Read about this program and see more photos on the Neuroscience Outreach Group website: NW Noggin heads to McMinnville!
Eighth-grade Patton Middle School students, in partnership with
NOGGIN (Neuroscience Outreach Group Growing in Networks), were able to
combine their study of the text Flowers for Algernon with an exploration of real human brains.
Students were introduced to the idea that different areas of the
brain, different networks of linked neurons, handle different kinds of
tasks. They explored the main characters in Flowers for Algernon and were asked to think about what it means to be “smart” – what specifically changed in both Algernon and Charlie.
The eighth graders then learned about the different sections of the brain and handled the real thing.