Event(s) Summary
Number of Events Organized During Brain Awareness Week:
1
Year:
2022
Type of Events Held:
- Brain Fair
Target Audiences:
- General Public
Approximate Number of People Reached:
770
Details of Major Brain Awareness Week Events/Activities:
Every year, Florida Atlantic University Brain Institute hosts “Brainy Days”, a month-long program in March created to celebrate national Brain Awareness Week and bring neuroscience into our community, featuring events for scientists, university students and staff, and the community. A detailed calendar of community events offered during Brainy Days 2022 is attached.
The centerpiece of our annual Brainy Days program in March is “Brain Blitz”, a hands-on, interactive brain fair held during Brain Awareness Week at the Cox Science Center and Aquarium where faculty and trainee volunteers demonstrate fun neuroscience activities for families and visitors of all ages. This year, Brain Blitz was held in person on March 19 and included 17 interactive activities led by 25 scientists from Florida Atlantic University, Max Planck Florida Neuroscience Institute, and Scripps Florida. Activities leading to, and within, the Science Center’s “Journey through the Human Brain” permanent exhibit encourage kids to handle real brains, craft brain models and neurons, learn about their senses, record the electrical activity of their own neurons, and make balls move with their own brain waves, among other demonstrations. Upon arrival to the Cox Center, each child that visited that day received a “brain map” of activity tables dispersed throughout the Center (attached) and a brain stamp for each activity completed. Tables manned by students, trainees, and mentors were organized into a cohesive travel plan that exposes all to as much fun as learning. Brain Blitz attendees received a “goodie bag” of neuroscience activities to take home and/or to school to demonstrate their brain power to classmates and teachers.
Event Planning & Publicity
Publicity Methods Used:
- Calendar Listings (newspapers, radio, television)
- Posters/Flyers
- Press Release/Media Advisory
- Social Media
Which of These Publicity Methods Was The Most Successful?
Resources
What downloadable materials from the Foundation did you use for your events?
- Kids' Fact Sheets Grades 6-8
- Truth or Myth Flash Cards
What other downloadable materials would you like the Foundation to provide?
- New Fact Sheets
- New Lesson Plans
- Activities/Experiments
- New Puzzles/Games
Which BAW graphic materials did you use in publicizing your events?
- Brain Awareness Week Logos
Feedback & Keys to Success
How do you feel BAW participation benefited your organization and the local community?
Brain Blitz was such an enormous success that we have been asked to repeat it again, so we will begin to explore holding it twice per year.
Please share any suggestions or lessons learned that may help others plan future events:
Brain Blitz is an incredible event to bring brain awareness into the community and to an audience of all ages. It also is very beneficial to the scientists who volunteer for an activity table. It gives them a chance to remind them how important their work is to the public. It’s a win-win event (albeit a lot of work to coordinate :)).
