Event(s) Summary
Number of Events Organized During Brain Awareness Week:
1
Year:
2015
Type of Events Held:
- School Program
- Workshop
Target Audiences:
- High School students(9-12)
- Middle school students(6-8)
Approximate Number of People Reached:
150
Details of Major Brain Awareness Week Events/Activities:
Students from the Pathways to Science program and their parents came to the Yale Medical School and Brain Education Day began with a keynote address. This year the topic was taste and flavor perception. From there, parents were encouraged to stay for an information session about preparing their child for higher education, while students were ushered to the first of their four activity stations: Brain Anatomy, CNS Physiology, Sensory Physiology, and Medical Neuroscience. Brain Anatomy: students were taught the roles of areas of the brain while dissecting sheep brains. They discussed comparative anatomy with brain samples from many different species. CNS Physiology: students observed fluorescent transgenic model organisms, modeled how action potentials worked, and talked about cognitive control of sensory perception by talking about the black and blue dress. Sensory Physiology: students learned about thermosensation, used a thermosensetive camera to visualize body temperature, and observed action potentials generated by hot and cold in a cockroach leg preparation. Medical Neuroscience: students visited the Yale Cushing Center which houses the brain specimen collection, patient records, and photographs of Dr. Harvey Cushing. They discussed the principles of MR imaging and its uses for diagnosing medical conditions. During lunch graduate student, post-doc, and faculty volunteers led students in small group discussions. This event has consistently been a huge success.
Event Planning & Publicity
Publicity Methods Used:
- Advertisements
- Emails
- Mailings
Resources
Of the Dana Foundation publications/resources distributed at your event(s), if any, please indicate the three most popular. Please choose up to three. If "other," please indicate below:
- It’s Mindboggling!
- BAW Stickers
- BAW Pencils and Erasers
Which BAW graphic materials did you use in publicizing your events?
- BAW Logos
Feedback & Keys to Success
How do you feel BAW participation benefited your organization and the local community?
This has become a favorite event of the Pathways to Science students. Yale’s Neuroscience department is now closer to the Pathways program, which has helped us expand the reach of our neuroscience outreach, putting us in contact with more groups of New Haven students. This event is a platform to try out new activities and is a model for campus field trips Students love learning about neuroscience research and parents love the keynote address and the workshop on preparing for higher education.
Please share any suggestions or lessons learned that may help others plan future events:
Although the event is well received, we have had a problem with no-shows on the day of the event, and we are still working to fix this problem. Since we have established a relationship with the Pathways students we are beginning to get students who have come to this event 1 or 2 times previously and there is growing clamor for new demonstrations and activities, which drives us to continue to change and improve the event.
Did/do you like our Facebook page?
Yes
Was the information provided on Facebook useful?
I forgot/ didn’t realize there were so many downloadable resources. A reminder about those would have been helpful, especially since they can be printed close to the event and don’t require too much planning ahead.
Quotable comments which capture successful aspects of your event(s):
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach about MRI. I also enjoyed the event a lot." "Thanks for letting us be involved again to share the Cushing Center with your students during this year's the Brain Education Day! The students seems very interested and connected and the logistics of the day went quite smoothly! Congratulations."
