Teaching Skills and Public Awareness
cortex also provides structured education in teaching skills (as part of the joint PhD sessions). Students are encouraged to practice the skills gained by giving Neuroscience seminars on topics of general interest to high school students. We benefit from and use the experiences the Bochum school (IGSN) has made with its lecture series called "Brain Café" where their students give presentations about different aspects of neuroscience to high schools and the public in genera.
Excellent material provided by the DANA Alliance for the Brain Sciences serves as teaching tools. Teaching activities of the students are honored within the ECTS scheme. The cortex school outreach program is organized locally by members of the steering committee and serves to increase the public awareness on brain research and brain disorders. Being part of a EU funded consortium it carries the Marie Curie Actions into the greater public. Several cortex members (Berlin, London, Zurich) have already tested such outreach activities and were surprised by the high degree of enthusiasm of both the Neuroscience students and the high school students and their teachers. BrainFair Zurich, for example, a public event that is part of the international Brain Awareness Week attracts thousands of visitors each year (www.brainfair-zurich.ch).
The cortex Partners: Berlin, Bochum,
Helsinki, London, Oslo,
Prague, Stockholm, Zurich
