Each spring, a few UVM College of Arts and Sciences students and faculty members return to middle school. But this time around they’re just visiting—no picking teams at recess or awkwardly choosing who to sit with at lunch. As volunteers for Brain Awareness Week (BAW), they’re there to share their knowledge about the brain and brain health by interacting with hundreds of young students through activities that range from demonstrating the effects of stroke to presenting live recordings of neurons firing in cricket legs. 

Alicia Ebert, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biology, coordinates UVM’s participation in BAW. “Events are planned throughout the country to engage the community with learning how the brain works and the importance of neuroscience research,” she says. Event organizers include advocacy groups, colleges and universities, government agencies, hospitals, outreach organizations, and more. 

This year, BAW, a global campaign started by the Dana Foundation to promote enthusiasm for and engagement with brain science, was held the week of May 11th. According to Ebert, UVM sent 22 volunteers, including biology and neuroscience undergrads; graduate students in biology, neuroscience, animal biosciences, and medical sciences; biology faculty members; and a staff member from the College of Medicine. These volunteers engaged 300 seventh and eighth graders at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School and Winooski Middle School over three days, offering information and interactions at 10 different stations about the senses, how neurons work, neurological diseases, and neuroanatomy. 

Neuroscience major Jess Royer ’26 volunteered at both Tuttle and Winooski. “I love neuroscience, and sharing that joy with younger kids feels really rewarding,” she says. At Tuttle, Royer conducted an exercise that measured the size of the receptive fields (areas on the skin that respond to stimuli) on the tips of the kids’ fingers and then compared that to the size of the receptive fields on their shoulders or elbows. 

At Winooski, Royer did a presentation on strokes and the basic causes, symptoms, and treatments. “We simulated a stroke by having the students hold a weight in one hand,” she says. “Then, without raising or moving that arm, they were tasked with putting on and buttoning a shirt. It was awesome to see kids who were really frustrated at first figure out how to get the shirt on. They were so proud.”

Jill Corbit ’26, also a neuroscience major, ran two stations at Tuttle on the topics of neuroanatomy and stroke. She explained strokes using an example of driving down a road, where the car represents blood flowing, the road represents the path of blood flow through blood vessels, and a roadblock or deviation from the road represents a stroke.  

Corbit also conducted the simulated-stroke activity and turned it into a race so students could compete to see who could put on and button the shirt fastest. “A few students pointed out that they would probably miss the bus in the morning if they had to get dressed like this every day, which was such a good connection and allowed me to reiterate the importance of getting medical attention quickly in the event of a stroke to prevent long-term damage,” Corbit says.

At the neuroanatomy station, Corbit discussed how different parts of the brain perform different functions and, depending on which functions are used most, how one area of the brain may be more prominent than others. She displayed multiple specimen jars with dissected animal brains and asked the students to guess which animal each brain was from and why it might look different based on that animal’s behavior. She was surprised by how often the students guessed right and how many of them picked up on differences in the specimens and made smart guesses based on what they saw.

Jackson D’Elia ’26, a biology major with a concentration in ecology and evolution, volunteered at both Tuttle and Winooski. He split his time between discussing auditory and visual systems, talking about how the ear turns sound waves into neuron signals and how the brain processes visual information, sometimes filling in gaps in perception. 

“The students at Tuttle had been working on a biology-related science project coinciding with their class content in the weeks prior to BAW,” Corbit says, “so they were eager to connect what they had just learned to what we were talking about.” She was impressed by the intricate questions they asked as well as how attentive and respectful they were.

If these comments from some of the middle schoolers about what they learned during BAW this year are any indication, their inquisitiveness paid off:

  • “My favorite station was on taste. It was cool to unplug my nose and taste so much better.”
  • “I learned the signs of a stroke and when to go call 911.”
  • “I loved learning about hearing and how we can know where sound is coming from without seeing it.”
  • “I learned it isn’t about the size of your brain but how wrinkled it is that makes you smart.”

D’Elia says he learned something, too: how to pace the presentation to keep the students engaged. “Asking questions or giving some point of interaction frequently enough to keep them from zoning out was key for this age group,” he says. “Some of my favorite moments were when a student’s eyes would light up as they learned something new that they think is super cool. It’s always fun to watch that mind-blown moment.”

Royer says that volunteering to teach complicated topics to middle schoolers really forces you to find creative ways to convey the information. “Dr. Ebert does a fantastic job of coming up with stations that are very hands-on and engaging,” she says. 

“We ended up with 10 stations at each of seven classes we presented to this year,” Ebert says. “It went so well!” 

Royer adds that this experience showed her firsthand the importance of making learning a fun and rewarding process. “The feeling of accomplishment is an important component, and it was cool to see the students experience that.” 

 

Interested in participating in BAW next year? Contact Ebert at alicia.ebert@uvm.edu.