We are currently at capacity for spring and summer of 2025. We look forward to hosting your class in 2026!
MindCORE is pleased to offer high school classes (grades 9-12) tours of cognitive science labs, training facilities, workshops, and other sites at Penn and Pennovation Works. During these tours, students see cognitive science in action, including (but not limited to!) service dogs trained to navigate rubble during search and rescue, robots built out of origami, birds whose every move is tracked with cameras in a ‘smart aviary’, and machines that can see what your brain is doing while you perceive, think, and act.
On each tour, students first hear an introductory lecture about what cognitive science is, what studying it in college entails, and what careers you can pursue with a degree in cognitive science. Students then rotate through the sites, and finally regroup for a moderated discussion of the sites (and lunch, depending on time of day). You can also learn more by reading coverage of one of our tours in Penn Today.
MindCORE may be able to provide a bus for schools without transportation access to Pennovation. For scheduling reasons, we only give tours from March to August. To consolidate planning, tours for the spring must be requested by January 1; tours for the summer must be requested by May 1. Our ability to offer a tour is contingent on our site partners’ availability.
If you are interested in your high school class receiving such a tour, please contact MindCORE Associate Director Russell Richie (drrichie@sas.upenn.edu) to learn more. Please include the following information in your inquiry:
- The school or organization you are affiliated with
- Your role within the school/organization
- Information about your group, including headcount, age range, and class (e.g., AP Psychology)
- The number of adult chaperones you can bring
- Three dates (specifying AM or PM) you and your group are available for a tour