December 5, 2005
CONTACT: Karen Kreeger
(215) 349-5658
karen.kreeger@uphs.upenn.edu
Invitation to Cover:
Science-Fair Switcheroo, Where Kids Judge the Science
150 third and fourth graders to decide award-winning science
projects
in Penn Kids Judge! Neuroscience Fair
| WHAT: | The Kids Judge! Neuroscience Fair is a national education
program designed to make scientists better communicators and elementary
school children better scientists. Over 150 third and fourth graders
from the Penn Alexander School, the Charles R. Drew School and the
Delaware School for the Deaf will spend a morning on the Penn campus
“judging” hands-on science activities developed by undergraduate
students in the Biological Basis of Behavior program and graduate
students in neuroscience. Faculty members from the Mahoney
Institute of Neurological Sciences, drawn from three schools
at Penn and five departments, act as information resources. Prizes
are awarded by the school children for the best activities; these
cash prizes are, in turn, donated to the public school science teachers
to help continue hands-on science in their classrooms. |
| WHEN: | Wednesday, December 7, 2005
|
| WHERE: | Biological Research Building Lobby |
| WHO: | The Penn KidsJudge! Fair 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. |
HIGHLIGHTS:
Left Brain/Right Brain Mystery Theatre: Two side-by-side
cubicles are set up as hotel lobbies in which a person is trying to pay
his or her hotel bill. The twist? The person in the left-side cubicle
can only pay his bill using tasks that are controlled by the left-side
of his brain; the person in the right-side cubicle can only perform tasks
that are controlled using the right-side of the brain. Answer? Neither
side can get the job done. Both sides of your brain need to work together.
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 your brain so you know you’re hungry or full? Wonder no longer! Judges take this journey along the road between stomach and brain and see how it all works, and why.
Vision: Each of a person’s two eyes sees a whole image; it’s the brain that puts it all together into the one image we see. Judges get to experience how the brain and the visual system puts all this together in a simulation of how we see butterflies.
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PENN Medicine is a $2.7 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and high-quality 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 ranked #2 in the nation for receipt
of NIH research funds; and ranked #4 in the nation in U.S. News &
World Report’s most recent ranking of top research-oriented medical
schools. Supporting 1,400 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 comprises: its flagship hospital,
the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, consistently rated one
of the nation’s “Honor Roll” hospitals by U.S. News
& World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital;
Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; a faculty practice plan; a primary-care
provider network; two multispecialty satellite facilities; and home health
care and hospice.
This release is available online at http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec05/kidsjdgneuro.htm