WAB Podcast | Brain Power Beyond the Classroom

What happens when high school students take their curiosity about the brain beyond the classroom? At WAB, the student-led Neuro Network club is designing interactive exhibitions, building partnerships with local hospitals and universities, and opening doors to neuroscience for the wider WAB community. 

In this week's episode of the WAB Podcast, Grade 11 students Claire and Rachel, co-leaders of the Neuro Network club, share how their passion for neuroscience has grown into meaningful learning experiences on campus and beyond. Each year, the club’s main project is an on-campus neuroscience exhibition, hosted this year in the Koi Garden. Students have designed hands-on activities that help classmates and teachers experience what different neurological conditions can feel like. 

“For example, for Parkinson’s disease we created simulations so people can feel how difficult it is to control movement,” Claire explains in the episode. The goal is to make complex topics like neurological disorders and psychological phenomena accessible, memorable, and relevant for students of all ages. 

Another exhibition this year, is “Mind Ball,” a game where two players compete to see who can stay relaxed more. Wearing headsets that detect brain activity, each player tries to stay as calm as possible, whoever is more relaxed “pushes” their ball forward. It’s a fun, visual way to explore how brain signals relate to attention and focus. 

Beyond campus, Neuro Network has been building connections with hospitals and research institutions to give students closer access to real-world neuroscience. Earlier this school year, the club hosted guest speakers from Tiantan Hospital, who shared their expertise on neurological diseases and current treatment approaches. More recently, club members visited labs at Tsinghua University, where they were introduced to cutting-edge research in fields like brain-computer interfaces and organoids. 

For Claire, seeing brain-computer interface technology up close was eye-opening, she describes how researchers at Tsinghua are developing tissue scaffolding materials that allow electrodes to be implanted in the brain with much less damage, potentially helping patients with conditions like epilepsy. Experiencing the technology in person helped transform “abstract concepts” from textbooks into tangible tools that can change people’s lives. 

Rachel was particularly fascinated by organoids: tiny, lab-grown 3D structures that can mimic certain functions of human organs, including “mini-brains.” She shares in the episode how it felt to see such complex brain-like activity modeled in a small structure grown from stem cells, and how this could lead to new ways of understanding and treating neurological conditions. 

Both students highlighted how valuable these experiences outside the classroom are, as visiting labs and talking with researchers showed them that science is an evolving process full of open questions. 

These field trips and partnerships, they explain, help students: 

• See how scientific theories are translated into real-world applications. 

• Understand what careers in medicine, neuroscience, and bioengineering might actually look like. 

• Recognize how science connects to society, ethics, and improving people’s quality of life. 

Rachel notes, “A lot of students are really interested in neuroscience. We want to create opportunities for students like us to explore that interest more deeply.” The club’s long-term vision is to continue running annual interactive exhibitions, deepen collaboration with hospitals and universities, and create more opportunities for students to experience neuroscience firsthand. That means opening up sign-ups for lab visits, inviting more guest speakers, and designing activities that are accessible to younger students as well. 

Hear more from Claire and Rachel about their Koi Garden exhibition, their visit to Tsinghua University’s labs, and how Neuro Network is opening up new pathways into neuroscience for WAB students in the latest episode of the WAB Podcast.