Educator Guide: Our Brains, Our Futures

March 13, 2021

illustration of a science fiction nanobot brain mesh interface — In the future, doctors may be able to treat brain disorders with targeted, reversible therapies that change the behavior of specific brain networks.

Glenn Harvey

About this guide

In this guide, students will explore how brain science has progressed over the last century and how that progress could inform the field’s future. Then, students will discuss the ethics of advancements in neurotechnology.

This Guide Includes:

Neuroscience fiction and fact

Students will answer questions about the online Science News article “Three visions of the future, inspired by neuroscience’s past and present,” which explores how advances in the field of neuroscience are bringing scientists closer to expanding, linking and healing human brains. A version of the story, “Our brains, our futures,” can be found in the March 13, 2021 issue of Science News.

Building better brains?

Students will explore advances in neurotechnology by making connections between examples they’ve seen in popular culture and what is currently possible. Students will then think critically about positive and negative effects of advancements in this area of science.