'Brains R Us': Neuroscience and education...( On any given weekday about a quarter...)

On any given weekday, about a quarter of the U.S. population is occupied with the critical business of education including 50 million students in K-12 public schools, six million more in private schools, 18 million in college, plus all of their teachers. Education is a big business, but a struggling one. As the nation grapples with issues facing its troubled educational system, can neuroscience provide insights and solutions"

On March 3, the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center at UC San Diego and The Science Network will hold a public discussion of the possibilities.

Brains R Us a town hall on the science of educating, from synapse to schoolroom, neurons to neighborhoods takes place in the Frederic de Hoffmann Auditorium, at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The meeting begins at 8 a.m. and runs through 5 p.m., with lunch included and a reception following.

The meeting will bring together researchers, educators, policymakers, parents and students for an interactive daylong discussion.

Confirmed participants include literacy advocate John Corcoran, author of the autobiography The Teacher Who Couldn't Read; Kurt Fischer, president of the Society for Mind, Brian and Education at Harvard University; teen-brain expert Jay Giedd of the National Institute of Mental Health; and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman, founder of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. The Council of Chief State School Officers will also participate in this meeting.

The Science Network will webcast live and also tape the dialogue for later distribution online.

The town-hall format is one that The Science Network has used successfully several times to address such highly relevant topics at the intersection of science and public policy as science and religion (the Beyond Belief series, sleep and stem cell research.

Were interested in the synergy of different groups coming together, said Roger Bing
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