A morning filled with activities for children and a keynote address focused on Alzheimer’s disease are among the ways that Hope College is commemorating this year’s National Brain Awareness Week.
The keynote address, “The Brain and Alzheimer’s Disease,” will be presented on Thursday, March 9, at 5:30 p.m. in room 1000 of the A. Paul Schaap Science Center by Dr. Nicholas Kanaan of the Department of Translational Science and Molecular Medicine at Michigan State University. The presentation will be geared toward a general audience.
The children’s event will take place on Saturday, March 11, from 9 a.m. to noon in the A. Paul Schaap Science Center. The morning will feature a variety of brain-related activities designed for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, including controlling a robotic arm with one’s brain, brain crafts and coloring, testing reflexes, how to fool one’s senses and the opportunity to hold a real brain. Participants will also have a chance to win Hope- and neuroscience-themed prizes.
The public is invited to both events. Admission is free.
In addition, members of the faculty and Hope students will be visiting middle school classrooms to talk about the brain and provide entertaining activities.
The activities are scheduled in advance of National Brain Awareness Week, which is running Monday-Sunday, March 13-19, this year. Launched by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, the week is designed to highlight brain science advances and the importance of brain-related research.
The Hope events and presentations are being sponsored by the Michigan Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, the University of Michigan BrainsRule! Organization, the DANA Foundation, and the college’s Natural and Applied Sciences Division, Social Sciences Division, Neuroscience Program and Department of Nursing and ExploreHope program.
The A. Paul Schaap Science Center is located at 35 E. 12th St., at the corner of 12th Street and College Avenue.