Day 1

I got an early start to the day after going to sleep at 8:30 pm and waking up at 3 am.  My early wake time allowed me to prepare for the first day of teaching.  The center here is stocked with some basic supplies for me to use, but it is sometimes I have to improvise with what is available.

First period started at 9 am.  As the 30 nuns filed into the classroom, they seemed eager to learn.  I started with a brief introduction of my background and area of research expertise. Then we moved on to a game of snowball where I asked the nuns to write one fact about the brain on a piece of paper.  The nuns then crumbled up the paper into a ball and attempted to throw it into a small basket I place at the front of the room.  Then then nuns had to find a paper and its owner and discuss the fact on the paper.  We repeated the exercise with the question, "What do you want to know about the brain?"

The responses give me a chance to learn with the nuns already know about the brain and I can change the way I teach. The responses during the snowball game were surprising to me for a few reasons.  First, their responses were more advanced that previous groups of monastics I have taught.  Second, none of the nuns asked about consciousness.  Consciousness is usually the most frequent question the monastics asked about.

After a break for tea, we returned to class to discuss the history of neuroscience.  We started with trephining of skulls, the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus and Galen and then made our way to Galvani, Volta, Golgi, Cajal, Loewi, and Huxley.  We even briefly talked about brain imaging, neurotechnology and optogenetics!

This group of nuns is one of the most knowledgeable monastic groups I have taught.  It is likely that they will teach me too.