10 Summer Neuroscience Programs for Middle School Students in California
- Stephen Turban
- 10 minutes ago
- 6 min read
If you are a middle schooler interested in neuroscience, a summer program in the subject may meet your requirements. Many such programs are available in California that impart knowledge and enable you to develop field-specific skills. Interacting with professionals in the field opens you up to various career pathways.
These programs often blend theory with practica, thereby providing holistic learning opportunities. Furthermore, you meet and collaborate with like-minded individuals who become part of your network, which hones your communication and team work skills. Here are a few summer neuroscience programs for you to choose from.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies; financial aid available
Dates: 8 weeks, varies by cohort
Application Deadline: Varies according to cohort
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 to 8
If you want to conduct hands-on neuroscience research, you can opt for Lumiere’s Junior Explorer Program. The programs matches you with PhD mentors from prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Oxford, MIT, and Princeton, who are experts in their respective fields, including neuroscience. With their mentorship and guidance, you gain specialized knowledge in the field. By conducing research, you learn how to read and interpret academic literature, build research questions, and create outputs such as a high school-level research paper or case study, which enables you to build crucial skills. You also develop scientific communication skills through feedback and writing coaching sessions. You can receive the opportunity to publish you research in academic journals by opting for the Junior Research and Publication Program.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Cost: $2,998 (residential) or $1,498 (commuter)
Dates: July 5 – 10 (session 1), July 12 – 17 (session 2), July 19 – 24 (session 3), or July 26 – 31 (session 4)
Application Deadline: May 17
Eligibility: Students completing grades 6 – 8 who have a 3.0 GPA
The Middle School Psychology & Neuroscience Program is teaches you about the mind–body connection through classes, labs, and experiments. Hands-on activities enable you to analyze human behavior, emotions, and personality. Through expert guidance, you examine mental health treatment strategies. Professionals in the field provide insights into your career trajectory while becoming part of your network. You go on visits to specialized labs and go on academic excursions in addition to trips to Berkeley and its landmarks. You will also develop lab skills through the program.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies; financial aid available
Dates: 25 hours over 10 weeks (on weekends) during the spring cohort and 25 hours over 2 weeks (on weekdays) during the summer cohort.
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 – 8
Students looking for an interdisciplinary program that blends neuroscience with technology can consider Veritas AI’s AI Trailblazers program. The program gives foundational knowledge of AI and machine learning. You can learn a diverse range of topics like Python, data analysis, regression, image classification, neural networks, and AI ethics. After completing the theory, you apply your learnings to a practical project. For this project, you solve a real-world challenge in neuroscience by developing a technological solution. Past students have built a machine-learning model to classify music genres and a machine-learning algorithm to provide a custom list of educational resources based on selected specifications.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: UC Irvine, Irvine, CA
Cost: $2,995; need-based scholarships available
Dates: July 20 – 31
Application Deadline: To be announced
Eligibility: Middle and high school students
UCI Brain Camp is a 2-week immersion program for you middle and high school students to learn neuroscience. In this program, lectures and seminars cover topics like brain and spinal cord anatomy, sensation and perception, learning and memory, brain-machine interface, neuropathology, neuropharmacology, and comparative neuroanatomy. The program blends theory with practical activities, including dissections and experiments. The lab work introduces you to techniques and technologies like Electrophysiology, Brain Imaging, Animal models, Optogenetics, and DREADDs. You also learn to design experiments, analyze data, and present your work to family and faculty. The course provides the opportunity to interact with neuroscience professors, PhD students, and undergraduates to explore careers and education options in the field.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 14 – 16
Location: Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: $7,801 (residential) or $6,969 (commuter)
Dates: June 28 – July 17 (Summer A) or July 19 – August 7 (Summer B)
Application Deadline: May 11 (Summer A) or June 8 (Summer B)
Eligibility: Students in grades 5 and 6 with CTY-level quantitative scores
Middle schoolers curious about how the brain works can participate in The Sensory Brain. The course teaches you about the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. During the program, you learn about the way different organisms' brains process sensory information as well as sensory abilities humans don’t have. In a lab setting, you dissect a sheep’s brain and a cow’s eye to examine the role of senses in functionality. Besides learning about healthy systems, the course covers disorders and deficiencies. Through this program, you can expect to develop scientific, critical thinking, and data analysis skills.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Limited spots
Location: UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Cost: $1,550; financial aid is available
Dates: June 22 – 26 (session 2), July 6 – 10 (session 3), July 20 – 24 (session 4), or July 27 – 31
Application Deadline: Varies by session
Eligibility: Rising 7th – 9th graders
Lawrence Hall of Science’s program gives you an overview of body systems. You discover how they function, why they break down, and how doctors and engineers work to fix them. Hands-on activities include understanding diagnostic techniques for fictitious patients, dissecting a sheep heart, and examining blood cells. The neuroscience component enables you to conduct brain science investigations. You also experiment with DNA extraction and build models of human organs. A Q&A session with practicing doctors and other STEM professionals provides insights into various career pathways. You will work on a project that you present at the culminating session.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: Online
Cost: $1,895 (enrichment course fees) or $3,995 (college credit course fees)
Dates: Multi-length courses available throughout the year
Application Deadline: Varies according to session
Eligibility: Students aged 13 years and older
This program covers the various factors affecting the human brain and behavior. You learn about a range of psychology topics like brain injuries, learning disabilities, the psychology of product and web design, and how we process our media environment. You also receive an introduction to neuroscience in the context of brain’s reward system, the effects of drugs on behavior, and the causes and treatments for disorders like anxiety and depression. You explore the neuroscience of design to understand how perception is related to all kinds of real-world design. The capstone project requires you to create a multimedia presentation on the topic of “My Psychological Life".
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Limited enrollment; school-based partnerships
Location: San Diego, CA
Cost: Contact for pricing
Dates: Weekly sessions (30 total) throughout the academic year
Application Deadline: Rolling (school-based registration)
Eligibility: Students in grades 4 – 8
This is an interdisciplinary program that lets you learn science subjects. Here, you learn neuroscience, mental health, and socio-emotional aspects. You study topics such as brain anatomy, focus and stress, and emotional regulation. Hands-on activities include engagement with real research, data, and real brains. You work on an individual project that you showcase at the end of the year.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Location: Online
Cost: $1,795
Dates: Multi-length courses available throughout the year
Application Deadline: Varies according to session
Eligibility: Students aged 13 years and older
This virtual program by Rice University helps you explore how the human body operates. You delve into the study of various body systems. You also learn about their functioning and what can go wrong. The course covers the nervous, muscular, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems and how they work together. Students interested in neuroscience can learn to identify the parts of a neuron and how it communicates with other neurons and muscles. For the final project, you create models depicting the physiological properties of a healthy body and its systems.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Limited spots
Location: UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Cost: $1,550; financial aid is available
Dates: June 22 – 26 (Session 2) or July 6 – 10 (Session 3)
Application Deadline: Varies by session
Eligibility: Students in grades 7 – 9
This is another course by the Lawrence Hall of Science that lets you explore behavior and neuroscience. You study the interconnection between biology and psychology. The course teaches you how researchers observe, describe, and figure out what drives animal actions in both natural habitats and in environments that have been changed for experiments. You observe wildlife and design and conduct your own investigation. In addition to academics, you tour research facilities, go on field trips, and interact with STEM career professionals.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.