One of the Science Learning Area electives offered in Year 10 is Brain Stem. Brain Stem gives students an opportunity to learn more about the biological sciences, in particular, the brain and neuroscience.

As part of the Brain Stem class, our girls entered a competition called Brain Bee Challenge, an Australian competition run by universities to promote the study of neuroscience. The whole class entered the first round of the competition in Term 1, with our top four students offered the chance to go to Round 2, which is effectively the State finals of the competition. The girls performed well but did not make it through to the final round on the day.

In addition to the competition on the day, students had the opportunity to visit the UWA campus, hear a guest speaker from Notre Dame University who is looking at the link between gut bacteria and Parkinson’s Disease and have tours of the neuroscience labs and anatomy department.

In the following video, Joanne Priest, Science Teacher and Brain Stem Co-ordinator and some of her students talk about Brain Stem and the Brain Bee Challenge.