Neuropoetry and STEM

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 12^th 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!