PhilOsophy

Land of Thinkers

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”

— Maya Angelou

Re-imagining Science Education in Brookline

Cogitania considers and honors each child as an ageless thinker, an individual that grows through offered workshops to think for her/himself, solve problems, to compete against him/herself and become a creative, supportive member of the group. Collaboration and individual work are an integral part of every workshop offered at Cogitania.

While schools, given realistic conditions, equipment, number of classes and teachers, cater to a broad median, Cogitania's programs integrate 3–8 students per workshop, lead by a highly professional scientist and passionate teacher. Working together with the founder, development is paced individually. Each student has the time and conditions to create and develop her/his own thought process, communicating and expressing it through experiments and 3D art modeling.

Museums play a crucial role in fostering intellectual enrichment, yet too often, a child is left no choice but to become a passive recipient of its programs (aquariums, planetariums, art museums, science museums). At Cogitania, each child interacts with the scientist, seen as a guide and supporter, with their peers and on-hand materials in ways that encourage active search—deconstruction of concepts into their individual blocks to better understand the whole: analysis and critical problem solving.

We teach and inspire our students to choose the most optimal way of thinking for a given task/problem. To do so, each child has her/his own materials to experiment with. Our goal is to help each student to link and discover the individual pieces that make up the real world around them, to find and construct the larger context. We believe that while doing so, we enable our students to find their own unique perspective and place on our planet. We view working with authentic materials as a crucial condition to achieving this ever-important goal.

Cogitania offers learning through discovery. The workshops are content based, yet the scientists and the students decide which path to take and how much to learn to experience true progress and comprehension in a field. Astronomy, earth science, evolutionary biology, chemistry, the human body, quantum mechanics, biomedical sciences offer each of our students an experience in which they begin to think like a scientist. While the concepts are often abstract, 3D art modeling, hands on experimentation and observational drawing allow our students to take the time and perspective necessary to break concepts down enough, to start reasoning. Cogitania does not establish a curriculum, more precisely, we focus on intensifying the ability to wonder, ask questions, encourage resistance for mistake or failure, and develop abilities that are concerned with solving problems economically and optimally. Our students, your children, gain the means of asking relevant questions rather than passing judgement.

Read our Founder's Bio →

Our Speakers

Passionate in their fields. Dedicated to success and science.

Anna Manevich

Engages science with enthusiasm.

Anna has a deep passion for engaging young minds in science learning beyond the traditional classroom setting. In college, Anna studied chemistry and other sciences, and has spent her four years doing research into testing novel methods for teaching science.

Ryan ↓Ryan has always had a deep interest in the science and mathematics that describe how the universe functions. His love for science led him to Boston College with a B.S. in Chemistry and a minor in Biology.His research in Theoretical and Computational Physical Chemistry, has led to investigating the fragilities of glass caused by supercooling liquids, ion atmosphere effects of RNA folding and function, and the biophysical basis for the evolution of endothermy in mammals, for which he has been awarded three Undergraduate Research Fellowships.His work with the Undergraduate Teaching Labs at Boston College focuses on developing new experiments for first and second year undergraduates as well as private tutoring.By fusing expertise in teaching, hands-on chemistry learning and research, Ryan has illuminated students at Cogitania about the chemical world and how this knowledge leads scientists to real-world applications of chemistry.

Undergraduate studies

As an undergraduate at Boston University, Anna was invited to teach various chemistry recitation sessions and labs. Since college Anna has continued to teach students, both young and old, to approach science with enthusiasm.

Research

Testing novel methods for teaching science.

Teaching

Through her experience she learned to tailor her teaching style to individuals, which allows her to foster intrinsic interest and a questioning mindset in her students.

Workshops

Gravity →

Giacomo Marino

Educating through perception.

I always loved biology and science. It fascinated me to understand how living things function down to their smallest elements. When I was introduced to neuroscience in my first year of college, it opened my eyes even further to the importance of science in everything that we do. Not only did I enjoy the subject of neuroscience but also all the different disciplines contained in it. I loved to observe phenomena in my own perception that I could then understand at a molecular level.

Neuroscience informs how we, as living beings, behave and perceive the world. I think that perhaps the most exciting part of neuroscience is how much is still unknown about the brain and its functions. There are countless areas in neuroscience that are still a mystery to us. A more complete understanding of the brain in any capacity could have huge impacts on countless people, such as using that new understanding to develop more effective therapies for various ailments. By sharing this knowledge, I hope to excite other people about the brain and how it informs every element of who we are. I think my favorite aspect of teaching neuroscience is seeing students realize how concepts at the neuronal level can be observed in our own perception.

Focus

Neuroscience (also focusing in computer science)
Brown University
Major
Undergraduate TA for intro CS class

Undergraduate Research Assistant in Neuropharmacology lab since first year of college:
Researching the mechanism of action of a small therapeutic peptide on learning mechanisms in the hippocampus with a goal of treating angelman syndrome (extreme autism disorder) and in the future, depression.

My favorite aspect of teaching neuroscience is seeing students realize how concepts at the neuronal level can be observed in our own perception
Passion

I hope to excite other people about the brain and how it informs every element of who we are
Goal

Workshops

Calendar →

Neuroscience →

Ryan Penhallurick

When science is your middle name.

Ryan has always had a deep interest in the science and mathematics that describe how the universe functions. His love for science led him to Boston College with a B.S. in Chemistry and a minor in Biology. As a fourth year Ph.D. candidate at Georgetown University, he currently studies the biophysics behind extremophilic adaptations to cold and hot deep-sea environments.