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Overview
The Neuroscience Program at Washington
State University held our annual Brain Awareness Day
where 75 fifth grade students were invited to campus
to learn about the amazing brain. As part of The Amazing
Brain presentation, the children were introduced to
the brain through an interactive discussion and demonstration.
The children were then encouraged to use their brains
in creative problem solving and activity stations through
faculty exhibits and a Kids Judge! Neuroscience Fair
facilitated by undergraduate students in our upper division
“Principles of Neurophysiology” course.
Promotion
The event was promoted through personal
invitations to the school and press releases to the
local, regional and student newspapers. Several newspapers
sent reporters, however only two articles, one with
a large front page picture, were generated. Our internal
communications unit took photos of the event, which
will be posted to our web site.
Activities
Faculty Exhibits and Palouse Kids Judge! Neuroscience
Fair: Ten faculty and graduate students along with 22
undergraduate students enrolled in the 3-credit course
“Principles of Neurophysiology” developed
15 interactive science stations that were judged by
the 5th grade students. The undergraduate students,
working in teams of two, selected a concept in neurophysiology
and developed a simple model to demonstrate that concept.
The students built models illustrating a variety of
concepts, e.g., synaptic transmission, action potential
generation, blood brain barrier, auditory transduction,
ligand-gated ion channels, G-protein activation, while
the faculty exhibits consisted of sensory perception
activities, a mouse maze, and various brain samples
the children could touch and feel. In their capacity
as "judges," the 5th grade children completed
written evaluations for each presentation and voted
for their favorite exhibit. The evaluations were tallied
and the winning exhibitors were presented with a certificate.
Funding
Funding was provided by Washington State University’s
Program in Neuroscience and by NIMH MH60263 and SRS
J. Chris Gillin Junior Faculty Award, also through NIDA
R25-13265 to DLC.
Obstacles
Overall, this event went off very well. However, for
future years, we plan to hold the event in a larger
space, perhaps in one of the university auditoriums.
Also, since this program was part of an undergraduate
class, we tried to fit the program around the student’s
class time. This made our timeline extremely tight.
Words of Advice
The undergraduate students should begin planning their
exhibits from the first day of classes.
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