The University of Waterloo’s kinesiology department will host the third annual brain bee for high school students in Waterloo Region.
WATERLOO, Ont. (Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011) - The University of Waterloo’s kinesiology department will host the third annual brain bee for high school students in Waterloo Region and surrounding areas on Saturday.
The contest, open to Grade 9 to 12 students, is one of 13 brain bees scheduled across Canada this winter and spring. It raises awareness about neuroscience by challenging students to answer questions about the brain.
"The brain bee gives high school students an exciting opportunity to learn about the brain and about the importance of brain research," said kinesiology professor Aimee Nelson, who is co-ordinating the local contest with help from graduate students and psychology professor Jonathan Fugelsang. "It also brings the students to campus to meet researchers who are doing brain research and will hopefully attract young minds to the field of neuroscience."
On Saturday, Feb. 26, the Waterloo contest begins at 10 a.m. and takes place in the school of optometry's building, room 347, located at Columbia Street and Hagey Boulevard.
Students registered in the contest will answer multiple-choice questions anonymously by choosing their answers using clicker technology. They will compete for first- and second-place prizes ($400 and $100 respectively).
The first place winner will qualify for the national CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) Brain Bee to be held in spring at McMaster University in Hamilton. The Canadian champion will go on to compete in an international brain bee later this year.
To prepare for the test, students use Brain Facts, a primer on the brain and nervous system published by the Society for Neuroscience. The primer covers such topics as memory, sleep, intelligence, emotion, perception, stress, aging, brain-imaging, neurology, neurotransmitters, genetics and brain disease. It can be viewed at www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainFacts.
For more information about the event, visit www.ahs.uwaterloo.ca/~brainbee/.
About Waterloo
The University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada's Technology Triangle, is one of Canada's leading comprehensive universities. Waterloo is home to 30,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students who are dedicated to making the future better and brighter. Waterloo, known for the largest post-secondary co-operative education program in the world, supports enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. For more information about Waterloo, visit www.uwaterloo.ca.
Contacts:
Michelle Douglas-Mills, communications manager, faculty of applied health sciences, 519-888-4567 ext. 38345 or mdouglas@uwaterloo.ca
Aimee Nelson, professor, kinesiology, ajnelson@uwaterloo.ca
John Morris, Waterloo media relations, 519-888-4435 or john.morris at uwaterloo.ca
Waterloo news release no. 9
