The IdeenExpo 2019 took place June 15th-23rd at the Hanover Exhibition Center, where second year doctoral students of the PhD-program "Systemic Neurosciences" of the HGNI gave insights into the neurosciences with a bilingual workshop during two days.
The workshop "Thrill - Neurosciences up close" was designed for high school students and aimed to playfully introduce various areas of the neurosciences. After a short introduction into the general topic of neuroscience, where the doctoral students as well as their respective fields of research were presented, groups were formed and distributed to four workshop stations.
At one of the stations, the students could get to know the gross anatomy and structure of the nervous system using animal brain specimens, and gain insights into pathological processes and alterations of the nervous system, which can be caused by congenital defects and diseases. At another station, a microscopic examination of self-dyed murine brain slices was part of the program. Guided by the PhD-students, the pupils could experimentally observe the stimulus transmission and perception of the peripheral nerves on their own body and in addition test their cognitive abilities, such as short-term memory and cognitive flexibility.
As part of a final discussion round, the students were able to pose questions concerning the fields of study and everyday laboratory work of the PhD-students, as well as the various disciplines (biology, biochemistry, psychology and veterinary medicine), which form the PhD-student’s background.
This workshop aimed at getting young students interested in neuroscience and giving them first insights into this discipline. Feedback given by the students and their accompanying teachers was very positive, and maybe one or more of the students went home with the newly found aim to become a neuroscientist. As a keepsake, each student was able to take home their self-stained brain-slides and a small giveaway, for example walnut-brains, which were hand-made by some of the PhD-students (see picture below). For the PhD-students the 6 months of preparation time as well as the workshop itself was a lot of fun and a very rewarding experience.
