“I can’t believe I’m a brain myself…examining…a brain!”
― 6th grader at Hosford Middle School, Portland, Oregon
Have we mentioned how much we love genuine community engagement? How NW Noggin is entirely driven by volunteers who go places, listen, share their own stories from labs and classrooms, and get inspired by what they learn?
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We thrive on these experiences, and come away with new knowledge about where we live, and what people really want to know about neuroscience research.
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And we make art! It’s exhilarating and exciting – and middle school classrooms are amongst the most energetic of all 🙂
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We brought another enthusiastic crowd of accomplished volunteers to Portland Public Schools this week, to explore through direct examination, discussion and art-making the remarkable biology of who we are.
“We have to do what we can to help wherever and whenever it is possible for us to help.”
― Jackie Chan
Fatmah Almoumen, Nick Levin and Frances Lefebvre traveled to Portland’s Hosford Middle School from the Freshman Inquiry (FRINQ) course on the Neuroscience of Creativity & Learning at Portland State University. Cam Howard, Kassidy Fitzgerald, Cassie James, Sorrel Johnson, Chloe Voshell and Alejandro Rios also joined us from PSU, along with Angela Hendrix from NW Noggin and Aaron Eisen from both Noggin and the National University of Natural Medicine!
We were also excited to welcome a photographer from KGW News, who spent an hour in the classroom speaking with 6th graders and Noggin volunteers!
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After asking a question, one 6th grader developed a particularly good grasp of the vascular changes which underlie the common “ice cream headache” – something we’ve discussed (and of course experienced!) multiple times in the past!
Her clear description, along with the complete KGW news story on NW Noggin is available here!
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From Cassie James at Portland State University: “Volunteering with NW Noggin is probably one of the most fun and exciting volunteer experiences I’ve had. This week I headed to Hosford Middle School to teach 6th graders about brains! Upon arrival, I was shocked to know that a news crew would be filming and immediately thought I should have worn nicer clothes. However, when I stepped into the classroom and started interacting with the middle schoolers all those nerves went away. The kids crowed around the table as we set up and began asking questions and not easy ones either. I had the pleasure of teaching them how to make pipe cleaner neurons. It was such a wonderful experience to see the smiles on their faces as their neurons came to life with each new bend to the fuzzy pipe cleaners. The most rewarding part of the day is when the bell rang and the students looked sad that they couldn’t stay and continue to build neurons with me. To ease their disappointment I told them to take some pipe cleaners and continue working on it. Knowing that the students were so excited about the topic of neuroscience made the trip worth it and seeing their smiling faces made me excited for my next adventure with NW Noggin.”
From Hosford Science Teacher Jane VanDam: “Thank you, thank you and thank you to you and all of your volunteers! Our Hosford students (and me!) are so lucky to have had you at our school today!”
Our sincere thanks to the 6th graders with such wonderful insights and questions, and to science teachers Jane VanDam and Kevin Marquardt, Hosford principal Amy Slaughter and KGW News for another great morning of outreach and inspiration!