Brain power

Brain power

Home-schooled students from Alachua County in kindergarten through eighth grade visit the McKnight Brain Institute.

Home-schooled students from Alachua County in kindergarten through eighth grade visit the McKnight Brain Institute.

Paran Davari asked the group of elementary school students to name one of the five senses. An answer came fast from the talkative 6-year-old girl in the front row. “Taste! Like when I eat ice cream!” said Amber Andrews, a homeschooled kindergartner. Amber was among 51 students who visited UF’s Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute in March for a Brain Awareness Week event. The global Brain Awareness Week campaign aims to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research. Davari, an undergraduate biology major at UF, taught the 26 younger children about blind spots and how they can lead to car crashes. She showed them how the inner ear detects different sound frequencies and works with the brain to process those signals. She explained how taste buds connect to the brain, allowing someone to savor a handful of jellybeans. Next door, 25 older students delved a little deeper into the brain — literally. The older students studied a sheep’s brain and learned about the organ’s crucial functions. — Doug Bennett