This comprehensive neuroscience and behavior biology (neurobiology) program gives high school students hands-on experience investigating how the brain and nervous system control thought, emotion, and behavior. Through hands-on experiments, brain dissection, and interactive activities, students explore neural communication from the molecular level to complex behaviors.

Students begin by building model neurons and progress to understanding action potentials through electronic simulation. The course examines all five sensory systems—vision, hearing, smell, touch, and taste—with hands-on activities demonstrating how the brain processes sensory information. Students explore neuroanatomy and investigate how brain disorders and neurological injuries disrupt nervous system function.

The curriculum emphasizes real-world neuroscience research methods. Students learn experimental design, work with model systems, examine the ethics of animal research, and explore cutting-edge neuroscience techniques used in professional laboratories. Daily career discussions showcase diverse pathways in neuroscience including academic research, biotechnology companies, drug development, clinical medicine, psychology, and biomedical engineering.

Students analyze scientific literature by studying the structure of research papers (introduction, methods, discussion, abstract) and culminate their learning with a mammalian brain dissection—the same hands-on experience pre-med and neuroscience majors complete in college.

Past excursions have included: Neuroscape (UCSF), Denali Therapeutics, Gladstone Institutes’ Paz Lab for Neurological Disease, Berkeley’s Brain Imaging Center, and the Exploratorium’s neuroscience exhibits.