Advances in Physiology Education, Vol 273, Issue 6 41-S46, Copyright © 1997 by American Physiological Society
Introducing high school students to neurophysiology
B. Schmidt and T. Stavraky
Department of Physiology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
University-based scientists are increasingly meeting the challenge to
communicate with the public to improve general science literacy, explain
their research to a lay audience, and recruit science students. At the
University of Western Ontario, graduate student volunteers of Let's Talk
Science have launched a project that introduces senior high school students
to research presentations given by undergraduate physiology students. The
project has given the undergraduate students an opportunity to present
their work to an interested audience other than their peers or faculty,
while it provides the high school students with positive role models and a
greater awareness of postsecondary science. This project was judged a
success by all participants, because many of the high school students
became interested in physiology and claimed to be more confident in their
ability to participate in science, and it also appeared to improve the
presentation and communication skills of the undergraduates. This
innovative and cost-efficient project is an effective way to demonstrate
the excitement of physiology to potential future scientists while showing
undergraduate students that public communication of science is not only
important but can also be fun.
