My KFSH Field Trip AHA Moment

I feel that I have learned a lot from this field trip, and have gained so much knowledge about the brain, and things I had never even thought about before. (Thanks to Nina, Mrs. Ahmed, Mrs. De Clerq, Dr. Hani, Dr Lina El Sabbagh, and the rest of the team for giving us this opportunity) 

Everyone has their own definition of an AHA Moment, but mine is that it is a moment when you learn or realize something that gives you clarity and understanding, or something you found really interesting, that made sense to you.  

I had two AHA moments that really stood out for me. The first one was when Dr. Hani explained neuroplasticity and how it's like the main way of recovering from brain damage. I would have never thought that our own neurons could take the place of others when they die off - and all it takes is some movement and repetition in the areas that are affected. My second AHA moment was when Dr. Hani told us about why females are more emotional and emotionally intelligent than males. It's something that I had known of but wasn't quite sure why.

I tried to look it up online and I found that the reason for this is because females have larger limbic systems than males, which is why they are more emotional and comprehensive thinkers than most males are. I am not sure if this is accurate information but it does make sense.

I can't remember exactly how Dr. Hani explained it, so I would appreciate if someone could add on :)

-Sana Mehmood  

AHA moment at KFSH

At KFSH field trip, I had a lot of AHA moments when every time, for one second, I felt like a genius after discovering a new major concept by suddenly making all the connections. And yet, I have to point out that one of them was so fascinating that it made me want to explore the roots of knowledge regarding our brain communication and body function. It was triggered by a sample movement made by the presenter Dr. Hani. He pulled up his hands so we could see them, and simply enclosed his fingers around his other hand's index finger and started moving it constantly. He then looked at us and made a pose, wanting us to visually analyze what he just did so we could understand what he was trying to tell us. Suddenly, everything made sense. This weird name neuroplasticity that he had just previously announced a few seconds ago also made sense and was now guaranteed a place in my long-term memory (which he also amazingly explained). Let me explain: neuroplasticity is when an inactive and damaged neuron in our body gets helped and replaced by already-existing ones. It is really important and pivotal for our body since our body can't reproduce new neurons and a neuron is like a message transmitter that transmits electrical commends from our brain to different parts of our body and when one of them is damaged it cuts of the hall message therefore paralyzing this certain part of our body where the neuron was damaged. That is why, physiotherapists tend to replace this neuron's function with the nearby neurons who take over it by exercising the affected part, making it functional again. This consists of constantly and frequently moving the damaged part, triggering, little by little the other nearby neurons to help out by redirecting them from other parts of the body to the affected area. And after long frequent exercises, the damaged neuron gets fully taken over by other neurons and the affected part works independently like it once did. This hall explanation was as I already said, triggered by a sample visual movement which truly made this AHA moment special and astonishing.

To conclude I would like to thank Miss. Ahmad, Miss De Clarq and her team for organizing and planning this amazing informative field trip for us where we learned a lot of new things about the brain and our body as well about what physiotherapists do to rehabilitate people that are disabled. I would also like to thank Dr. Hani and Dr. Lina for those well-grounded and instructive presentations that enlightened us with such fascinating knowledge.

Joseph Moussa

My AHA moment

My AHA moment during the KFSH field trip was when I learned how the brain communicates with the rest of the body through neurons. Neurons send electrical signals through molecular tunnels which reach all different parts of the body. When impulses reach the end of an axon, they activate neurotransmitters, which send messages to the body part to interact. Another thing I learned was neuroplasticity, which an ability of the brain to reorganize its neurons by rerouting them. For example, if some had endured a severe injury to the foot, some of the neurons there may have been wiped out. Since the body is not able to reproduce neurons, it will redirect neurons from other parts of the body to the effected area; making it functional again.

I really learned a lot from this trip and I would like to thank Mrs. Ahmed, Dr. Hani, Mrs. De Clerq and her team for making this trip possible.

-Dylan Dev

My Amazing,Awesome AHA Moment

My AHA moments ware when Dr. lina talked about mapping and how neurons can take over other neurons places if they are not functioning ,and It also became more "AHA" when Adib asked Dr.Lina if the organ th\t the neurons go from can still function or not? The answer was Yes ,they still function because when neurones help and not take place of the non functioning neurons. My other AHA moment was when Dr.Hani talked about Nurue Plasticity and how when you move the index finger or any other part of the body, the brain sends nurones to take over the place and work instead of it being immovable because it doesn't have any neurones in this area.

Abdellrahman Ghazaly :-)

THANK YOU Mrs. AHMED  AND Mrs. DE CLARQ

FOR THIS AMAZING ,WELL PLANNED FIELD TRIP

My Awesome AHA Moment

On the KFSH field trip, what was your AHA moment?

My AHA moment on the KFSH field trip was after I had asked my first
question to Dr. Hani; I asked him:
If a person was to lose the ability of their limb, an arm
for example, and that part of the brain was useless, is it possible to
take the brain of another being and replace it with the useless part
so that the person could move their arm again?
Dr. Hani explained that in certain aspects, it is possible
but really when you lose feeling in a certain area, it is a bit
difficult for the person to revive that limb. But if exercised enough,
it could be possible.
This was my AHA moment because I remembered in class how we
had been talking about how if you exercise enough or work out a
useless limb enough, it is possible that that limb could be put to
use. When Doctor Hani re-explained that I had my AHA moment.

Maryam Babar

An AHA moment in Mrs. Ahmed's life ...

I had several AHA moments. One was when I understood the importance of cerebrum. Dr. Hani, the pediatric neurologist, explained how all the right and wrong decisions we make come from the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe is part of the cerebrum and all the executive functions take place here. 

    - Mrs. Ahmed

On your KFSH field trip, what was your AHA moment?