As a group of fourth-grade students watched the dissection of a sheep’s eyeball, each struggled to decide if it was fascinating or disgusting. Some looked away from the eyeball, while others leaned in to get a closer view.
The dissection was part of the Cedar Rapids Science Center’s Brain Awareness Week. On Thursday, March 13, school groups came to the Science Center to walk through rooms full of different interactive educational stations about the brain.
Out of the 30 different stations, seven were created and facilitated by University of Iowa College of Education students from Ted Neal’s science education classes.
“This is giving my students the opportunity to practice informal learning,” says Neal, a clinical instructor. “This isn’t traditional learning in a classroom. This is getting out there and showing students science.”
The event was well attended by many area elementary and middle schools. Teachers lead their students into the rooms, and then let them independently explore all of the thought-provoking activities.
“Kids are so excited for the different stations. The hands-on approach is really fun for them,” says Stephanie Orr, fourth-grade teacher at Pierce Elementary in Cedar Rapids. “They come up to me so thrilled about what they’re learning.”
Station activities ranged from learning about reaction time, to drawing out the brain on swim caps, to studying the five senses.
“Beyond learning about education in informal settings, I’m enjoying looking around at what everyone else is doing. It gives me many ideas to use in my future classroom,” says Olivia Cotton, a master’s student in the UI College of Education’s science education program.
The arrangement for UI students to help with the Science Center’s Brain Awareness event began when Neal was randomly seated next to Mike Powell, the creator of the event, on an airplane.
“We got to talking,” says Powell, “and soon realized he could help with my event and I could give his students some experience.”
This is the first time that the science center has participated in Brain Awareness Week since the 2008 flood. Because of the success of the event, organizers intend to grow it larger for next year, and to continue to work with the UI College of Education.
“I think the University of Iowa does a really good job by getting us involved in these events,” says Kristen One, a master’s student in the UI College of Education, and one of the sheep eyeball dissectors. “This is the best way to practice interacting with the students, and it helps us as future teachers understand why kids want to learn science.”