High School Students!

The first step to participating in the Canadian National Brain Bee is to find a Local Brain Bee near you.  Check the list of Canadian "Local Bees" from our main page.  The organization of each local brain bee is unique, so it is best to contact the organizer to find out about location, competition dates, and registration details.  Winners of the local brain bees are invited to the Canadian National Brain Bee, and the winner of the National bee will go on to represent Canada at the International Brain Bee.

There are different resources to use depending on whether you are studying for the local, national, or international brain bee competitions.

Local Brain Bee Study Resources:

Check with your local brain bee organizers regarding study resources.  Some local brain bees will draw all the questions and answers from the Brain Facts book, published by the Society for Neurosciences (downloadable in PDF format from the Society for Neurosciences web site.  Other local brain bees will draw all the questions and answers from "Neuroscience: Science of the Brain", published by the European Dana Alliance for the Brain. You can find the links to this resource here.  Be sure to check with your local organizers to make sure that your students are studying the right material for the local competitions.  

Some sample questions have been provided by the International Brain Bee organizers.  These are the only questions that have been officially "released" from the question and answer set.  You can look at these sample questions at this page:  http://www.internationalbrainbee.com/for_highschool.html

It is great fun and rewarding to run a local brain bee!

There are some great tips and advice on the International Brain Bee website "Start A Bee":  http://www.internationalbrainbee.com/startup.html. It doesn't have to cost much in time or money, and is well worth the effort. 

If you are coordinating a local brain bee, you can make up your own questions from the Brain Facts book .  We can help you get started with a set of confidential questions created by the International Brain Bee organizers. If you prefer to use the "Neuroscience: Science of the Brain" resource you will need to create your own questions.  This is the same resource that is used at the National and International competitions.  

To get the set of prepared questions for the Brain Facts book, contact the Chair of the Canadian National Brain Bee, Dr. Judith M Shedden (shedden at mcmaster.ca).  Please note the following from Dr. Myslinski's startup web site:  "Our question packet consists of 466 questions with one word or one phrase answers. They are organized according to the different sections of the publication, and are ranked as easy, moderate, or difficult. This question packet can be provided only to the local coordinators (not their assistants), and is available by request. No copies should be made of the questions since they will be used at other Local Brain Bees worldwide, so the integrity of the document must be maintained at all times."

Don't hesitate to contact other organizers of Canadian local brain bees for start-up advice.