All images and video by Alex Voigt…
Five exceptionally creative Noggin participants debuted a play at Bonny Slope Elementary School, for kindergartners and first graders eager to learn about the various parts of their brains..!
Erin McConnell, Jacob Schoen, Penny Allen and Brianna Jacobs from Portland State University, and Matty McCasland from the Pacific Northwest College of Art, were offered NW Noggin-arranged stipends to prepare “The Land of Cerebrum,” a play – and a workbook, written by Jacob, and illustrated by Brianna – about the amazing noggin!
EXPLORE THE KINGDOM: The Land of Cerebrum
Two hundred K-1 students made for quite a crowd! However, Brianna, as the “wise leader” of the frontal lobes, resplendent in a robe and crown, successfully presided over her team of cerebral assistants, and kept everything running smoothly!
Matty entertained as “The Spy,” the visual cortex in our occipital lobes, and wore some eye-catching shades! Erin was the “Scribe,” or hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped brain region in each medial temporal lobe, essential for recording our memories. Jacob was the “Scout,” with large rabbit ears, and connections to our temporal lobes, where hearing (auditory) cortex is found. The temporal lobes are also essential for knowing what we see, whether it’s the Scribe’s seahorse headgear, or the Wise Leader’s blue cerebral crown. And Penny was the brain’s attentive “Guard,” carrying a shield as the amygdala, a subcortical alarm for our emotions, quick to respond to threats on the “bonny slopes” of the Land of Cerebrum..!
Jeff Leake was the narrator of our cranial tale… 🙂
Noggin educators also introduced the “Councilor of Spatial Awareness,” in the parietal lobes, who informs the frontal lobes about where things are found in the Land of Cerebrum, in relation to our own bodies. Where are my arms, and legs? The Councilor knows! How do I reach for the Wise Leader’s crown, for example – and how do I know how far away that book is, or my chair? The Councilor also works with the Spy, and with the Scout, who again determines what (thanks to those temporal lobes) we’re actually seeing, and hearing, in the world outside our brains…
The kids were definitely engaged and entertained!
And after the performance, they explored several opportunities for brainy art projects, including neuron building…
They also had fun drawing out their ideas about what various parts of our brains do..!
The students even learned about myelin, and how this fatty, membranous wrapping of our neuronal wires can speed the flow of electric currents carrying important information between different parts of the body and the brain…
LEARN MORE: Neuron Signal Racing ACTIVITY
This is how the Scout, for example, informs the Wise Leader about what he hears, and sees…
The Bonny Slope students also enjoyed hefting and handling some real human brains!
Our theatrical troupe of graduates and undergraduates definitely enjoyed pointing out the neuroanatomical locations of the Scout, the Guard, the Councilor of Spatial Awareness, the Wise Leader, and the Spy…
A wonderful way to start our day! Many thanks to Bonny Slope for welcoming us to school. And we’ll be back again twice this week, for second through fifth grades 🙂
