Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Neuroscience Institute

Two workshops with middle school students were organised, with the aim to introduce children in the world of Neuroscience and help them discover the importance of our brain. One was about the sensory system, and after a quick introduction we focused on the sense of touch. We did a workshop for mapping our somatosensory homunculus, using toothpicks separated by different distances (in this way, the kids could prove that we can feel more or less precisely depending on the part of our body), and they were amazed by the virtual representation of the homunculus. The other one was about the nervous system, so we created a paper brain model looking at some 3D real size brain models. We talked about the major areas of the brain and its functional organisation in the 3D models, and draw them on the paper one. The kids found very interesting being able to touch and see the inside parts of a real representation of the brain, even though it was a fake one. At the end of both sessions, a BAW certificate was given to all the participants. The kids had a lot of fun during the workshops, and got at least the general idea transmitted. Their opinion was asked at the end of the sessions, and all of them reported finding neuroscience very interesting, and wanting to participate again in similar workshops. Overall it was a very positive experience; I think this kind of events should be carried out more often as it is a very interesting and enriching experience both for children and teenagers (and even adults).

It gave children the opportunity to discover the brain and the world of neuroscience. They were very happy after it, and very amazed by the complexity of our brain.