March 30, 2009

CONTACT: Karen Kreeger
(215) 349-5658 office
(215) 459-0544 mobile
karen.kreeger@uphs.upenn.edu

CONTACT DAY OF EVENT: Jane Hoshi
(610) 299-4154 mobile
Coordinator, Neuroscience Graduate Group


Invitation to Cover: Science-Fair Switcheroo, Where Kids Judge the Science

130 third and fourth graders to decide award-winning science projects in Penn Kids Judge! Neuroscience Fair

WHAT:

Over 130 third and fourth graders from the Penn Alexander School, the Samuel Powel Elementary School, and the Sterck/Delaware School for the Deaf will spend a morning on the Penn campus “judging” hands-on science activities developed by students at Penn, including undergraduate Biological Basis of Behavior program majors and graduate students in neuroscience (http://www.psych.upenn.edu/bbb/KidsJudgeNeuroscience.htm).

Highlights:

  • Brainapalooza: Faculty and students let the judges see and handle all kinds of brains. Very hands-on, very yucky-cool.
  • Food for Thought: Ever wonder how your stomach communicates with yourbrain so you know you’re hungry or full? Wonder no longer! Judges takethis journey along the road between stomach and brain and see how it allworks, and why.
  • Left Brain/Right Brain What? We use both sides of our brain for something as simple as tying our shoes? Watch as two students cooperate to tie a shoelace while each only uses one free hand.
WHEN:

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Prime judging time: 9:30am- 11:00am
WHERE:

Biomedical Research Building Lobby

421 Curie Boulevard

http://www.facilities.upenn.edu/mapsBldgs/view_map.php3?id=233
WHO:

The Penn KidsJudge! Fair, a national education program designed to make scientists better communicators and elementary school children better scientists, is sponsored by Penn’s Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences and the Biological Basis of Behavior Program. The Fair is also made possible in part by grants from the National Kids Judge! Partnership, the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, and National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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PENN Medicine is a $3.6 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Penn's School of Medicine is currently ranked #4 in the nation in U.S.News & World Report's survey of top research-oriented medical schools; and, according to most recent data from the National Institutes of Health, received over $379 million in NIH research funds in the 2006 fiscal year. Supporting 1,700 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) includes its flagship hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, rated one of the nation’s top ten “Honor Roll” hospitals by U.S.News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. In addition UPHS includes a primary-care provider network; a faculty practice plan; home care, hospice, and nursing home; three multispecialty satellite facilities; as well as the Penn Medicine Rittenhouse campus, which offers comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation facilities and outpatient services in multiple specialties.


This release is available online at
http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/kids-judge-neuroscience-fair.html