Neuroscience Students Show Brains to Kids
During Brain Awareness Week 2008 (March 10th-14th), Dr. Greg Butcher’s Introduction to Neuroscience class was given the assignment of inventing hands-on activities to teach Hillsdale Elementary students something about the brain. In addition to learning the concepts themselves, Centenary students were faced with the challenge of conveying the information to an audience of fourth-graders, posing questions like:
- Are you right- or left-brained?
- How fast can you react to catch a falling object?
- How do you build a brain cell?
Activities also included a lesson in neuroanatomy using a real human brain, a test of mental flexibility, and a game that illustrated how neurons (brain cells) communicate.
The presentations were a roaring success. Rebekah Lewis, a Hillsdale Elementary Teacher had this to say to our students:
Thank you so much for coming to our classroom! You can't know, but my kids are the "talk of the town" this week...they are so popular! I have parents calling, other teachers coming to my room, students dropping by to see if there were any brains hanging out, waiting to be held. The best thing, though, is that I get to hear my kids EXPLAINING to other kids what they learned! I love it. –
Find out more about the the Centenary College Neuroscience Program.