Brain Bee Competition for High School Students
The University of Scranton will host the 20th annual Northeast PA Brain Bee for high school students in grades 9 to 12 on Saturday, Feb. 1, beginning at 1 p.m. in the Loyola Science Center. All questions for the competition will be drawn from “Brain Facts,” a book about the brain and nervous system published by the Society for Neuroscience. The Brain Bee is offered free of charge, however, registration is required to participate.“Your nervous system is filled with circuits made up of neurons that relay messages around your brain and body. They’re responsible for everything you think, do, say and feel. Sensory circuits carry signals from sense receptors to your brain. Motor circuits send commands to your muscles. Simple circuits carry out your automatic reflexes. Higher-level activities like memory, decision-making and perceiving the world around you require complex circuits.
All of these circuits arise before you’re born, when genes direct neurons to assemble simple circuits in your developing brain. As your neurons and their connections change from new experiences and environments, those simple circuits become much more complex. These changes happen mostly in childhood but continue over your whole life – all a part of building a better brain.” From the Introduction of “Brain Facts”
The University of Scranton will host the 20th annual Northeast PA Brain Bee for high school students in grades 9 through 12 on Saturday, Feb. 1. The competition begins at 1 p.m. in the Loyola Science Center on the University’s campus.
The competition encourages high school students to study the brain and how it relates to intelligence, memory, emotions, sensations, movements, stress, aging, sleep and brain disorders. All questions for the competition will be drawn from “Brain Facts,” a book about the brain and nervous system published by the Society for Neuroscience.
Sponsored by the Neuroscience Program at the University and the Scranton Neuroscience Society, the Brain Bee is offered free of charge, however, registration is required to participate. The registration deadline is Friday, January 31.
Snow date for the Brain Bee is Saturday, Feb. 8.
In previous years, students competing represented schools from throughout Northeast Pennsylvania, including: Abington Heights High School, Lackawanna Trail High School, MMI Preparatory School, Parkland High School, Pittston Area High School, Pocono Mountain East High School, Riverside Junior/Senior High School, Stroudsburg Area High School, Wallenpaupack Area High School, Western Wayne High School, Wyoming Area High School and Valley View High School, among others.
For more information or to register online, visit https://sites.google.com/site/nepabrainbee/ or contact Robert Waldeck, Ph.D., neuroscience program director and associate professor of biology at the University, at 570-941-4324 or robert.waldeck@scranton.edu.
