Project Brainstorm: Using Neuroscience to Connect College Students with Local Schools

Neuroscience can be used as a tool to inspire an interest in science in school children as well as to provide teaching experience to college students

Neuroscience in Middle Schools: A Professional Development and Resource Program That Models Inquiry-based Strategies and Engages Teachers in Classroom Implementation

The Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota and the Science Museum of Minnesota have developed and implemented a successful program for middle school (grades 5–8) science teachers and their students, called Brain Science on the Move. The overall goals have been to bring neuroscience education to underserved schools, excite students about science, improve their understanding of neuroscience, and foster partnerships between scientists and educators. The program includes BrainU, a teacher professional development institute; Explain Your Brain Assembly and Exhibit Stations, multimedia large-group presentation and hands-on activities designed to stimulate student thinking about the brain; Class Activities, in-depth inquiry-based investigations; and Brain Trunks, materials and resources related to class activities. Formal evaluation of the program indicated that teacher neuroscience knowledge, self-confidence, and use of inquiry-based strategies and neuroscience in their classrooms have increased. Participating teachers increased the time spent teaching neuroscience and devoted more time to “inquiry-based” teaching versus “lecture-based teaching.” Teachers appreciated in-depth discussions of pedagogy and science and opportunities for collegial interactions with world-class researchers. Student interest in the brain and in science increased. Since attending BrainU, participating teachers have reported increased enthusiasm about teaching and have become local neuroscience experts within their school communities

The central nucleus of the amygdala: a conduit for modulation of HPA axis responses to an immune challenge?

Physical stressors such as infection, inflammation and tissue injury elicit activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This response has significant implications for both immune and central nervous system function. Investigations in rats into the neural substrates responsible for HPA axis activation to an immune challenge have predominantly utilized an experimental paradigm involving the acute administration of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β). It is well recognized that medial parvocellular corticotrophin-releasing factor cells of the paraventricular nucleus (mPVN CRF) are critical in generating HPA axis responses to an immune challenge but little is known about how peripheral immune signals can activate and/or modulate the mPVN CRF cells. Studies that have examined the afferent control of the mPVN CRF cell response to systemic IL-1β have centred largely on the inputs from brainstem catecholamine cells. However, other regulatory neuronal populations also merit attention and one such region is a component of the limbic system, the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). A large number of CeA cells are recruited following systemic IL-1β administration and there is a significant body of work indicating that the CeA can influence HPA axis function. However, the contribution of the CeA to HPA axis responses to an immune challenge is only just beginning to be addressed. This review examines three aspects of HPA axis control by systemic IL-1β: (i) Whether the CeA has a role in generating HPA axis responses to systemic IL-1β, (ii) the identity of the neural connections between the CeA and mPVN CRF cells that might be important to HPA axis responses and (iii) the mechanisms by which systemic IL-1β triggers the recruitment of CeA cells