NEUROSCIENCE AWARD GOES TO REBECCA JOHNS OF TROY HIGH SCHOOL
For immediate release.
NR-10-04 (sent 10/15/04 ) For more information, please call Elissa Petruzzi at (202) 462-6688.
NEUROSCIENCE AWARD GOES TO REBECCA JOHNS OF TROY HIGH SCHOOL
WASHINGTON, DC October 15 – Rebecca Johns of Troy High School, has been awarded a “Teacher Travel Award,” to attend Neuroscience 2004, a scientific meeting in San Diego, October 23 – 27. Johns is one of five teachers nationwide to receive the award, given by the Society for Neuroscience.
“Neuroscience is one of my favorite topics to teach,” says Johns, who teaches advanced placement biology and freshman biology classes at Troy. To encourage her students' interest in science, Johns chaperones field trips to the Detroit Science Center and to a local elementary school where her high school students can share their knowledge of the brain with younger children.
Johns, who began teaching at Troy in 1999 after receiving her master's degree in curriculum and teaching at Michigan State University, hopes to gain much from her trip. “I am in need of more creative hands-on activities to do with my students, especially new ideas out there to challenge my advanced students,” she says. “At this meeting I can grow as an educator, enrich my classes and improve brain outreach in my community, and learn more about the fascinating field of neuroscience!”
Teachers receiving the award will have the opportunity to attend the wide variety of scientific sessions available. Lectures on spinal cord regeneration, human vision, and Alzheimer's disease are only a few of the many meeting highlights. In addition, there are several education-related workshops designed to help teacher awardees focus more on the needs of their classrooms at home.
“Exposing teachers to groundbreaking neuroscience and methods to convey this material to students allows teachers to bring the newest and best that science has to offer into their classrooms,” says Eric Chudler, chair of the Society's Committee on Neuroscience Literacy. “These discoveries can spark students' interest in science, and encourage students to pursue careers in neuroscience.”
More than 25,000 scientists from around the world will gather to present and discuss the latest developments in neuroscience research, at the 34th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The meeting will feature more than 17,000 presentations on topics ranging from neuroethics to behavioral disorders.
The Society for Neuroscience, with more than 35,000 members, is the world's largest organization of basic researchers and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system.
