SuperMindLab is excited to partner with the Bay Area Brain Bee and offer two preparatory workshops by Prof. James Murray on March 4, 9am-2pm at ICC, Milpitas and March 11, 9am-3:00pm at CSU, Hayward. Teenage middle & high school students (ages 13-19) can attend one of these workshops. One chaperon per student must be present at all times for the entire duration of a workshop. You will also get to visit Prof. Murray’s lab for the CSU Workshop. Visit the Bay Area Brain Bee to register for competition itself. Register Now for FREE Brain Bee Info sessions on Feb 26 & 28 and Prep workshops with the link below.
This is an exciting opportunity for teenage middle & high school students (ages 13-19) to learn and possibly pursue careers in neuroscience (great value for college applications!).
About Brain Bee
With over 70 regional and 30 national competitions in participating states and countries, the International Brain Bee is an elimination-style contest that provides a great chance to demonstrate the knowledge of neuroscience. Students from all over the world compete for the title of Best Brain and are tested in topics such as brain cognition and function, diseases, physiology, and chemistry. It’s like the National Spelling Bee Competition – but neuroscience facts instead of words!
Teenage students (ages 13-19) in middle and high schools in their states turn out yearly for local Brain Bees. In these elimination-style competitions, students answer questions about the functioning of the brain and nervous system one by one until a single winner remains. The champions of each regional Brain Bee are invited to their national Brain Bee to represent their region, and the winners of annual national Brain Bees are sent to the annual International Brain Bee.
Competition: The 1st place winner of the local Bay Area Brain Bee on March 18, 2023 at CSU Hayward will be invited to compete in the National Brain Bee at the UC Irvine in April 2023, and possibly to the International Brain Bee in the summer (25,000+ competitors annually, 40+ countries, 25+ years). Awards will be given to the top 3 BABB winners.
Format: The Brain Bee will consist of a preliminary written exam for all participants, multiple oral rounds of competition, leading finally to the final Jeopardy-style rounds of competition.
All registrants will participate in the written round, which consists of a mix of multiple-choice and short-answer questions. The top-performing students (approximately 10-12 based on written exam scores) will move on to the oral rounds of competition. In the oral rounds, the students will be asked questions one by one and must answer aloud.
Preparation:
(1) Sign up for one (or both!) of our Saturday workshops (optional).
(2) Questions from the written and oral rounds are based on Brain Facts, a primer on the brain and nervous system that is published by the Society for Neuroscience. Brain Facts is available for download as a PDF at the link above.
(3) It may also help to look at the sample questions released on the International Brain Bee website.
(4) Free audio podcasts of past editions of Brain Facts are available for download at iTunes U.
(5) Additional resources – Science ATL, Society for Neuroscience, The Journal of Neuroscience, The Dana Foundation
Finally, as any neuroscientist knows, getting a good sleep the night before the Brain Bee is critical for top performance!
Eligibility: Students ages 13 to 19 are welcome to attend the workshops. Students must be accompanied by an adult chaperon. Workshop attendees are not required to compete in the Brain Bee, and Brain Bee competitors are not required to attend workshops.
Bay Area Brain Bee Workshops
Description: The Brain Bee Workshops are designed to help students prepare for the Brain Bee competition at the regional level. Prof. James Murray of CSU, Hayward will conduct the workshop and show his lab with some practical demonstrations. The class will be fun and interactive to help students prepare for the upcoming competition. There will also be the opportunity to practice sample Brain Bee questions. These workshops also give students in the region the opportunity to spend a day with other students sharing similar interests in science!
Cost: $40 per person per workshop, includes lunch for a student and his/her chaperon. Tuition Assistance is available for those students who qualify for National Free or Reduced Lunch Program at their school. Collected fees are applied towards expenses for the class and competition. Prof. Jame Murray of CSU, Dr. Ashvin Radiya of SuperMindLab.org and others are volunteering. Register Now for FREE Brain Bee Info sessions on Feb 26 & 28 and Prep workshops with the link below.
Registration Deadlines
- Registration for Workshop One on March 4 @ ICC, Milpitas will close at noon on Friday, March 3.
- Registration for Workshop on March 11 @ SJSU will close at noon on Friday, March 10.
NOTE: Participants are allowed to register for one workshops. Attending a workshop is not a requirement for competing in the Brain Bee competition. Also, competing in the competition is not a requirement for attending a workshop.
All registration must be completed online – no tickets available at the door. If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact us at supermindlab@gmail.com.
