Live Interactive Brain Awareness Collaborations

1
222.2
Live Interactive Brain Awareness Collaborations
with Fifth Graders using Internet2 Robert F.
Waldeck1,2, J. Timothy Cannon2,3 Biology
Department1, Neuroscience Program2, Psychology
Department3, The University of Scranton,
Scranton, PA

• Conclusions
• This is Fun! We enjoy the process and the
  student participants seem to enjoy the programs.
• Eighth graders seem to be much more engaged than
  the fifth graders.
• Frequent reviews are included in each show and
  students do seem to retain a great deal of
  information.
• Student questions can, at times, be far ranging.
  Sometimes there are recurring themes (for
  example, headaches and dreams).
• We had intended to establish a substantial amount
  of involvement for our own college students in
  the programs themselves and on the discussion
  boards. To date, however, participation has been
  less than wed wished for, mostly due to
  conflicts with classes. Its difficult to
  schedule multiple faculty and students to
  simultaneously participate.
• We originally attempted to have students (the 5th
  graders) engage in data analysis of mouse
  behavior videos. That proved to be challenging
  and we didnt attempt this project with the
  8thtgraders. Given the high level of
  participation that the 8th graders are
  exhibiting, however, we intend to attempt data
  analysis with them in future years.
• We intend to continue this program annually and
  strongly encourage other schools with I2 access
  to do the same.

Overview Over the past two years, we have shared
our laboratory facilities with fifth and eight
graders from seven regional schools to explore
neuroscience using videoconferencing via
Internet2 (I2). For each season we offer five
60-minute programs spaced at 2-3 week intervals.
A Google Group was created to provide show
information, additional resources, and discussion
options. Students were urged to send questions
and comments to a Discussion Board for sharing
and experimental data also was provided. Live
streaming allowed interaction with students
almost as if they were physically present.
Demonstrations included anatomical displays,
live electrophysiological recordings, animations
of processes, behavioral experiments requiring
students to analyze data, and question and answer
periods. Our objectives are to increase
awareness of neuroscience to middle school age
kids and to indicate the influence of
neuroscience generally, to demonstrate how the
nervous system is studied, and to facilitate
their future studies while highlighting career
paths in neuroscience. Program Summaries (Some
variation has occurred across our two seasons.
Web pages are shown on the right side of the
poster.) Program 1 defined neuroscience and
explained neuroanatomical terminology using real
brains, slides, and histological techniques.
Program 2 examined neuroscientific research
objects and methods, emphasizing their relevance
to human behavior and medical conditions. The
example of Phineas Gage explained the correlation
between areas of the brain and human behavior.
Neuron structure was discussed and students saw
videos of mice behavior for further observation
to collaborate in assessing possible future
changes. Program 3 involved an in-depth look at
synapses and neuropharmacology. Effects of
nicotine were examined on the central and
peripheral nervous system and the behavioral
observations recorded by student collaborators
were discussed. Program 4 examined the action
potential. Animations and discussion explained
how the movement of salts leads to information
coding in the nervous system. We explored how
electrophysiologists examine these signals in
humans and animals. Our college students
presented information on EEG and gave a live
demo. Program 5 involved live crayfish nerve
recording, offered resource lists, and summarized
how to be a neuroscientist.
Google Group for programs
I2 session
Participating students with I2 projector system
Methods Approximately 3,500 K-12 schools across
the country are connected to I2. MAGPI
(Mid-Atlantic Gigapop in Philadelphia for
Internet2) is the Internet2 GigaPop (gigabit
Point of Presence) at the University of
Pennsylvania. MAGPI employs a full-time
application coordinator who works with the K-12
community. Our Director of Technology
Development and Innovation and MAGPI collaborated
in recruiting school participation and I2
technical matters. Our participation was
initially funded by an internal Internet2
Strategic Initiative grant to the two authors.
This grant was largely devoted to providing
stipends for the development of educational
materials for this program. A typical program
involves one camera, conference microphone (with
mute), a PC with S-video output, a switcher box,
one camera operator, and, typically, 2 IT support
staff to ensure connectivity. Our PC is
connected via a Spot Camera to an Olympus light
microscope. We have also used an Olympus
dissecting scope with analog video output. In
the Spring of 2008, we had two schools
participate, Forest City and Delaware Valley.
Forest City had only five participants who were
part of a mentally gifted program. Delaware
Valley had 22 participants from a regular
science class. In both instances, students were
in the 5th grade. These schools are within an
hour drive of Scranton. In the Fall of 2008 we
have five schools participating, Chichester
Middle School, Governor Mifflin Middle School,
Northley Middle School, Bala Cynwyd Middle
School, and Pocono Mountain East Jr. High School.
Similar to our first year, one school has only a
small group of gifted students participating, the
other schools have larger (20-30) general
classes. These students are from the
Philadelphia area (approximately 2 hours drive
away) and are all in the 8th grade. We have one
program remaining in this series. Students are
excitedly waiting to hear about our adventures in
Washington DC. The active student and teacher
responses during the programs and positive
feedback point to a successful venture we are
planning more programs for the future.
Scranton undergraduates demonstrating EEG
Sample Questions We have a question. Is
anything known about the size of Einstein's
brain? I have heard that it was smaller than
they expected. True or False What part of the
brain is effected when someone has short term
memory loss? What is the difference between
grey matter and white matter? Does imbalanced
seratonin cause people to go into a spiraling
depressionn? How does a headache occur and
what part of the brain is affected? What causes
sleep walking and talkgin? What part of the
brain causes you to dream and day dream? Why do
migraines happen and what part of the brain is
affected by it? What part of the brain is
affected when children are born mentally
retarded? Is it possible to change dreams as
in thinking so hard during a dream that it
changes or it is a self-conscious thing? Kenny
- If I am eating very little food, can I tell
myself that the fook I ate has filled me up and
feel then feel like I am full?  Will this work?
 Can this work? Robert R. - If one part of the
brain is damaged does the whole brain become
damaged? Tristan - Back to the dream question,
If a person dreams that they will die is it
possible to create their own demise?  Sometimes
when you dream the dream comes true a few days
later. Grace - What is going on with your
neuons during a  charlie horse, numbness, body
part falling asleep? I have a question. why is
it that sometimes a bleeding cut doesnt hurt
until you look at it? For example if you got cut
by someone's binder while walking down the hall,
but didnt notice it until you got home. and then
it started to hurt.
Participting students
Support pages for programs
Participating students