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Washington
D.C Expo
Children
in the Washington D.C. area will get to turn the traditional
science fair upside down during an innovative event set
for Wednesday, May 4th, that focuses on neuroscience. Instead
of bringing in projects to be judged, the kids at the Brains
Rule! Neuroscience Exposition will critique presentations
that real neuroscientists and health professionals create
and give.
“What makes Brains Rule! unique is the way we engage
our audience,” said Andrea Zardetto-Smith, the Brains
Rule! Project principal investigator. More than 3,500 students
have seen Brains Rule! presentations during the past three
years. “This is all about reaching out and engaging
students. It’s a lot of fun for the presenters, too.”
The National Museum of Health and Science, 6900 Georgia
Ave. NW, Washington, DC will host the day-long event. More
than 100 middle school students from selected D.C. area
public schools will be attending.
Brains
Rule! Neuroscience Expositions is a five-year project funded
by a Science Education Drug Abuse Partnership Award (SEDAPA)
from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The project
is housed at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) where
Zardetto-Smith is a faculty member. Brains Rule! employs
an innovative, flexible, science education outreach model
that brings neuroscience professionals” into communities
interactive, hands-on activities.
The format of the exposition will be simple, Zardetto-Smith
said. In a traditional science fair, the children create
a science presentation and are judged by scientists and
teachers (adults). In this type of event the tables are
turned, and the adults (scientists and health professionals)
create the exhibits and the children vote for the presentation
that best explained (and in the way that was most fun) a
basic or applied concept in neuroscience.
Participating neuroscience professionals for the Washington
D.C. event will come from the Society for Neuroscience Potomac
Chapter; Neurology Section of the American Physical Therapy
Association, Neurology Section; the Neuroscience Center
of the National Rehabilitation Hospital; the Defense and
Veterans Brain Injury Center; National Institute of Mental
Health; Department of Neuroscience and the Uniformed Services
University of Health Sciences; Center for Drug Abuse Research.
“When
you capture a child’s interest, that’s when
education occurs,” Zardetto-Smith said. “The
added benefit here is that the more kids know about the
brain, the nervous system, and how drugs of abuse affect
the brain, the less likely they are to make unhealthy choices.”
Events begin at 9 a.m. and run until 3 p.m. The event coordinator
Dr. Ajay Verma, Assoc. professor of Neurology, Uniformed
Services University of Health Sciences, can be contacted
at (301) 295-3840 or at averma@usuhs.mil.
Tim Kaldahl
University Affairs
402.554.3502
cell 402.672.0828 |
