The Wonders of the Brain

As part of Wychwood’s Brain 2020 program of events designed to empower students through knowledge and understanding of their brains, Dr. Natalie Doig’s team of amazing outreach scientists from the University of Oxford, Brain Dynamics Network Unit delivered engaging exploratory workshops to key stage three and key stage four students. The team comprised eight neuroscientist experts who engaged the students in a busy, challenging and fun afternoon.

The workshops comprised activities covering four main aspects of neuroscience:

• Brain evolution – students learned about the regions of the brain, their function and similarities and differences between brains of different species.
• Memory and Plasticity – students experienced how quickly the brain can adapt to new situations – this was especially encouraging as well as amazing to students who would have been due to sit public examinations at the end of the academic year.
• Brain cells – students examined brain cells under the microscope and learned about their function and form.
• Electrical signals from the brain – students experimented with Mindflex and Brainclaw to explore the idea of the brain generating electricity which could be used to power devices to recover lost movements.

This really was an experience full of the Wonders of the Brain.