TORONTO SCIENCE TEACHER WINS TRAVEL AWARD TO SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE 36TH ANNUAL MEETING IN ATLANTA, GA
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NR-15-06 (10/11/06) For more information, please call Sara Harris at (202) 962-4000 or sharris@sfn.org.
TORONTO SCIENCE TEACHER WINS TRAVEL AWARD TO SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE 36TH ANNUAL MEETING IN ATLANTA, GA
WASHINGTON, DC, October 11 - A local educator is one of 10 international award recipients recognized for their commitment and innovative approach to bringing neuroscience into the classroom.
Seth Bernstein, a high school science teacher at Ursula Franklin Academy in Toronto, received a Neuroscientist-Teacher Partner Travel Award to attend Neuroscience 2006, the 36th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, to be held in Atlanta, Ga., October 14-18.
At the Academy, at an alternative school that encourages innovative learning, Bernstein has created an interdisciplinary course called Neuroscience and Art that covers topics including neuroanatomy, consciousness, neurological disorders, and mind illusions. Students in this course have had the opportunity to create art using electroencephalograms (EEG), or traces of brain activity, through Bernstein's collaboration with neuroscience graduate students at the University of Toronto.
"My course examines the relationship between the brain and creative expression with the goal of imparting students with a better understanding of themselves and their interactions with the world around them," says Bernstein.
He looks to further expand his neuroscience curriculum by establishing partnerships with multiple researchers at the University of Toronto.
"I am always on the lookout for new ways of integrating what is happening in the field with what happens in my classroom," explains Bernstein. "A conference like this one will expose me to a wealth of new ideas that I can subsequently transmit to the classroom."
Roughly 30,000 scientists from around the world will attend Neuroscience 2006 to present and discuss the latest advances in neuroscience research. The meeting will feature more than 14,000 presentations covering topics ranging from stem cell research to basic human behavior.
In addition to receiving unlimited access to the meeting's thousands of sessions and forums, the awardees have been invited to attend a number of special events. Bernstein and the other award recipients will also be honored at a gathering of the Society's Public Education and Communication Committee, which represents educational advocates from among the Society's membership.
The goal of the award program is to further partnerships between research and educational communities by bringing them together at a premier scientific meeting. "The travel award program is an example of the Society's commitment to explaining basic scientific processes -- how research leads to discovery and how discovery leads to treatments, cures and healthy choices at all stages in life," says Society for Neuroscience Public Education Director Colleen McNerney. "This program provides encouragement and visibility to the Society's members to embrace and contribute to this work, demonstrating the value of scientist and teachers working in partnership."
The Society for Neuroscience, with more than 37,500 members, is the largest organization of researchers and clinicians studying the brain and nervous system.
