Fourth Annual Competition, May 28th, McMaster University

Find more photos here:  2011 CCNBB Flickr Photos

We have our winners!

First Place and 2011 CCNBB Champion: Soohyun Park from Toronto
Second Place: Dave Saraswat from Edmonton
Third Place:  George Charchoghlyan from Guelph

Soohyun Park will represent Canada at the International Brain Bee in Florence, Italy in July, which is held in conjunction with the 8th IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience.

 

 

It was a wonderful group of students and families and teachers this year, we enjoyed everyone so much.  And what a close competition!  All the students did extremely well — we were amazed with everyone.

It was a long day with many tough challenges.  The morning started out with a hearty hot breakfast buffet, and then a multiple choice exam.  From there, a walk to the neuroanatomy labs of the Education Program in Anatomy where they were challenged with the same (very difficult) bell-ringer exam (real human brains) that is given to the medical students at McMaster (thank you Dr. Laurie Doering for offering this excellent experience).

That was followed by the Patient Diagnosis exam in the Centre for Simulated Learning where the medical students train.  It is set up with realistic medical offices and real equipment and offers the Standardized Patient Program with professional standardized patients (SPs) trained to reproduce a patient with a brain disorder or disease.  The students interviewed and diagnosed several different SPs.

Finally, after 3.5 hours of morning tests, it is lunch time.

After lunch we launched into the afternoon challenges.  First, 20 questions in multiple choice format in the lecture hall where the students performed in front of parents and teachers (holding up A, B, C, and D cards to indicate their answers for all to see).

At this point, all the scores from all the tests so far were added up, and the top 3 competitors advanced to the final rounds of oral questions.  The first set of questions was set up similar to Final Jeopardy; a question was read aloud and the students had only a few seconds to write down their answer and hold it up to the audience.  It was so close!  The third place winner was only 1 point away from the other two.  The second set of questions required spoken answers, again only a few seconds within which to respond.  Another very close competition!  1st and 2nd place were only 1 point apart!

Congratulations everyone.