Friday, December 1st, 2006, Halifax, NS, 2nd graders were captivated with neurons firing at full force reading “The Incredible Enkephalin Starring The Nervous System”, thanks to MLP students Rachel Comeau (BSc, DAL) and Ashley Thimot  (BA, NSCADU).  Attempting to employ citrus fruit to power a light on, Rachel illuminated the students’ interests as she explained that in a similar way but opposite direction as chemical energy is turned into electrical energy and light, the brain can store information from the senses by way of the nervous system.   Playing telephone, whispering a word clue from one to another, the students learned of the importance of proper neuronal firing. Equipped with comics and activities, Ashley informed the 2nd graders of their sixth sense, pain reception, and relayed the story of how enkephalin is released from the pituitary gland to cause analgesia, relief of pain after an injury.  Taking turns reading the comic aloud, and working individually on activities such as word searches and connecting the dots, the students gained an appreciation of their nervous system and that incredible natural pain reliever enkephalin.

Half way through our first MLP voyage, wIth six more peptides to go, we thanked team Enkephalin for a pain-free MLP learning experience in 2nd grade in Halifax.

Team Enkephalin, Rachel Comeau (BSc DAL) and Ashley Thimot  (BA NSCADU) presenting the story of  “The Incredible Enkephalin Starring The Nervous System”,

A comic book …

…and activity book, hurray!