Ten-year-old Kalia McBride said what she was touching felt a lot like a snack she used to enjoy — Jell-O.
But the “squishy” object McBride poked and prodded Tuesday was a real cat brain.
Local kids learn about brain
Chris Wang, 10, examines part of a human brain during Marc Breedlove’s presentation at Red Cedar Elementary School, 1110 Narcissus Drive. The fourth-grade students learned the importance of keeping their brains healthy as a part of Brain Awareness Week.
“I thought I was going to be sick,” she said. “It was gross at first, but after I touched it, it was OK.”
McBride and about 50 fourth-grade students at Red Cedar Elementary School learned about the brain’s many functions from MSU faculty and graduate students in the neuroscience program for its annual Brain Awareness Week.
Neuroscience professor Stephen Marc Breedlove visited Bob Ulrich and Thom Dye’s fourth-grade classes Tuesday.
Breedlove said it is important to teach students about the brain and different ways to protect it.
“You can protect your brain by always wearing a seat belt or wearing a helmet,” he said.
Breedlove brought a cat, monkey, raccoon and human brain for students to observe and touch while wearing protective rubber gloves.
“There are always some kids who don’t want to do it, but almost everyone wants to take a closer look,” he said.
Stephanie Vanis, 10, said she was apprehensive to touch the brains at first, but her curiosity eventually surpassed her fears.
“I didn’t know what it was going to feel like, and it looked kind of gross,” she said.
“The cat brain was squishy and the monkey brain was more stiff.”
The feel of the brains was one of many surprises Vanis encountered during the presentation. The human brain, which students did not get the opportunity to touch, looked different from pictures of brains shown on TV, Vanis said.
“It wasn’t pink,” she said. “It was more like greenish-brown.”
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Dye, Vanis’ teacher, said he wanted faculty and graduate students to return to his class because of the job they did during last year’s presentation.
“We have a new set of students this year and I wanted them to be able to learn about this too,” he said.
Jim Stockmeyer, who is coordinating the program’s fifth annual awareness week, will visit 16 local public schools for presentations delivered to students in grades 2 to 12.
The faculty and graduate students tailor the presentations to the students’ academic level in each grade, he said.
When speaking to more mature students, it’s important to teach them about the effects of their choices and how their decisions relate to and impact their brains, Stockmeyer said.
Those choices include alcohol and drug abuse.
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Faculty and graduate students will continue visiting schools through Sunday.
