Year 12 Psychologists ‘Brain Day’

On Tuesday 11th July we were visited by renowned Psychologist Dr Guy Sutton, director of MBI and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Nottingham Medical School. Dr Sutton’s primary areas of interest are the genetics of neurodevelopment and neuropathology and the interactive nature of genetic, biological and behavioural factors in chronic disease processes. These fit well with our A level studies of biopsychology and psychological abnormality, and represent a fantastic enrichment opportunity.

Dr Sutton gave introductory seminars with smaller groups of students throughout the day on neuroscience and brain structure. The seminars were interactive and included the dissection of a sheep’s brain and resulting discussion on the structure of the brain and its relationship to various disorders! They were tailored towards knowledge required for the upcoming examinations.

The students attending benefitted enormously from this activity. Not only did it introduce them to new topic areas not yet studied but assessed in the summer exams, it also consolidated previous learning and really enhanced their understanding, enabling them to produce more effective writing for assessment. Those students who are squeamish chose to sit away from the dissection but still benefitted from the rest of the session. We cannot recommend this opportunity highly enough as Dr Sutton is hugely sought after, and his lectures are renowned for their memorable and engaging style.

As well as being a most interesting day, students are able to use this event as evidence of experiential learning in their UCAS statements, and discuss their ideas about the brain in interviews for university study. Squeamish – look away!

“A really enjoyable session – Dr Sutton likened the sheep brain to human brains and we were able to identify dissected parts of the brain that are involved in memory or are affected by dementia”

Year 12 student