NORTH CAROLINA PARTNERS IN NEUROSCIENCE EDUCATION WIN TRAVEL AWARD TO SFN ANNUAL MEETING
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NORTH CAROLINA PARTNERS IN NEUROSCIENCE EDUCATION WIN TRAVEL AWARD TO SFN ANNUAL MEETING
WASHINGTON, DC, November 4 – A local high school teacher and a local neuroscientist are one of six pairs nationwide to win an award for their innovative work bringing neuroscience into the classroom.
Barbara O’Donnell, a biology teacher for grades 9–12 at North Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte and Dr. Barbara Lom, of the biology department at Davidson College, 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.
Talking with friends working in local schools, Lom says she was struck by the idea that some science teachers find it hard to incorporate research into their curriculum because they don’t have lab experience. With funding from a National Science Foundation award, Lom chose O’Donnell to come to her lab in the summer of 2005 to conduct research alongside her undergraduate students. “I could have high school students come into the lab,” she remembers thinking. “But I could have a bigger impact by bringing a teacher into the program.”
O’Donnell learned lab techniques, generated data, and even brought a poster of her work back to the classroom.
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.
