We met Deborah Antrim, a medical pathway and 8th-grade teacher in Rio school district, at CSTA this past year, and she told us all about the successes she had had with Backyard Brains gear in her classes and summer camps!
We asked her to share some pictures and details about how she had engaged her students with DIY neuroscience, and she had this to say:
“We love our SpikerBoxes and Claw! We have a Science Summer camp- with my love of anatomy and physiology, I taught action potentials and explained the sodium/potassium pump and neural conductivity.
Setting up The Claw!
“When researching activities, I found the Spiker box- PERFECT! Very easy to use, STEM all the way! Our superintendent was enamored with the thought something like this even existed- ha!”
This is a great example of how DIY Neuroscience is not just a fantastic opportunity for your students, but it is also your chance to be the “rockstar science teacher!” When the superintendent is looking for chances to brag about your district and school, you’ll be the classroom that they use as an example of how they’re bringing cutting-edge STEM to the students and community!
Students prepare a cricket leg for Action Potential Recordings
In closing, Deb proclaimed, “I am the biggest BYB fan!”
Well, let that be an example and a challenge! Are you a bigger BYB fan? Test your mettle and share examples of your classroom or projects! Email us at hello@backyardbrains.com to share your story!
Bring these same experiments to life in your classroom!
The Leadership Initiatives Advanced Medical Neuroscience Summit is a program that’s available for rising freshmen in high school to rising freshmen in college that gives students the opportunity to live for a short time at a college campus (Gorgeous Georgetown), attend lectures and learn from neuroscience professors, tour high-tech labs, and perform hands-on research. This is our kind of student summer gig!
Backyard Brains and the Leadership Initiatives program have a shared interest in exposing students to real neuroscience at an early age, while simultaneously doing everything in our power to help those students “self-visualize” as neuroscientists themselves! It’s this kind of work that will help to inspire the next generation of creative thinkers and neuroscientists.
We talked to one of the organizers, Morgan Biele, about this year’s experience. Morgan is a past attendee of the program and was excited to share how this summer’s Neuroscience Summit went.
“Over the course of the week, students were visiting labs and listening to lectures from expert neuroscientists. I’d recommend watching the video we produced to learn all about the program!
Students at the Leadership Initiatives Medical Neuroscience Summit wowed by DIY hands-on neuroscience – in this photo a Human-Cockroach Interface!
“During our summit, students used several muscle SpikerBoxes, Human-Human Interface kits, and RoboRoach kits; the students absolutely loved learning with them. They had been in awe at the high-tech tools the professors and researchers used, but the Backyard Brains equipment really made neuroscience experimentation feel accessible to them.
Selfies with the invertebrate neuroscience star Blaberus discoidalis!
“The students were completely fascinated. We noticed that the hands-on activities are invaluable for maintaining student engagement and curiosity, so we’d love to consider integrating more of that accessible technology into our programs.”
Medical Neuroscience Students pose with their very own Cyborg RoboRoaches!
I asked Morgan about how Backyard Brains was discovered by the program. She laughed, and explained how she had used Backyard Brains kits in school and knew they had to include them in the summer program, saying, “We’re proud to have Backyard Brains equipment in the program and displayed on the website for Leadership Initiatives.” She had been introduced by her biology teacher, and even competed in Science Fair with a poster project performed with our Heart and Brain SpikerBox.
She wrote, “I believe you mentioned being curious about seeing a science fair project I completed with Backyard Brains too, so I’ve attached my science fair project poster (this was my first one, and I’ve noticed many flaws in hindsight just to inform you! Also, my hypothesis wasn’t supported, so maybe it isn’t very valuable…!)”
Recording the electricity of the brain… for a high school science fair project! The future is now.
We loved this poster at the office, and think that Morgan’s concern that her hypothesis wasn’t supported is one that many students share. But that’s science! It’s okay if your project doesn’t prove your expectations, in fact sometimes it’s just as fascinating when it doesn’t.
Students are skeptical about being able to control a cockroach leg with their muscles…But by hooking up the Muscle SpikerBox Pro with a Stimulation Cable to a cockroach leg…They can see it dance and move!
Be on the lookout for more collaborations between Backyard Brains and the Leadership Initiatives Medical Neuroscience Summit in the future!
We visited University of Michigan’s campus during their annual “Xplore Engineering” camp. This multi-day event brings grandparents, parents, and their young scientists from all across the country to lovely summer Ann Arbor for a few days of science and engineering experiential opportunities.
