It spins, wiggles or beeps when it detects certain colors and shapes. It chases or runs away from objects. It learns and solves problems, and does it all much like your own brain: thanks to neural networks comprising of neurons, synapses and an occasional shot of dopamine to reinforce this or that behavior. High school teachers of Michigan, say hello to the NeuroRobot (a.k.a. the SpikerBot)!
This little guy has been in the works for some time now, so you’ll get to test it along with a corresponding curriculum in a free 6.5-hour professional development workshop on Saturday, May 25, 2024, at the Michigan Science Center in Detroit. Then, you’ll be able to bring the curriculum back into your classroom and implement it! We already ran this workshop in NYC earlier this year, with 30 NeuroRobots scampering off to the classrooms and a big waiting list as a result. Our point? Space is limited and it’s first come, first served, so you’ll want to secure your spot as quickly as possible.
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Schools, museums, libraries, community centers and other public venues in over 75 countries— last week, the entire planet was firing spikes in honor of the brain during Brain Awareness Week 2024! An annual event organized and partly funded by Dana Foundation and International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), it’s the biggest joint scientific outreach in the world whose goal is to get more people to think, talk, make, partake in experiments and get generally excited about the brain.
And just like every previous year, we were part of it too, personally or in spirit through our gear! This time around, our SpikerBoxes have conquered five countries (that we know of): from our own to Canada, the UK, Serbia and Austria.
But the Serbian high school teachers and students were in for a special treat.
“How Your Brain Works” Now Speaks Serbian Too
After Spanish and Italian editions, our book “How Your Brain Works” (MIT Press, 2022) got its first expanded edition. The good news is, there are several more experiments that we worked on with our fellows since the 2023 Summer Research Fellowship. The bad news, the book is in Serbian, so the new experiments aren’t available to our US audience for the time being! We hereby extend our gratitude to Nordeus Foundation, Center for Promotion of Science and the US Embassy in Serbia, who have made it all possible.
But the book launch, several workshops and media appearances weren’t the only way we popularized neuroscience in Serbia. We also donated neuroscience combos (the book + Neuron SpikerBox Pro + Human SpikerBoxO) to 23 schools around the country. These schools are now joining the ranks with a couple Serbian universities, two primary schools and a grammar school that have already received our gear over the past years. It will translate to thousands of students getting a chance to do hands-on neuroscience in the classroom!
More BYB Neuroscience at Brain Awareness Week 2024
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Recently we hosted a teacher training workshop in San Diego, featuring some of our newest tools and some new pedagogical strategies!
The focus was on the Muscle SpikerBox Pro, Reaction Timer, and Reflex Hammer, which you can see featured in this TEDx Detroit Talk.
We received a lot of great feedback, and as part of our “open-source” nature of our company, we consider it a “Duty to Disclose” some of this feedback! Nothing held back, here is the bad, the good, the ugly, and the good again!
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