How To Explain The Brain To Kids - Use Rap
Rap, plasticine and storytelling were all used in the competition
IMAGE BY Timothy Tipton Warlow, University of Texas
The brain is one of the most enigmatic and incredible organs in the human body, and so is unsurprisingly one of the hardest ones to explain. When you're trying to explain how it works towards kids, though, you have an even harder task ahead of you. Scientists recently tried their hand at making videos to help teach children about the brain in new and effective ways. And also by using rap music.
The call for videos was begun by the not-for-profit Society for Neuroscience in Washington D.C, who ran a competition called the Brain Awareness Video Contest. They asked for five minute long videos that taught an aspect of brain science accurately and interestingly.
The number one video was taken out by Shiree Heath, from our very own University of Queensland, with the second and third places taken by entrants from the University of Texas. We definitely think Shiree's video deserved the top spot - it discusses strokes and aphasia within the context of a child's relationship with their grandfather.
The other two videos went in what are perhaps more obvious directions - rap and stop motion plasticine videos. The rap video, in particular, is worth a look, if only because watching scientists rap is always entertaining, if perhaps also a little unsettling.
Having said that, the scientist behind that video would have absolutely been a shoe in for first prize if he'd actually managed to find a rhyme for hypothalamus.
[
Society for Neuroscience]