Noggins @ Ron Russell!

WHAT: Noggin visit to Ron Russell Middle School

We did it!!

Thank you all for inspiring our Ron Russell students! You may never know who you sparked today, but I am confident that you had more impact than can be measured 🙂
-Brennan Brockbank, Health & Science Coordinator, David Douglas School District

GREAT QUESTIONS!!

How do we dream?
What do brains smell like?
How are memories stored?
Why is it that when we visually perceive something it is actually upside down in our brain?
Why do you sleepwalk and sleep talk?
Why does the brain look like that?
Why can’t you remember when you were a baby?
What happens when you get a brain tumor?
Why do you lose brain cells as you get older?
Why do animals have brains?
If I hold that brain, will my brain change?
Where does the word brain come from?
What causes insomnia?
What causes sleep paralysis?
Why do we dream? Do we need to dream? What if I don’t dream?
What makes a brain with ADHD?
Where did you get the brains?
Why are we afraid of the dark?
Does your brain know it’s a brain?

WHERE: Ron Russell Middle School, 3955 SE 112th Ave, Portland, OR 97266

WHEN: Thursday, February 26, 2026, 8:30am – 3:00pm

Please check in at the school office. We’ll meet students in the commons area (cafeteria).

CONTACT: Brennan Brockbank, Health & Science Coordinator, David Douglas School District

Noggin volunteers from Portland State University, OHSU and other area campuses will meet with 6th and 8th graders in this David Douglas District public middle school, to explore neuroscience research and make art related to understanding our brains.

The school is generously providing pipe cleaners (~20/student), nitrile gloves (for brain wrangling), coffee and LUNCH!

Come join us! Please contact Bill Griesar (griesar@pdx.edu) and Jeff Leake (jleake@pdx.com) to get involved.

COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Danica Helms, PSU
4. Bee Conn, PSU
5. Zulyed Guerra, PSU
6. Hayley Kopp, Evergreen State College
7. Maddy Wary, OHSU
8. Alicia Bridges, PSU
9. Daisy Graham, PSU
10. Hannah Whitley, PSU
11. Becky Callos, PSU
12. Chloe Rice, OSU
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