By Dr. Gail D. Burd, Chairperson, Committee on Neuroscience
Literacy, 1994-1998, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
 Scientists
can make major contributions to science education by working
with teachers and assisting with classroom science instruction.
In only a few hours, you can make a difference in how a student
views science as a subject for study in school and perhaps
as a future career. By sharing your enthusiasm, you can bring
excitement into the classroom and add to the wonder of science.
At the same time, a scientist can help students see science
as an approachable and dynamic subject. There are also internal
rewards for the scientist. He/she shares in the excitement
of the students and begins to understand the value of these
personal interactions in working toward improvements in science
education.
Neuroscientists are encouraged to get involved
in pre-college science education in a variety of ways. To
begin that process, the Society for Neuroscience encourages
members to visit classrooms and open their laboratories to
the public during Brain Awareness Week. Outlined below are
suggestions to assist neuroscientists with an initial visit
to a K-12 classroom.
Contact your child's teacher.
Call a principal or the science coordinator
in the local school district.
Ask the teacher:
What grade level is the class?
How many students are in the class?
What have the students studied this year?
What general activities do students at
this age enjoy?
What is the layout of the classroom?
What is the best day and time of day to
visit?
What activities would the teacher
like you to do?
Activities with 30 students can be
challenging; activities with 60 students at a time will be
unwieldy.
Exchange home and work phone numbers
with the teacher in case something comes up and the activity
must be postponed.
The teacher will have a good idea
about what will work in the class.
Lecturing to young students is not likely
to make you very popular. Attention begins to wane 20 minutes
into a lecture even with college students.
Plan a short (5-10 minute) introduction.
Prepare an activity that will take 40 minutes
(less time for young children).
Prepare enough materials for small groups
of students to work together on a project or problem.
Consider setting up stations and
have students rotate through a series of demonstrations or
activities.
Don't assume any prior knowledge.
Make your explanations simple and use words
appropriate to the level of the student.
Young students love learning new
words, so don't leave out scientific terms altogether.
The teacher can help determine if there
are safety issues you need to consider.
If you are bringing fixed brains
to the classroom, soak the brain in water (or alcohol) overnight
to get rid of some of the formaldehyde. Remember to bring
gloves and paper towels.
Prepare supplies, equipment, or materials
(including water) that are needed for the activity.
Ask the teacher if he/she can supply
any needed items, but be prepared to bring everything.
Get feedback on your planned activity from
colleagues, the teacher, and, if possible, children of an
age similar to the class you will visit.
Be sure to have a trial run with
the materials you plan to use.
Available from the Society for Neuroscience:
How-To Book: A Primer on Working With Schools:
Information about activities and making classroom visits.
Brain Facts: A 52-page primer on the brain and nervous system.
Brain Briefings: A series of two-page newsletters explaining how basic neuroscience discoveries lead to clinical applications.
Brain Backgrounders: An online series of articles that answer basic neuroscience questions.
Neuroscience Laboratory and Classroom
Activities Handbook: Hands-on activities for high-school students.
Available from other sources:
Materials on the brain for younger children
can be purchased through BrainLink (1-800-798-8244).
How the Body Works by Steve Parker (1994.
Reader's Digest Association, Inc., Pleasantville, NY. ISBN
0-89577-575.1). A book with simple physiology activities to
do with children.
See Web site links and resources
on the Society's Brain Awareness Week Web page.
 The
following ideas are taken, in part, from a small brochure
called Sharing Science with Children: A Survival Guide for
Scientists and Engineers that was printed by the North Carolina
Museum of Life and Science (contact: Georgiana M. Searles,
Director of Education, North Carolina Museum of Life and
Science, P.O. Box 15190, Durham, NC 27704).
Tell the students how you became interested
in being a scientist.
Explain one interesting topic of
your research.
Prepare a demonstration or activity that
will immediately capture the interest of the students.
As much as possible, let the students
participate in the activity.
If possible, design an experiment or have
the students design the experiment.
Incorporate student observations,
measurements, identifications, and interpretations into the
experiment so that students practice the skills of science.
Share an everyday experience with the students
that uses the scientific process.
Relate your area of research and the field
of the demonstration or activity that the students are doing
to the lives of the students.
Indicate how your research has changed
how we do things or what we understand about the world.
This will reinforce the principles that
the students used during the activity or experiment.
Be sure to allow all students a chance
to speak.
Try to use simple words when possible.
Define terms and write words on the
board. This will help the students increase their vocabulary
and allow them to look up the word in the library later.
If possible, leave some materials behind
for the class to work with after you leave.
Plan an additional experiment that the
students and teacher can do by themselves.
Be available to the teacher for follow-up
ideas and to the students who want more information.
Ask the students what they liked and did
not like about your visit.
Ask the teacher for feedback about
the activity or presentation.
One visit can leave a very good impression
with the students, but to make a significant difference, educators
tell us that at least three visits are necessary.
Become a resource person for teachers to
provide more in-depth understanding of the field.
Help teachers design activities and laboratory
activities that demonstrate the scientific method.
Provide supplies and materials for activities.
(Elementary school teachers may receive only $50 per year
for outside supplies. They often spend hundreds of dollars
of their own money in order to bring exciting activities into
the classroom).
For additional information, see Science
Education Partnerships: Manual for Scientists and K-12 Teachers,
Art Sussman, ed., University of California, San Francisco,
1993.
This will expand by 10-20 fold what any
single scientist can do during classroom visits.
Undergraduates as well as graduate students
love sharing their enthusiasm for science with children.
Courses of this type exist at the
University of Arizona (Science Connection; Gail Burd, [gburd@u.arizona.edu]
faculty member) and UCLA (SPARCS Program; Dave Rector, [dave@aunix.loni.ucla.edu]
faculty member).
Provide courses to assist teachers
with professional development and to help them maintain their
teaching certification.
Participate in science education
reform. Several recent studies have been published that document
the need for reform of science education and outline steps
that can be taken to make these reforms (see Science for All
Americans, AAAS, Oxford University Press, New York, 1990;
National Science Education Standards, National Academy of
Sciences, 1996). The involvement of scientists in this process
will be critical if true reform is to succeed.
- Demonstrate a brain
- Discuss and do activities that relate
to the five senses
- Simple visual memory tasks
- Insect behavior
- Create helmets for eggs using a variety
of materials
- Simple motor tasks like mirror writing
- Two-point discrimination
- Temperature adaptation
- Patellar reflex
- Retinal blind spot
- Reaction time at catching a ruler
- Discrimination time - card matching
by color versus suit
- Comparison of brains from different
species
- Visual-motor plasticity with prism glasses
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