To achieve our goal of bringing neuroscience to New York City public elementary, middle, and high schools, we have developed grade-specific curricula (lesson plans) that covers a wide variety of neuroscience topics that we bring to classrooms across the city in the form of lectures and hands-on labs. Click below to request a classroom visit form CUNO's volunteer educators.
We also work with teachers to tailor our lessons to reinforce concepts that the students are learning in their regular classes. The effects of our visits often go beyond the class time devoted to our lectures and labs. In a fourth grade classroom learning about the scientific method and forming hypotheses, we had students hypothesize whether it would take longer to read names of colors that were printed in ink of the same or of a mismatched color (Stroop task). The students timed each other and recorded the results. The teacher kept the data for subsequent math classes and used it to illustrate the concepts of average, median, and mode, reinforcing the lessons and promoting the idea that they really can conduct and analyze scientific research. Working closely with each teacher teacher helps foster a relationship that promotes visits year after year.
One of our main attractions for students of all ages is our collection of brains donated from a number of animals. Seeing a brain in person never fails to solidify the awe of everything that the tiny bit of tissue can do. Even young children can compare brains of different animals and think about how each different brain is suited for the animal. CUNO has recently been able to plastinate two human brains to bring to classroom visits in addition to its library of animal brains.
We highly prioritize visits to schools located in upper Manhattan, and we can only accommodate two classes per visit request.