Strategy for Engaging the Society for Neuroscience in Science Education

Cameron, William E.; McNerney, Colleen D.

doi:10.1187/cbe.06-03-0151

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Week (Cameron & McNerney, 2006;Myslinski, 2022) were established. Shortly after, in 2012, the Gatsby and Kavli foundations partnered with SfN to create brainfacts.org, a platform for the general public containing brain-related resources (SfN, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The designation of the 1990s as “The Decade of the Brain” by the United States Congress cast a spotlight on the field of Neuroscience ( Jones and Mendell, 1999 ). This led the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) to adopt a new strategic plan in 2003 emphasizing the importance of outreach and neuroscience education ( Cameron and McNerney, 2006 ). In collaboration with other organizations such as the International Brain Organization (IBRO) and the Dana Foundation, initiatives to promote neuroscience to high school and undergraduate students such as the International Brain Bee, the International Youth Neuroscience Association, and Brain Awareness Week ( Cameron and McNerney, 2006 ; Myslinski, 2022 ) were established.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This led the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) to adopt a new strategic plan in 2003 emphasizing the importance of outreach and neuroscience education ( Cameron and McNerney, 2006 ). In collaboration with other organizations such as the International Brain Organization (IBRO) and the Dana Foundation, initiatives to promote neuroscience to high school and undergraduate students such as the International Brain Bee, the International Youth Neuroscience Association, and Brain Awareness Week ( Cameron and McNerney, 2006 ; Myslinski, 2022 ) were established. Shortly after, in 2012, the Gatsby and Kavli foundations partnered with SfN to create brainfacts.org , a platform for the general public containing brain-related resources ( SfN, 2012 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increasing Accessibility to Neuroscience through Translation: Going beyond the English Language

Peris-Yague,

Hartstein,

Hogan

et al. 2023

eNeuro

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Declaring the 1990's asThe Decade of the Brainput the field of neuroscience at the forefront of public attention, with the nervous system becoming a subject of increasing interest in popular media. Although this has generally brought large swaths of the public closer to neuroscience, most current research is published and disseminated in a single language: English. This is unsurprising as English is indeed the lingua franca in scientific circles, but people around the world communicate in many other languages. To make neuroscience accessible to a larger audience, we share an initiative to translate the Knowing Neurons platform into a second language: Spanish. This collaborative project integrates Humanities and STEM academic programs to make use of bilingual university students, in association with professional linguists and neuroscientists, to translate scientific content into a relatable format to Spanish speakers regardless of their country of origin. The translation effort was piloted within the framework of undergraduate outreach courses at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and is coupled with outreach components targeting the Spanish-speaking community to promote this new resource. This project aims to foster an environment where the neuroscientific interests of the public, college students, instructors, and researchers coalesce in a unified space. We hope that opening new lines of communication with traditionally underrepresented communities might help combat the persistent lack of diversity in neuroscience (and STEM) that is currently seen in academia. We also provide an outline to inspire others to translate these, and similar resources, into other languages.Significance statementDespite the rise in neuroscience-related news in the past few decades, barriers to the integration of neuroscience in social discourse still exist. Scientific illiteracy stemming from the lack of resources generated for public consumption is compounded when considering they are mostly only available in English. Because of this, neuroscience remains an unfamiliar topic to many individuals. Additionally, the Humanities and STEM have traditionally been siloed in distinct academic departments providing little opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration. Our project provides an outline for how to integrate these disciplines to translate neuroscience into a second language, increasing accessibility to a worldwide audience. For the collaborative nature and impact of this project, we were honored with the 2022 Society for Neuroscience Next Generation Award.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increasing Accessibility to Neuroscience through Translation: Going beyond the English Language

Peris-Yague,

Hartstein,

Hogan

et al. 2023

eNeuro

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“…Not only is neuroscience absent from most K-12 curricula, but even in college, students must wait until upper level science courses to gain exposure to principles of brain function [1] . We hypothesized that neuroscience education was missing from K-12 curricula not because of a lack of interest [2] , but due to a lack of simple, compelling, and inexpensive tools to investigate and understand neurons. Entry-level neurophysiology equipment used for teaching neuroscience typically costs >$3,000 and requires significant training to use and understand.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The SpikerBox: A Low Cost, Open-Source BioAmplifier for Increasing Public Participation in Neuroscience Inquiry

Marzullo

Gage

2012

PLoS ONE

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Although people are generally interested in how the brain functions, neuroscience education for the public is hampered by a lack of low cost and engaging teaching materials. To address this, we developed an open-source tool, the SpikerBox, which is appropriate for use in middle/high school educational programs and by amateurs. This device can be used in easy experiments in which students insert sewing pins into the leg of a cockroach, or other invertebrate, to amplify and listen to the electrical activity of neurons. With the cockroach leg preparation, students can hear and see (using a smartphone oscilloscope app we have developed) the dramatic changes in activity caused by touching the mechanosensitive barbs. Students can also experiment with other manipulations such as temperature, drugs, and microstimulation that affect the neural activity. We include teaching guides and other resources in the supplemental materials. These hands-on lessons with the SpikerBox have proven to be effective in teaching basic neuroscience.

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“…The gap between the scientific development and the public understanding, though, is not easily bridged. Several authors have called for concrete actions to share the scientific achievements with a broader public [8] , [9] , and for the scientists to participate more actively in the current interdisciplinary debates about possible applications of the neurotechniques and their ethical implications [10] – [13] . However, the social sharing of knowledge about the brain is recognised as a complex task, further challenged by the risk of misinformation, inaccuracy or sensationalism on the scientific discoveries [14] , [15] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Do Octopuses Have a Brain?” Knowledge, Perceptions and Attitudes towards Neuroscience at School

et al. 2012

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The present study contributes to the question of school literacy about the brain, with an original survey conducted on Italian students from the 3rd to 10th grades (n = 508). The main goal was to test student's knowledge, attitudes, and interests about neuroscience, to assess needs, prospects, and difficulties in teaching about the brain from elementary to high school. A written questionnaire, maintaining anonymity, asked 12 close-ended multiple choice questions on topics related to human and animal brains, plus one facultative open-ended question about interests and curiosities on brain topics. The results show that respondents have a fragmentary level of basic knowledge about the brain, with aspects related to brain functions and consciousness the most challenging. As expected, degrees of performance improve with school level; elementary school students answered correctly an average number of 5.3 questions, middle school 6.5, and high school 7.4. Overall, students show great interest in the brain, as shown by the large number of questions gathered through the open-ended question (n = 384). Other topics are addressed, mostly related to brain structure/functions and the role of the brain in the everyday life. The survey indicates the need of more thorough school programs on this subject, reinforced by interdisciplinary teaching where comparative anatomy and evolutionary aspects of brain development are covered.

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Strategy for Engaging the Society for Neuroscience in Science Education

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Increasing Accessibility to Neuroscience through Translation: Going beyond the English Language

Increasing Accessibility to Neuroscience through Translation: Going beyond the English Language

The SpikerBox: A Low Cost, Open-Source BioAmplifier for Increasing Public Participation in Neuroscience Inquiry

“Do Octopuses Have a Brain?” Knowledge, Perceptions and Attitudes towards Neuroscience at School

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