On the 1st of July, the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Auckland hosted a site visit as part of Round 2 of the NZ Brain Bee Challenge. The Brain Bee Challenge is a competition for high school students in year 11 to learn about the brain and its functions, learn about neuroscience research and find out about careers in neuroscience. The Faculty hosted 170 Year-11 high school students plus 30 teachers/parent supervisors from the North Island. The Brain Bee competition is a flagship outreach events for the Centre for Brain Research.
The School of Optometry and Vision Science ran some fun activities to demonstrate vision science. One activity was a hacky sack game combined with a visual illusion that changes our perception of size: would changes in the size of the central disk/hole affect how well students hit the target! This hands-on experiment was designed to teach the students how a simple vision science experiment works. We also had interactive eye-tracking demos, including demonstrating how people with vision loss perceive the world. In another eye-tracking demo, students drew simple shapes on a computer using only their eyes!
Excerpt from a feedback email: “The running of Brain Bee was a resounding success again due to the tremendous and superb effort put in by all our volunteers. The event showcases our enthusiasm for neuroscience and the world-class work we do. The teachers, parents and students have gone away with memories of an amazing day.”