Whether it’s a textbook or a lecture, learning can take many forms here on campus. 

But for one class, that learning took place in the halls Thursday

They may seem like random numbers on the whiteboard, but it’s all part of a current unit in ap psychology with teacher Tim Johannes where students are learning about nerves and how long it takes a signal to go from the brain to the body. 

But rather than just give a lecture or show a video, Johannes did something different. 

“We talked about the nervous system today and neurons and how fast they are,” Johannes said. “And, so we went into the field and tested it in the hallway. And, the kids really enjoy it, and they kinda see what actually we talk about in real life, in their own life. And so they can see the times and they can see the experiment we did. So it’s pretty powerful.”

With students lined up in the hallway they went through a variety of experiments with the person at the front of the line ringing a bell when the chain of reflexes reached them. 

“This experiment was helpful because in class we were learning about how fast our brains work and how fast we can react,” sophomore Kate Congdon said. 

The experiment allowed students a hands on learning experience. 

“So after we learned the lesson in class about how our brain connects to motor skills and sensory skills, we came out here to do an experiment of all of us lining up in a line to see how fast we can react to a touch,” junior Eshan Tiwari said. “It really helps when you get, like, a visual or, like, a enhanced representation because then you’re not just learning from, like, a book.”

After doing the experiments as a class, it then moved on to a classic contest: boys versus girls. 

“We all wanted to win too,” Tiwari said. “And then we’re going pretty slow too because, like, a bunch of people in the middle of this couldn’t feel it, and it was just fun seeing us compete with the boys and girls.”