BrainU: The Neuroscience Teacher Institute

BrainU Institutes This Summer

BrainU 101 and BrainU 202 workshops were held in Summer 2011. The workshops were open to Anoka-Hennepin & St Paul Public Schools Biology teachers only.

A unique neuroscience program for Minnesota students and teachers, BrainU provides teachers with three years of neuroscience training, materials, and staff support to bring brain science to their students. In these professional workshops, participants receive updates on the latest in neuroscience research -- discussion is complemented with hands-on activities and lab work. Teachers also receive curriculum materials to aid them in using neuroscience topics in support of Minnesota Intermediate and Middle Level standards. The program was expanded in 2008 to include high school teachers.

Registrants in the BrainU program participate in:

BrainU 101 - 2-week summer workshop, 9am-4pm daily at the University of Minnesota. Topics: anatomy and physiology of the brain and neurons, higher level brain processes, the history of neuroscience. More info...

The following school year, BrainU staff will present Explain Your Brain, a student assembly with exhibit stations, at participants' schools. Teachers also have access to Brain Trunk materials for use in their classrooms.

BrainU 202 - the summer after BrainU 101 - 1-week workshop, 9am-4pm daily at the University of Minnesota. Topics: vertebrate vs. invertebrate neurobiology, toxins and synapse modification. Sample content from a previous BrainU 202 session.

BrainU 303 - the following summer - 1-week workshop, 9am-4pm daily at the University of Minnesota. Topics:  consciousness, cognition and disease,  drug sensitivity and adolescence. Sample content from a previous BrainU 303 session.