a painting of Vincent Van
Gogh’s famous sunflowers, I felt the most original version was from Wikipedia. This was helpful in terms of inspiration for my
art project.
Part VI
Any Additional Information (optional)
If there is anything else you would like to include with your project, describe it or insert it in the
gray square below:
After completion, use the “save as” function to save this document as a PDF, if possible.
Project Labeling Information
Page 13 of 13
Category
Art
Career & Industry
Drama & Dance
Lab Research
Molecular Modeling
Multimedia
Music
SeaVuria
SMART
Teaching
Website
Writing - Creative
Writing - Journalism
School
Attic Learning Community
Ballard
Cleveland
Eastlake
Eastside Catholic
Eastside Prep
Forest Ridge
Glacier Peak
Ingraham
Juanita
Kent Meridian
Lynnwood
Mercer Island
Roosevelt
Royal
Shorecrest
Snohomish
Stanwood
TEC
West Seattle
Woodinville
W. F. West HS, Chehalis
Category
Abbreviation
AR
CI
DD
LR
MO
ML
MU
SV
SM
TE
WB
WC
WJ
School
Abbreviation
AL
BA
CL
EL
EC
EP
FR
GP
IN
JA
KM
LW
MI
RO
RH
SC
SN
ST
TE
WS
WO
WFW