Washington University in St. Louis

The Amazing Brain Carnival, organized by the Saint Louis Neuroscience Outreach Consortium at Washington University in St. Louis in conjunction with the Saint Louis Science Center seeks to educate the public of all ages about the brain and brain science and give the public opportunities to meet and interact with brain scientists. We do this by hosting a carnival type event where graduate students and faculty use interactive demonstrations to teach the public about their research and how it relates to the brain. This year, we had ten demonstration tables covering behavioral neuroscience, traumatic brain injury, motor and sensory system function, neurodegeneration as well as human brain specimens. We had a series of interactive mini-lectures throughout the day covering sensory illusions, sensory systems in non-human organisms, citizen-scientist opportunities, childhood depression awareness and research, and traumatic brain injury. Finally, we had an exhibition hall where outside groups including local mental health resources, neurorehabilitation research groups, and others provided information and resources to the public. This event is widely known in the Saint Louis community and is greatly anticipated each year. We had a record-breaking attendance count at the Science Center during the carnival and feel that our event was greatly successful. We look forward to continuing and growing our outreach and education efforts in the Saint Louis community.

BAW participation gave us invaluable resources to use for our event and helped publicize the event. Immediate outcomes included a record attendance at our event, improved knowledge of how the brain works, the opportunity to meet brain scientists, and improved knowledge of community resources.

Publicize early! There’s no such thing as too much publicity or publicizing too early.