Making minds matter Making minds matter (February 18, 2004)

Brain Day helps kids get real about human biology

by Rachel Metz

One day in early February, a group of seventh-grade students were so disgusted by some brainy visitors to Robin Young's science class they walked out, covering their noses in disgust.

Other students wouldn't approach the guests, keeping their distance and crying out when they drew near.

Still, the guests didn't complain, though they might have had a mind to.

Young's science class got its annual helping of these visitors -- brains -- Feb. 6, when Stanford neuroscience professor William Newsome and a group of Stanford graduate students paid a visit. The school was the first of the three Palo Alto middle schools to get Brain Day this year, an event that brings human and animal brains from the university into the classroom for some hands-on science.

After a quick talk about the brain's functions and what kinds of medical problems can affect it, kids fanned out to three different brain-oriented stations.

All sorts of animal brains were on the menu -- dog, sheep, monkey, rat and human among them.

The animal brains were in sealed plastic bags or small jars, while the human brains were ready to be poked and prodded. Two whole human brains, a spinal cord and a set of rubbery Rohrschach-like vertical brain slices were on display. There was also a dura -- think flesh-colored skullcap - which sits between the brain and the skull.

Brain Day started in 1994 when Newsome volunteered to bring some specimens into his son's seventh-grade science class at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School. Palo Alto students learn about human biology in seventh grade.

He was just going to stay for one period, but teachers and kids were really into it, he said.

"Kids from next door were looking in, like they were missing out on this big thing," he said.

The popularity of Brain Day spread, and soon Newsome enlisted the help of some graduate students so they could share the squishy specimens with all Palo Alto seventh graders.

"What I love the most is just seeing how excited the kids are. How big their eyes get," he said.

Most students were intrigued by the exhibit and went to work touching and peering at brains and asking questions.

"It's cooler than just learning about them and reading about them," Eliott Chillag said.

Chillag said he thought the brains would be more perfect and round, "but there's all these gaps and rips," he said of the specimens he examined.

"The squirrel brain is so small!" one girl cried.

"It feels kind of weird looking at it," said Jara Montez, who was excited to touch them..

A few - like Chloe Fuller - weren't as thrilled to be there. The brains were pretty gross, she said, and she didn't like when students passed them around and put them in her face.

Another girl had a similar reaction.

"I'm not holding it! I'm not holding it!" she exclaimed over a tiny fish's brain rolling around in a jar.

Some cried out in disgust at seeing a graduate student remove brain slices from a white plastic bucket; others held shirts over their noses, repulsed by the sight of bagged brains floating around in preservative chemicals.

Still, Young thinks it's a great classroom event.

"I think it's a lot more interesting for the students. When the real brains are there it's almost like it unleashes a lot of questions," Young said.

Rachel Metz can be e-mailed at rmetz@paweekly.com

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