Grassroots Neuroscience – The Grenada Brain Bee initiative celebrates a decade of increasing neuroscience awareness in high school students in a developing country

摘要

Grassroots Neuroscience - The Grenada Brain Bee initiative celebrates a decade of increasing neuroscience awareness in high school students in a developing country In 2009, The Grenada National Brain Bee Challenge was intro- duced as a‘spelling bee’ style competitions for high school students. It was partly sponsored by the Christian Services Corporation who partners with a religious organization and individual univer- sity professors. The goal of this initiative was to increase student awareness, and recruit young minds into the advanced science fields, particularly neuroscience. The challenge is a four tiered event which includes a preliminary screening, zonal competitions, preparatory tutorials for the finalists, an objective structured prac- tical exam and final competition. Although the project is primarily academic, it offers the students and their teachers the opportunity of social engagement with their peers, scientists, and profession- als in the field. Additionally, the final competition is held during the ‘Brain Awareness Week’. This campaign includes activities such as a movie night, student walk-about, public lecture and a reli- gious service geared to captivate the wider community. The finalists have represented the region in various countries at the interna- tional competition at least five times and will do so again in South Korea this year. Approximately, 85% of the finalists, over the past five years have pursued careers in the advanced sciences. This grassroot initiative fostered the collaboration between the reli- gious organization, schools, university, business partners and the community in a developing country. This endeavor engages our young population and provides an opportunity outside of the class- room for neuroscience awareness and cognitive development of the brain.