Have a Mouse Party!

Why not turn your science lesson into a party, and not just any kind of party but a mouse party! At BrainReach North, we love this online tool called Mouse Party designed by the University of Utah Genetics Science Learning Center. It is an interactive game where there are cartoon mice on various psychoactive drugs. You can put each of them in a special machine that looks into their brain. Once in this machine, there is a simplified demonstration on how these drugs alter the brain’s natural reward system.

Not only is this game a real crowd pleaser, but also it is extremely informative and gets students engaged in learning about different drugs that can change chemical activities in the brain. We recommend covering "How Do Neurons Communicate?" lesson before presenting this tool to your students, so that they can understand how the brain normally works without any drugs. We also recommend presenting this game to students over the age of 12, due to complexity of the content and the topic. Let us know what you think of this tool at [email protected]. If you also have any questions about this tool, or how to incorporate it into your lesson, please send us an email!