Brain Bash

You probably didn't know that this week is brain awareness week. Neither did I, until I got an email inviting me to teach a group of junior high students about the brain. I signed up and got my friend Emily to teach with me. Yesterday we went to Freedom Prep. Academy and taught fifteen 7th graders about the brain for an hour. We really had no idea what we were supposed to teach before we got there, but I think it went pretty well. We had a good time and the students learned some interesting facts about the brain. For instance, how many neurons do you have in your brain? *Que Jeopardy music* What's your answer? If you said 100 billion, you're right!

The highlight of our time with the students was dissecting sheep brains. The eight students that I was working with were filled with awe and curiosity as we looked at the brain and passed it around, until the wise guy in the group stuck his smelly gloved hand in his friend's face...then chaos broke loose until their teacher came over to calm them down. This morning as I was thinking about this experience, I realized that I could learn a thing or two from those energetic 7th graders. I could be more excited about learning and find ways to make potentially boring things fun. When I am repeatedly involved in something, such as college courses, it can be easy to view my life and these activities as mundane. Perhaps it's time to bring back the kid in me.

What do you think, how can we best maintain childlike curiosity and enthusiasm in our lives?

Picture obtained from the National Museum of Health and Medicine