“We are more than thankful for your time and for the amazing experiences you awarded our school! The kids and staff cannot thank you enough! On the way to the buses yesterday, the kids couldn’t stop sharing all the cool things they got to do with NW Noggin today at school. Teachers emailed me last night complimenting you and the days the kids had this week. We have a thank you note coming from all the kids! We will be sharing the brain map and pictures from the day at next Thursday’s Art Night. Thanks beyond words!”
-Terri Saunders, Teacher, Ardenwald Elementary
We have so many incredible, accomplished graduates and undergraduates who join us for outreach and engagement in public schools. We also have SO MANY awesome requests for visits.
We want to go everywhere. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up!
Since 2012 we’ve brought our brains and art projects to over 30,000 K-12 kids!! And everyone (we mean EVERYONE) at NW Noggin is a volunteer!
Noggin participants – faculty included – are ALL volunteer
While we HUGELY WELCOME DONATIONS to re-stock our CaroSafe solution, electrodes, batteries, pipe cleaners, nitrile gloves, PLA filament, and to find (wherever possible) housing and meals for our extraordinary students, no one gets paid, and as we make these multiple visits every month, ALL of us are working and/or studying full-time.
Think what we could do with more support!
THANK YOU FOR DONATING: NonProfit Noggins!
Once we were invited to meet with staff (paid staff!) under the direction of a well-compensated “Assistant Vice Provost for Education Outreach and Collaboration,” who was under the direction of an even better compensated “Executive Vice Provost for Science Education Opportunities” at a large, sprawling institution. We were asked how we enthuse so many volunteers. They were having difficulty attracting students for their six (six!) outreach visits each year!
Here’s what we asked THEM…
This is such a nice, modern office! What a view! Do you ever get to leave it? So many well-funded STEM “initiatives” work on curriculum – in an office, without teachers, or kids. Do you teach any of the students you’d like to get involved? Do you mentor students? Do any of your students know you from the classroom? Do you volunteer? Do students know you from your own volunteer experiences in outreach?
Ever make a “brain map” with first graders?
Have you ever bought your students a huge box of Coco Donuts, or a coffee traveler, or a round of drinks after eight hours in the classroom – on your own dime – because you’re actually present, involved, know everyone, are inspired by them and care?
Have you ever joined your students at a school before sunrise? Do you spend your time looking to reward their extraordinary efforts, writing letters of recommendation, arranging for unique educational opportunities, mentoring at conferences, holding office hours, making art..?
Do you look on outreach as a way to tell people what you think they ought to know? Have you ever asked a fourth grader, or a senior in high school what they already know? What they would like to know? Is everything scripted in advance? Are you primarily visiting because you have plans to collect data, and are you going places because it’s where your subjects are..?
And is this program under your institution’s “marketing” department? What is the program for? Must everything produced, written or discussed conform to some sort of institutional branding?
How open are you to genuinely listening, learning, teaching, mentoring and discovery?
We go places because we love hearing unscripted stories, questions and insights while discussing neuroscience research and exploring compelling topics and ideas about noggins and behavior through hands on activities, art, music, dance – while offering ALL of us the chance to further develop our science communication skills and local understanding, connections, and job prospects in community spaces, including K-12.
Do THIS, we suggested – and you’ll definitely inspire more volunteers!
“Nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
This month we spent two, energetic, seven hour long days with almost 500 K-5 students at Ardenwald Elementary in Milwaukie Public Schools!
These kids were tremendously excited, and knowledgeable – already quite well versed (even the second graders!) in the roles played by our hippocampus, amygdala and pre-frontal cortex!
Ardenwald uses Mind Up, a program developed by the Goldie Hawn Foundation, which aims to help children “learn how to self regulate their emotions, become more resilient and learn about how their brain works to give them a road map out of despair and into a more positive mindset.” We appreciate this neuroscience-based approach, with its emphasis on structure and function relationships, and acknowledgment of the challenges faced by all developing brains…
IMAGE SOURCE: Mind Up Curriculum
LEARN MORE: Two-Year Impact of a Mindfulness-Based Program on Preschoolers’ Self-Regulation and Academic Performance
And knowing some basics about the hippocampus (“memory saver”), amygdala (“security guard”), and prefrontal cortex (“wise leader”) makes it much easier to take kids even further in their understanding of the brain, and cover current research on sleep, memory, anxiety, pain, headaches, depression, drugs, bias and other other fascinating topics of interest…
Setting off your amygdala (“security guard”)..!
Over two absorbing days in real classrooms we examined brains…
So many great questions!!!
Made brain-related art…
LEARN MORE: STEAM Art Projects
Explored electrophysiology…
LEARN MORE: Brain Hacking in Electric!
And developed community connections that inspired us all…
From Terri at Ardenwald: “Art night was awesome!! Kids loved showing their parents!!!”
Many thanks to the students, teachers and staff at Ardenwald Elementary – and to our hard-working, community focused and inspiring volunteers!!
NW Noggin volunteers at Ardenwald: Amanda Saideepane, Gwen Starck, Emily Carl, August Fox, Aaron Eisen, Kailey Wood, Cam Howard, Darrin Lane, Anastasia Kovgan, Nathali May, Hayley Nelson, Michael Deveney, Greyson Moore, Isidro Chan, Phillip Bouleh, Alisha J Steigerwald, Nita Sridharan and Jose Perez Quinchuela from PSU, and Joey Seuferling, Bill Griesar, and Jeff Leake from NW Noggin…
