We have iteratively tested our NIH-funded curriculum for over a
decade. With over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles using our
technology for teaching!
Increased Content
Knowledge
Increased
Self-Confidence in Neuroscience
Our active learning and
project-based curriculum significantly
improves student outcomes.
Even in Online
Remote Settings
We even tested our tools specifically in distance learning environments:
Harvard online course: 100 Students watched videos and performed labs at Home, Controls students only participated online (no labs at home)
Remote Lab students had significantly higher scores and more confidence in performing science!
This study measured content knowledge and confidence using surveys, lab notebooks, and test results
What data do studentscreate/analyze?
Developed by practicing scientists for future scientists. Students record directly from themselves at home! Labs are designed around easy-to-record signals, in beautifully illustrated lessons your students will love:
Electromyograms (EMG) from Muscles
Electroencephalogram
(EEG) from the brain
Path 2 Copy 2
Electroencephalogram (EOG)
from the eye
Path 2 Copy 2
Electrocardiogram (ECG/ EKG) from Heart
Let us worry about giving your students support
Live support to join your classroom to ensure everyone can use the technology.
In-class Zoom / BlueJeans / Skype / Google Meet support!
That's what we do! We guarantee to have each student up and running!
Take the stress out of distance learning labs
Fully tested lesson plans and teacher guides for Remote Learning
Pre-packaged with all materials for student distribution and return collection
No need to open, just hand out or send to students
Refill kits available for clean, safe reuse!
Our lessons really
bring home the hardware!
10 TED Talks, including our own Series “DIY Neuroscience”
Electrical experiments with plants that count and communicate
How to control someone else's arm with your brain
The Cockroach Beatbox
Recognition from the US Institution on our innovative curriculum
White House Champions of Change - Barack Obama
National Institutes of Health: Director’s Innovation Award
MIT Press:
New Book coming soon
Society for Neuroscience:
Next Generation Award
Experiments exciting enough for TV… but made for the classroom!
“Bill Nye Saves the World” on Netflix
Kevin Hart and The Rock
Mythbusters “White Rabbit Project”
NIH-Funded, Classroom-tested
Lesson Plans
Designed for remote use without direct teacher support
Embedded opportunities for formative assessment
Learning outcomes to master
Hands-on investigations
Practice of critical science skills
Compare Prices & Terms
Kits start at $399.99
Get in touch
Expert Advice
Questions? Speak to our remote lab experts to help plan your course
Get a Quote
Receive a quote now to use our award-winning kits and lesson plans.
Sample Lessons
Want to read through our materials? Contact us for our Lesson Plans
Testimonials
Here's What Educators Have to Say
Bernadette Barragan
Science Teacher George W. Bush New Tech Odessa (TX)
"Something I truly enjoy about the BYB lab kits is the fact that all the labs are already available with instructions and downloads. I have the resources to use the given lab or adjust it to fit my classroom. I can't wait to do our first lab in the upcoming weeks! I also love that me and my virtual learners can record spikes in real time and share our screens, which is a valuable hands-on learning experience. As a result, they will make stronger and authentic connections with the lesson."
Jessica Shin
Science Instructor, Fairmont Preparatory Academy
"This type of experience is what the high school classroom should feel like. Students should be made to feel as if they are active participants, makers, and investigators with a solid foundation in good study design, since that is what the profession of science requires."
Crystal Marquez
Principal, Sam Houston Elementary School, Odessa, TX
"Our students have thoroughly enjoyed working with your kits and experiments over the past few years, and will commit to reviewing your project based learning experiments with our teachers for use in our 4th and 5th grade science classrooms. Last year, our lead students participated in a lesson plan built around "mental chronography," a concept that seemed too advanced at first, but which quickly allowed them to develop their own hypotheses and test with data collection in their classrooms. The feedback from teachers has been extremely positive."
Lisa Phillips
Principal, Cass Tech High School, Detroit, MI
"I have worked with Dr. Greg Gage over the past 6 years to evaluate his cockroach SpikerBoxes and found they fit perfectly into our NGSS-aligned vision of nurturing creativity and to developing perceptive, high-achieving students with an exceptional level of intellectual curiosity and a love for learning."
Matthias Meier, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Planegg, Germany
"What I find fascinating about inexpensive science equipment offered by Backyard Brains is the ease and pace by which students that were introduced to easy to use, plug-and-play like neuroscience experiments discovered their own research spirit and autonomously developed new, exciting, and sophisticated scientific questions that they then tried to tackle with the help of experienced scientists."
Patrick Glover
(MD Candidate, Emory University School of Medicine Class of 2024)
"Neuroscience is largely a closed-off field, since the information seems complex, and most students don’t get exposed to real, exciting neuroscience research until they’ve reached college. Through Backyard Brains, I found the tools to generate genuine excitement about the brain at any age, regardless of income. With the right teacher and the right equipment, even middle-schoolers can understand the basics of motor pathways in real tangible ways."
Spencer Brown
Psychology/Neuroscience Teaching Assistant at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
"Seeing other students and kids’ faces light up when seeing they could control someone else’s arm using science was an awesome experience, and something that encouraged me to continue participating in STEM outreach in my University community in Halifax, Canada."
Dr. Manuel Diaz-Rios
Professor of Neurosband and Biology at Bowdon College Brunswick (ME)
"The greatest strength of the BYB lab kits is the DIY component and the fact that students have so many potential options for creating their own experiments (open-ended science). So, I can have students first use themselves or others as experimental subjects to test the BYB lab kits which leads to discussion of the biological processes being activated/accessed. Then, I can help them come up with potential experiments to test/apply this knowledge."