High school students from four Palm Beach County Title I schools recently explored the marvelous aspects of the brain through hands-on activities with bio-medical research scientists at “Neuroscience Saturday.” The all-day event, sponsored through a grant by Quantum Foundation, was hosted by Scripps Florida, the Jupiter campus of The Scripps Research Institute, and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience.
Groups of students and teachers from Glades Central High School, Royal Palm Beach High School, Palm Beach Gardens High School and Palm Beach Lakes High School recently traveled to the Jupiter institutes to participate in this unique educational event. They spent the day investigating the intricacies of neuroscience through various engaging and interactive activities, including a brain dissection, a speed competition where students “role played” different parts of a neuron to discover how signals travel through the brain, and a neurophysiological activity, where students recorded the electrical activity from the nerve impulses in an insect’s leg.
Neuroscience Saturday is based partly upon the success of Scripps Florida’s “Science Saturday” outreach program, which most of these students and teachers attended on November 2012. Science Saturday has reached thousands of students from Title I high schools since its inception in 2006.
Neuroscience Saturday was also inspired by “Neuroscience Discovery Day,” the public event hosted by the Max Planck Florida Institute on December 2012 as part of its grand opening celebration. Driven by a desire to reach students from underserved communities and leverage shared strengths in neuroscience research, the two institutes jointly developed the Neuroscience Saturday program and presented it to Quantum Foundation as a means of making a positive impact.
“We were attracted to this new program because it is designed to not only educate, but to inspire,” said Kerry Diaz, president of Quantum Foundation, a grant-making organization in Palm Beach County. “We’re confident that the Neuroscience Saturday experience will spark a passion for discovery in students and perhaps even steer their interest towards pursuing a science-based career.”
“Whenever students have an opportunity to experience scientific discovery outside of the classroom setting, it can have a big impact,” said Greg Goebel, 6-12 Science Program Planner with the School District of Palm Beach County, who attended the event. “When that experience involves one of the most exciting and current topics in science and takes place at a state-of-the-art research facility, that potential is even greater. The students who attended Neuroscience Saturday were very excited and engaged in the day’s activities and we’re confident the experience inspired more than a few of them to think differently about science as they begin to consider college and beyond.”
For more information, contact Gregory Goebel, 6-12 Science Program Planner, at 561-357-1128 or gregory.goebel@palmbeachschools.org.
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Public Affairs Contact: Natalia Arenas – (561) 357-7662 – natalia.arenas@palmbeachschools.org