Preschoolers go to college

Students from Key Point Academy in Brickell visited FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus May 27 to experience art and science like never before.

About 40 kindergarten and first-graders toured the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum’s Kenan-Flagler Family Discovery Gallery where they explored interactive exhibits designed to educate and entertain. They also toured the museum’s outdoor sculpture park.

Key Point Academy’s curriculum introduces a more formal education including mathematics, language arts, social studies and science fusion — a program designed to build inquiry, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills, and optimize learning in the classroom and at home. Part of their visit at FIU included an interactive presentation by physicist Angela Laird, director of FIU’s Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging Center.

“We wanted to teach the students from Key Point Academy a little bit about how their brains work, how our brains help us process information from our five senses, and how healthy eating and exercise are good not just for our bodies, but for our brains too,” Laird said.

Laird’s presentation included an interactive activity in which the preschoolers created brain hats designed to help them learn the major lobes of the brain and what they control. The activity was facilitated by students from Laird’s lab.

“Early elementary is such a great age. Kids in kindergarten and first grade are so eager to learn and they soak up knowledge with great enthusiasm,” Laird said. “Students generally become more intimidated of making mistakes as they get older, but at an early age, they’re not afraid to speak up and tell you what they’ve learned. Our goal was for them to have a good time working on their brain hats and to feel that science can be fun.”

For more photos from Key Point Academy’s brain science experience at FIU click here.