While many third graders are just starting to learn how to read charts and graphs, understand the solar system, and make sense of other basic science and math concepts, nearly 200 third-graders from Saint Frances Cabrini Regional School and Saint Francis DeSales, West Philadelphia Achievement Charter School, and Academy at Palumbo High School visited the Penn campus last month for an introduction to neuroscience.
The students were asked to “judge” hands-on science activities developed by students at Penn, including undergraduate Biological Basis of Behavior program majors and graduate students in neuroscience.
“For us, it’s an easy way to get involved that is interesting and fun, and the fair gives us the chance to present tough concepts like neurotransmission in a way that eight-year olds can understand,” said Austin Remington, a Penn senior in the Biological Basis of Behavior (BBB) program, who is currently applying to medical schools. “We make the presentations exciting and interactive by linking them to kids’ own interests.”
Some of the presentations include:
- Brainapalooza shares insight from faculty and students while they let the student judges see and handle all kinds of brains.
- Left-Right Braindemonstrates the functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain and emphasizes their similarities and differences by asking students to perform activities with their non-dominant hand and other exercises.
- Save-A-Head is a brain-damage exhibit using eggs to show the fragility of the brain inside its skull and the importance of protecting it with helmets.
- Sweet & Sour Science looks at the neural pathways from taste buds to the brain to explain how we taste our food and how our brain knows what flavor of food we are eating.
“I really love community outreach, and programs like this are what attracted me to Penn,” said Bri Jeffrey, a second-year neuroscience graduate student. “I love how interactive the fair is, and how it’s really accessible and fun for the kids. While kids judge the presentations, it challenges us to make sure it’s interactive, interesting, and respects their ability to understand neuroscience.”
For the students, they gain a greater understanding of the brain through fun activities—but the annual event goes far beyond that.
“Understanding the brain is one of the most interesting questions of our time, and it defines who we are,” said Ted Abel, PhD, Brush family professor of biology and co-director of the BBB program. “This also gives our undergrads and graduate students in neuroscience who want to go on in education a chance to have a role as a lecturer and basically teach a mini lab.”
Abel wants these children to walk away from the event with a greater confidence in their ability to understand science, ask scientific questions, and know that these concepts are accessible to them.
“The energy and focus of these students in this room is a big part of what makes this successful,” said Abel. “Here’s 180 eight- and nine- year-olds and they’re completely focused on neuroscience—it’s great.”
The Penn KidsJudge! Fair is a national education program designed to make scientists better communicators and elementary school children better scientists. The event is sponsored by Penn’s Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences and the Biological Basis of Behavior Program, and also made possible in part by grants from the National Kids Judge! Partnership, the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, and National Institute on Drug Abuse.
“Kids are a lot more capable of understanding science than we sometimes give them credit for,” said Jeffrey. “If we just tell them the truth, we can get them interested earlier on.”
For more photos of the event, please see below: