Brain Awareness Week Teaches Children How Their Brains Work

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Brain Awareness Week poster

A celebration of the 16th annual Brain Awareness Week, a worldwide campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research, will take place March 16-20, 2015, at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.

“Brain Awareness Week is a wonderful opportunity for students and their teachers to explore the most mysterious and fascinating organ in their bodies – the brain,” according to Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., acting director of NINDS.  “Students will be able to hold a real human brain, explore how the brain works, and learn what happens when the brain is altered by disease and drugs.  Students and their teachers will also have the chance to meet and talk with NIH scientists about the brain.  We hope this experience will inspire some of them to choose careers in neuroscience.”

Brain Awareness Week is an annual international partnership of government agencies, scientific organizations, universities, and volunteer groups.  It is organized by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, a nonprofit organization of more than 200 pre-eminent neuroscientists dedicated to advancing education about the brain.

Several institutes from the National Institutes of Health will provide interactive exhibits and lectures focusing on brain health and neuroscience on March 18th and 19th. 

NIH activities will include:

  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
    “The Brain Lobe-oratorium”
    Students will discover the unique features of each of the four lobes of the human brain at the Brain Lobe-oratorium exhibit and by interacting with colorful life-size brain models.  NINDS scientists will help students learn about how each lobe contributes to perception, thinking, personality and behavior.  Students will have a unique opportunity to hold a real human brain.
     
  • National Eye Institute (NEI)
    “More than Meets the Eye”
    This is a series of fun, hands-on activities to help students understand how the brain and eyes work together during visual processing.  Presenters will reveal how these complicated processes may at times cause optical illusions and affect perception. Presenters will also provide a brief overview of eye anatomy.
     
  • National Institute of Aging (NIA)
    “The Mysteries of the Brain”
    Students will discover how the brain communicates and benefits from healthy diets, exercise and mental stimulation.
     
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
    “NIDA Brain Derby”
    NIDA will play NIDA Brain Derby an interactive game that tests students’ knowledge about the brain, neuroscience, and the neurobiology of drug abuse.  The students will be divided into two teams that will compete in the quest to find the right answer to questions about how the brain works and how drugs can alter its functioning.  The students will have an opportunity to learn basic brain anatomy and function as well as how different drugs can impact the brain.  This fast moving and fun game gives the students the chance to learn something new and to ask neuroscientists questions about the brain and drug abuse.  The winning team receives a Brain Scientist certificate (often there’s a tie between the two teams, so everyone gets a certificate!).  NIDA is also distributing colorful print materials that were developed for children as well as materials developed specifically for teachers.
     
  • National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH)
    “See YOUR BRAIN in Action“
    Students will see how the brain and spinal cord work together to control emotions and physical well-being. They will observe recordings of the electrical activity generated by muscles in their own arms and fingers and gain a deeper understanding of the human nervous system.
     
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
    “The Drunken Brain Exhibit”
    Students step inside this multisensory exhibit and see the amazing “Drunken Brain,” pulsating with electricity and basking in a world of colored lights and eerie sounds.  Dr. Dennis Twombly will demonstrate how alcohol interferes with cell communication in the brain, leading to changes in perception, motor coordination, learning, memory, and decision-making.  He will also explain how alcohol exposure during pregnancy and adolescence can lead to possible brain damage and alcohol addiction later in life.
     
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
    “Cool Spot Carnival”
    Students will explore how alcohol interferes with brain development, sensory perception, movement, and balance. They will learn that even though teens may not feel alcohol’s effects as immediately as do older individuals, alcohol still affects their functioning and can put them at serious risk.

Learn more about Brain Awareness Week.

Media representatives are invited to cover Brain Awareness Week activities at the National Museum of Health and Medicine with advanced notice.  Contact Tim Clarke, deputy director for communications, at 301-319-3349.  For more information about the museum, visit http://www.medicalmuseum.mil

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About the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS):  The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease.  For more information, visit the NINDS website:  http://www.ninds.nih.gov/

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):  NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.  For more information about NIH and its programs, visit the NIH website:  http://www.nih.gov/