Session Overview Elementary

BrainReach Elementary conducts 8 sessions throughout the course of school year. Each session lasts for 1 period, and covers basic neuroscience concepts, while encouraging student curiosity and scientific thinking. The following are the session titles and goals for each of our 8 sessions.

Session 1. What is the Brain?	Session 2. What is each part of the brain used for?
Address stereotypes about science and scientists. Discover the term neuroscience. Understand that the brain is an organ in our body. Learn that the brain, spinal cord, and nerves are part of the nervous system. Investigate what the brain looks like and why it is “wrinkly.”	Explore 3-D models of the body and our organs. Learn that the brain has different parts (the four lobes of the brain, cerebellum and brainstem) responsible for different functions.
Session 3. What is the brain made of?	Session 4. How does the brain get information from the world?
Learn that the brain is made of cells. Understand that cells are small, we cannot see them with our eyes alone. Introduce microscopes as a tool used by neuroscientists to see cells. Understand what a hypothesis is, as well as how to make and test them. Introduce the neuron and its functions.	Discover the five senses as how our brains receive information from the world. Reinforce the concept from last session that “signals” travel along neurons, from the sense organs along nerves to the brain. Understand multimodal integration: what we hear is influenced by what we see; flavour combines smell and taste. Understand what receptive fields are.
Session 5. How does my brain pay attention and remember?	Session 6. Trivia Jeopardy Review
Define attention and understand why attention is important. Understand that our brains can only concentrate on one thing at a time, they can’t multi-task well. Discover the difference between short term and long term memory. Learn a new structure in the brain – the hippocampus – and how it is involved in memory. Learn what affects our ability to pay attention and remember.	Review sessions 1 - 5 through a fun Jeopardy style game. Investigate a real cow brain.
Session 7. Sleep & Emotions	Session 8. Mystery Session!
Understand sleep: why we sleep, what happens during sleep and dream, and good sleep hygiene. Understand that emotions come from the brain, and that there are different ways of expressing our emotions. Understand the basis of unpleasant emotions (such as fear) and how we can deal with them. Get comfortable expressing and describing different emotions we may experience.	Flexible session custom-designed by presenters based on the class and their own interests.