Art is a great way to
introduce children to science. Neuropoetry, for example is an exciting way in
which children can learn about their brain by engaging in poetry. I remember
when I held my first ever neuropoetry session at a primary school during
Brain Awareness Week and Science Week UK last year.
Specifically, on the 12th March
2019 I had the pleasure as STEM ambassador to introduce children at East Acton
Primary School in a fun activity to the world of neuroscience. This activity
was very special to me as it was based on my very first book called
‘Multilingual Neuropoetry’ that I was launching at the beginning of Brain
Awareness Week. This book, which is the first book about poetry on the brain
and the mind presented in multiple languages, dissects a variety of topics from
the field of neuroscience by using poetry as a tool. The activity that I
did with 8 and 9 year old children in two classes aimed in a simple way to help
them familiarise with the basic structures of the nervous systems and the way
our senses work. I emailed the teachers the materials on poetry and neuroscience
beforehand so that I could ensure they were at the appropriate level at which
children could understand them. The school kindly did provide me with the
printed materials at the beginning of each session.
At
the school I was warmly greeted by the teachers who led me to the classes. It
was a great feeling to meet the many young children in each class who were
eager to learn about the brain. I started my session with the question whether
they knew what week it was. Although everyone knew it was Science Week, their
facial expressions did reveal surprise when I told them that it was also Brain
Awareness Week. So I happily continued with a brief introduction on the study
of the brain. I then explained how neuroscience can be expressed in both prose
and poetry, and gave a handout on simple poetry types with which they could
familiarise themselves. Afterwards we went through an example of a shape poem
to illustrate how simple neuroscientific insights or facts could be articulated
using poetry. I then handed out the information on neuroscience, and the
teachers and I spent the rest of the session helping each and every child with
creating their first neuropoem. Similar to the neuropoems presented in my book
‘Multilingual Neuropoetry’, each neuropoem was created with a twist in that a
neuropoem can be presented as a neuropoetic riddle the answer to which will
tell you what the poem is all about.
It
was an amazing experience to see how everyone was challenging themselves to pen
a poem based on the insights on the brain that they found most fascinating and
that they were excited to share with others. Despite each session only being 45
minutes in length, everyone did a marvellous job at creating a piece by the end
of the session that expressed their thoughts on the brain using poetry. It
filled me with joy to see children’s faces glow with excitement when they were
presenting their first neuropoems at the end of each session and engage the
rest of the class with their fun, inventive and unique neuropoetic riddles.
All
in all, I found my experience of this new activity with the teachers and
children rewarding and invigorating, and as a thank-you I left a copy of my
book ‘Multilingual Neuropoetry’ with the school. Later that evening, when
promoting my book live on air, I was happy to share my first neuropoetry
experience with the school on local radio, and to thank STEM, the teachers,
children and the East Acton Primary School for facilitating this new activity
during Brain Awareness Week and Science Week UK.
If
you are interested in finding out more about my book ‘Multilingual
Neuropoetry’, which is available on Amazon and
at a discount on lulu.com, please
check out the interview I did for this year's Brain Awareness Week at Radio
Harrow!
