With some hesitation at first, the sixth graders reached out and touched the human brain, a real human brain. It was part of the ΒιΆΉΣ³» and the University of ΒιΆΉΣ³» School of Medicine outreach program as part of National Brain Awareness Week.
The week of presentations began at Clayton Middle School Monday, where University of ΒιΆΉΣ³» faculty members introduced 40 middle school students to the brain, and how it works, in a hands-on opportunity to get to know the three-pound bundle of neurons.
The informal, interactive and audience-driven demonstrations run through Friday with presentations at other schools and several Washoe County libraries. The University team will also present at a school in Truckee, Calif. The presentations are free.
"This is a great opportunity for students to really find out about the human brain," Amy Altick, postdoctoral scholar in the University of ΒιΆΉΣ³» School of Medicine's Physiology and Cell Biology Department, said. "We aren't giving lectures; we're making this fun with games and the chance to handle a real human brain. Most kids love it.
"Our goal is to provide basic information or even not-so-basic information about the brain, how it works, the focus of current research and what is going on at the University regarding neuroscience."
Students and community members will have a chance this week to see and touch the real human brains, three of them, and inspect several mouse, sheep and fly brains - and various other materials - as part of presentations by neuroscience faculty and students from the University. The faculty presenters are members of the Sierra ΒιΆΉΣ³» Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience based at the University.
The University has a strong and popular neuroscience program, with 2,200 undergraduate students scattered throughout several disciplines, including biology, biomedicine, psychology, physiology and biotechnology.
