Science museum event launches neuroscience education program
by Sharita Forrest / Mar 7, 2012
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (UI NEWS BUREAU) — Brainiacs of all ages are invited to explore the mysteries of the brain and nervous system March 11 during an afternoon of games and activities at the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum in Champaign. The event, F.I.N.D. Orphy, will kick off a new science education outreach program jointly sponsored by the Orpheum and the University of Illinois that highlights the research of the university’s neuroscientists.
PHOTO: Project NEURON research group: Back row, from left, neuroscience graduate student Claudia Lutz, biology undergraduate Thomas Wolfe, curriculum and instruction graduate student Westyn Garber and neuroscience undergraduate Sandhya Prathap; middle row, entomology graduate student Nicholas Naeger, professors Barbara Hug and Donna Korol, curriculum and instruction graduate student Kristen Talbot; front row, biology graduate student Hillary Lauren. (Photo by L. Brian Stauffer)
The F.I.N.D. Orphy Kick-off Event is among a series of outreach initiatives stemming from Project NEURON – Novel Education for Understanding Research on Neuroscience, which focuses on integrating recent research by U. of I. neuroscientists into science lessons for elementary, middle and high school classes.
Exhibits about neuroscience will debut at the kick-off event. Although residing primarily at the museum, the exhibits will be available for science fairs and other events in local schools.
Orphy, the museum’s mascot and a teaching tool for helping young museum visitors understand science concepts, will be hidden in various locations throughout the museum. Participants will be invited to solve puzzles to find Orphy.