Hands-On Neuroscience: Teaching Content, Critical Thinking, and Communication

Neuroscience, despite benefits to its inclusion in the curriculum, is rarely offered in high schools across the world. An after-school neuroscience program, Northfield Neuroscience, was developed and then implemented at Northfield High School to demonstrate how neuroscience can be taught in high schools. The curriculum consisted of seven lessons that incorporated varying interactive components and were taught on a low budget in the fall of 2014. The goal was for students to show that they were learning content, critical thinking skills, and communication skills. Tests and a survey were used to evaluate whether this goal was met. Student scores on posttests, taken at the end of every lesson, and cumulative tests, taken a week following the final lesson, were significantly higher than on pretests, taken before each lesson. Additionally, students reported learning and increased interest in neuroscience on a survey. Following review sessions in the winter, one student qualified for the Minnesota State Brain Bee. The results suggest that neuroscience teaching does not require a large budget and fancy laboratory equipment, but rather an engaging style of varying hands-on components that emphasize group work, critical thinking, and student ideas