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Teaching kids science not just a 'series of facts' — with the help of the human brain

Ben Routhier, 9, looks through a microscope for the first time during "Brain Discovery" class on September 19, 2018.
Shahla Farzan | St. Louis Public Radio
Ben Routhier, 9, looks through a microscope for the first time during "Brain Discovery" class.

Ben Routhier never imagined brain cells could be so tiny.

As the 9-year-old squints through the eyepiece of a microscope for the first time, his exclamation echoes through the classroom.

“It’s like a whole bunch of black lines and black dots,” he murmurs, inspecting the preserved mouse neurons.

Routhier is part of a group of home-schooled students participating in “Brain Discovery,” an outreach program that aims to get kids excited about neuroscience. Washington University graduate students and researchers work closely with elementary students across the St. Louis region, using hands-on experiments to help them understand how the brain works.

The free program has reached more than 1,000 students in St. Louis since it began in 2015. 

Brian Lananna, a neuroscience PhD student at Wash U and co-founder of Brain Discovery, said there is an “incredible need” for this type of program.  

Washington University Ph.D. students Brian Lananna, left, and Claire Weichselbaum, right, at a science outreach event in 2014.
Credit Diana Zhao | Washington University
Washington University Ph.D. students Brian Lananna, left, and Claire Weichselbaum, right, at a science outreach event in 2014.

“This is not to the fault of the teachers, but science is usually taught in elementary schools as a series of facts in a textbook,” Lananna said. “Science is a lot more fun than that.”

In this session, the home-schooled students compare the mouse neurons to human cells. Their own cheek cells, to be exact.

Using toothpicks, they collect cells from the inside of their mouths and smear them on glass slides.

After looking at his cells through the microscope, one student raises his hand and announces they look like “dead yellow bugs.”

Wash U neuroscience Ph.D. student and program co-founder Claire Weichselbaum said they’re using neuroscience as a “gateway science.”

“Everybody has a brain and everybody’s inherently curious about how your brain lets you do all the things you do,” Weichselbaum said. “We feel like this is a really good way to get kids interested in science more broadly.”

William Routhier, 11, stains a sample of his cheek cells with iodine before examining them under the microscope.
Credit Shahla Farzan | St. Louis Public Radio
William Routhier, 11, stains a sample of his cheek cells with iodine before examining them under the microscope.

Home-schooled students in the Brain Discovery program meet twice a year at a centralized location on the Wash U campus. Graduate student volunteers also travel to individual classrooms across the St. Louis area to reduce logistical challenges for elementary school teachers. 

The grad students work with the students for six weeks, covering one big question in neuroscience each week, including ‘What’s your brain made of?’ and ‘How does it communicate with the rest of your body?’”

The program targets fourth- through sixth-graders, Weichselbaum said, because research points to this period as a critical phase of identity formation.

“Around that age, kids start to feel like, ‘I’m not a science person, I can’t do science,’” she said. “We’re trying to grab their interest and maintain it through the middle school years, so kids aren’t turning away from science.”

Teachers and homeschoolers with students in fourth- through sixth-grade can apply online to join the Brain Discovery program.

Follow Shahla on Twitter: @shahlafarzan

Shahla Farzan is a PhD ecologist and science podcast editor at American Public Media. She was previously a reporter at St. Louis Public Radio.