WHAT DOES BRAIN BASICS DO?
Members talk across disciplines about how understanding the brain can improve education. We explore the intersection of neuroscience and subjects such as curriculum and instruction, language, literacy, art and design, technology, assessment, teacher training, and education policy. We organize workshops and speaker events, publish a newsletter and blog, and conduct on and off campus Brain Awareness events with K-12 students and teachers.
Students prepare to hold a human brain during a Brain Awareness Week event.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Walk into any classroom and you’ll find students with an incredible diversity of needs and abilities. Research on the variability and plasticity of the human brain offers insight into how we might better reach all students. To solve education’s complex challenges, teachers and students should know about the brain and how it learns best.
Insights from neuroscience can inform many other disciplines. Interdisciplinary conversation is essential if we want to understand the complex relationship between our brain architecture and the many facets of our human experience.
Sixth graders look at tissues and stains under microscopes to discover neurons and their structures.
HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?
Harvard community:
Join Brain Basics planning sessions to organize panel or lecture events on campus, write for or edit the blog, or assist with mobilizing Brain Awareness outreach events. Hone your skills at translating research for a public audience, connect with faculty, alumni, and local educators, gain classroom experience, or simply enjoy watching a middle schooler hold a human brain in his hands during Brain Awareness Week. We need members with diverse backgrounds in cognitive neuroscience, classroom teaching, psychology, arts, and technology.
Educators, parents and community members: Contact Brianna Wilson at harvard.brain.basics@gmail.com to find out about opportunities to participate in or host Brain Awareness events for K-12 teachers and students.
Please complete this quick survey to indicate your interest in Brain Basics.
