In Week 11 of Term 2, Carmel High School Science teacher Mrs Anne Poustie accompanied a group of Carmel High School students to the University of Western Australia where they joined over 300 other high school students from across WA to learn about the complex world of neuroscience.

鈥淭he Brain Bee competition offers enrichment opportunities for students interested in medicine and neuroscience and a chance to experience university life by interacting with PhD and Masters students, professors and their peers,鈥� Mrs Poustie explained. 鈥淭his excursion was a 鈥榩rize鈥� for our Year 10 student Lucy K being a finalist in the first round of the Brain Bee Neuroscience Competition, making the experience possible for our group.鈥�

The Australia Brain Bee Challenge is the country鈥檚 only neuroscience competition for high school students, and is supported by UWA, the听Perron Institute and听the Neurotrauma Research Program in WA.

Due to COVID restrictions, the state component of the Brain Bee Challenge, normally run at UWA, will be held online later this year, but last week鈥檚 event enabled students to take part in activities to help them learn about neuroscience and enjoy some friendly competition through quizzes.

Brain Bee State Coordinator and UWA/Perron Institute MSWA Senior Research Fellow Dr Jennifer Rodger said Brain Bee, which had been running since 2007, aimed to increase students鈥� understanding of career听prospects in science, while learning why research into the human brain was important.

鈥淣euroscience brings together biology, chemistry and physics to understand how the brain works at a cellular level, but also what can inhibit it from functioning properly,鈥� Dr Rodger said.

鈥淎s far as we have come in medical science, we still only have a very basic understanding of how the brain works.

鈥淭here are billions of neurons in the brain and each one of those makes tens of thousands of connections so it鈥檚 beyond the capacity of even the most advanced super computers.

鈥淲hen you think about our ageing population and how devastating disorders affecting the mind can be, it highlights how important neuroscience is, and why we need to cultivate the curiosity and passion of our young people and researchers who can really make a difference in the future. This event to engage young students provided us with the opportunity to do just that.鈥�

School students participated in activities including lab work to understand brain neurological impulses that create our consciousness and ability to think; learning about neurological diseases and how we diagnose them; and looking at the latest research in the field and future challenges for scientists.

鈥淚t was a really amazing opportunity to be able to attend the event; it was eye-opening to see how neuroscience is studied today. It was also great to connect with people who have common interests,鈥� said Carmel student, Lucy K.

Dr Rodger said one of the highlights of the event was seeing the students inspired and engaged in the exercises, learning about a fascinating field of which scientists had just touched the surface.

鈥淚 hope that some of these students will go on to work in the field, and help make future advancements in neuroscience where there is still so much to learn and so many breakthroughs to be made,鈥� she said.听听