Grade 3 x HS Neuroscience

The high school neuroscience class recently welcomed third graders for a hands-on workshop exploring social media and screen use and their effects on the brain.

Designed and led entirely by the high school students, the experience invited younger learners to engage with big ideas in developmentally appropriate, creative ways.

Across five rotating stations, third graders explored the basic structures of the brain, examined trends in social media use among children and teens, and learned how visual and social media can influence attention, emotion, and memory. One station encouraged discussion and reflection around healthy habits, where students shared screen-free activities they enjoy and brainstormed alternatives to screen time.

The workshop was the culmination of several weeks of preparation, part of the Neuroscience class’s unit on learning, development, and memory. As they planned each activity, our high school students grappled with questions they are actively investigating themselves—such as how increasing screen and social media use may shape cognition in both the short- and long-term, and how those effects show up in everyday life.

Just as importantly, the experience challenged the high school students to translate complex neuroscience concepts into engaging, age-appropriate lessons for third grade students. This practice of adapting advanced scientific ideas for a real audience is a key skill they will continue to develop throughout the second semester, as they design and execute their own brain and behavior experiments for presentation at the annual Science Research Conference at New York University.