BRAINFest! Report

On Saturday January 17th I helped with BRAINFest! which was held at the Ontario Science Center and organized by the Ontario Brain Institute. The Science Center is holding a few month long exhibition called BRAIN: The Inside Story which has exhibits and installations that help children and adults alike learn about the brain and how we think. Over the weekend of January 17th and 18th, the Science Center also held BRAINFest! In their exhibition hall (which interestingly I saw 2 couples looking at for their wedding reception while I was there) they hosted a number of groups from across Toronto and Ontario who were interested in the brain in some way. I went to BRAINFest! as a part of Let's Talk Science which is a nationwide organization that builds interest and engagement in science, engineering and mathematics. We had a few experiments, one on hand-eye coordination and a second on reaction time. We also build neurons and had a brain puzzle and quiz.

The Brain Exhibit itself was amazing! There were a number of artistic representations of neurons and parts of the brain as well as tons of information about the brain, cognition and rehabilitation. I took a few photographs here. The fest and exhibit reminded me of the Brain Fairs that we hosted at the University of Iowa except on steroids. One thing that I was very proud of with our Brain Fairs were that they were always offered in public spaces that were easily accessible, meaning that anyone could attend them. We were specifically hoping to target families who may not always have access to these types of educational experiences. A great offering at the Iowa Children's Museum was Family Free Night on the last Friday of every month. I was a part of two engagement projects on Family Free night (Brain Fair and Childhood Numeracy with the DeLTa center) and we saw well over 1000 people each time. So while the BRAINFest! was amazing, I had hoped to see more or steeper discounts on ticket prices in order to allow more people to enjoy such a fun and informative event.