MINNESOTA PARTNERS IN NEUROSCIENCE EDUCATION WIN TRAVEL AWARD TO SFN ANNUAL MEETING
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NR-14-05 (sent 11/04/05) For more information, please call Sara Harris at (202) 462-6688.
MINNESOTA PARTNERS IN NEUROSCIENCE EDUCATION WIN TRAVEL AWARD TO SFN ANNUAL MEETING
WASHINGTON, DC, November 4 – Two local educators—one teacher and one neuroscientist—are one of six pairs nationwide to win an award for their innovative work bringing neuroscience into the classroom.
Christen Jechorek, who teaches primarily science to grades 6-8 at Lucy Craft Laney at Cleveland Park Community School in the Minnesota Public Schools, and Georgia Brier, at the University of Minnesota department of neuroscience, won a 2005 Neuroscientist-Teacher Partner Travel Award to attend Neuroscience 2005, the Society for Neuroscience’s scientific meeting in Washington, DC, November 12–16. For the first time, the Society for Neuroscience award recognizes teachers working in partnership with researchers.
Brier first worked in Jechorek’s classroom during a workshop for learning about the brain. From the first meeting, she says. “I looked at my collaboration with our teachers as an opportunity to introduce and potentially cultivate students' interests in science and make it accessible for them, particularly those who may find science beyond reach.”
She hopes to find ways to strengthen this partnership and, perhaps, to expand on it, at the meeting. But she already knows the value of being in the classroom. “I think that in order to effect change, particularly in students' perceptions about science,” she says, “they should see the scientist.”
At Neuroscience 2005, each pair of partners will participate in a planning workshop to develop long-term teacher-neuroscientist partnerships, including a summer institute. Awardees will also have the opportunity to attend the wide variety of scientific sessions available at Neuroscience 2005, including lectures on neurotransmitters, healthy aging, and meditation. In addition, there are several education-related workshops designed to help teacher awardees focus more on the needs of their classrooms at home.
The Society’s Committee on Neuroscience Literacy is looking to the long term in sponsoring educator pairs this year. While praising earlier teacher travel awards as “a great experience for the teachers,” committee Chairman Dr. William Cameron notes, “It was unclear if these experiences ever led to a connection with neuroscientists in their local area.
“The new partnership awards give us the opportunity to explore the elements of existing successful partnerships that might serve as models for members of the Society interested in engaging K-12 teachers and students,” he adds.
More than 30,000 scientists from around the world will gather to present and discuss the latest developments in neuroscience research at the 35th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, which will feature nearly 17,000 presentations covering research ranging from single molecules to human behavior.
The Society for Neuroscience, with more than 37,000 members, is the world’s largest organization of basic researchers and clinicians studying the brain and nervous system.
