Journal Of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education[JOURNAL]
Sun
200 papers
Structured Worksheets: Simple Active Learning Strategies to Increase Transparency and Promote Communication.
Buffalari D
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323058 · Full text
There are varied pedagogical approaches that promote active learning in the classroom, many of which have been shown to have positive impacts on student outcomes. Simple active learning techniques that do not require cos...
There are varied pedagogical approaches that promote active learning in the classroom, many of which have been shown to have positive impacts on student outcomes. Simple active learning techniques that do not require costly resources or extensive time investment for faculty may increase the likelihood of instructor adoption and decrease student anxiety or skepticism about such approaches. In two upper-level Neuroscience electives, scaffolded worksheets were utilized to increase transparency in instructor expectations and subsequent assessment, and to support student contributions to learning and group work. Scaffolded worksheets that presented practice questions were provided in a Behavioral Neuroscience course; students completed the worksheets alone or in teams, and course time was used for review and additional clarification. Shared group worksheets were used to support a group project in a mid-level Cognition course. These worksheets delineated expectations for the assignment and gave a timeline for in-class and out-of-class meetings with required individual, graded contributions to support group progress. Worksheets also enabled instructor feedback throughout the project. When surveyed, students responded positively to the worksheets for their ability to support learning and alleviate some of the common concerns associated with group work. This approach was also easily expanded during the pandemic to provide more time for active learning, and to maintain communication and ensure support of student learning during periods of remote learning due to Covid-19. Active learning techniques, particularly those that promote transparency and metacognition, are likely to benefit students and create a more inclusive classroom. Yet care must be used in the implementation of these approaches. In addition, barriers exist to the utilization of active learning, including a lack of support for such work at the institutional level. Greater institutional investment in these approaches will likely broaden their use and extend their impact.
Virtual/Remote Labs for Fluorescent Immunocytochemistry or Western Blotting: The Next Best Thing to Being There.
Morrison ME
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323057 · Full text
The SARS CoV-2 pandemic forced many college courses to convert to remote instruction almost overnight in the middle of the spring 2020 teaching semester. This article presents two molecular biology labs formerly performe...
The SARS CoV-2 pandemic forced many college courses to convert to remote instruction almost overnight in the middle of the spring 2020 teaching semester. This article presents two molecular biology labs formerly performed in person by students but converted into virtual labs. The virtual immunocytochemistry experiment teaches the specificity of antibody staining, principles of fluorescent microscopy, diversity of brain cell types and morphologies, and journal article Figure construction skills. The virtual Western blotting experiment teaches sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), the specificity of antibody binding, and graph creation and interpretation skills. Both virtual experiments use professionally-produced web-based videos of scientists conducting the lab procedures. Students must answer questions about the techniques and analyze real experimental data generated by past students to take a quiz and write a journal article-style lab report. At the whole-class level, student quiz and lab report scores from these virtual labs were not statistically different from those from the in-person versions of the same labs from a previous semester, using tests with the Bonferroni correction. On the virtual Western blot quiz, students who did the virtual version actually scored higher than students who did the in-person version. These results were significant when the 2020 data were analyzed by within-student paired tests for in-person labs done before COVID-19 versus those done virtually after dismissal for all-remote instruction. The students learned the laboratory concepts and data analysis skills just as well virtually as their predecessors had in person. However, the students trained virtually reported that they could not enter the lab and actually do Western blotting or fluorescent immunocytochemistry with their own hands without extensive additional training. These virtual experiments can be done with data included in the supplemental materials or can easily be adapted for any micrographs or Western blotting images available from previous lab experiments, or in the published literature. When COVID-19 or other public health emergencies necessitate remote instruction and we can't use the best practice of hands-on lab work, virtual labs can be the next best thing to being there.
The Development of Core Concepts for Neuroscience Higher Education: From Beginning to Summer Virtual Meeting Satellite Session.
Chen A, Phillips KA, Schaefer JE … +1 more , Sonner PM
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323056 · Full text
Neuroscience curricula vary widely across higher education institutions due to the lack of an accrediting body or a set of unified educational concepts or outcomes. Each institution has developed a unique set of fundamen...
Neuroscience curricula vary widely across higher education institutions due to the lack of an accrediting body or a set of unified educational concepts or outcomes. Each institution has developed a unique set of fundamental knowledge, topical subdisciplines, and core competencies to be delivered in a neuroscience program. Core concepts would provide neuroscience departments and programs with a generally agreed upon set of overarching principles that organize knowledge and can be applied to all sub-disciplines of the field, providing a useful framework from which to approach neuroscience education. We set out to develop a consensus set of neuroscience core concepts to aid in higher education curricular development and assessment. Suggestions for neuroscience core concepts were solicited from neuroscience faculty in a nationwide survey and analyzed using an inductive, independent coding model to identify eight core concepts based upon survey responses. Accompanying explanatory paragraphs for each core concept were developed through an iterative process. We presented the resulting core concepts to 134 neuroscience educators at a satellite session of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience 2020 Summer Virtual Meeting (SVM). Individuals and groups of faculty provided feedback regarding the accuracy, comprehensiveness, and clarity of each concept and explanatory paragraph, as well as the structure of the document as a whole. We continue to refine the core concepts based upon this feedback and will distribute the final document in a subsequent publication. Following publication of the finalized list of core concepts, we will develop tools to help educators incorporate the core concepts into their curricula.
Video Microscopy for Teaching: Optimizing the Field of View.
Wyttenbach RA
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323055 · Full text
Whether teaching online or in person, video microscopy can demonstrate and document procedures such as dissection and electrophysiology. Such videos can streamline in-person lab work or make online material more interest...
Whether teaching online or in person, video microscopy can demonstrate and document procedures such as dissection and electrophysiology. Such videos can streamline in-person lab work or make online material more interesting and lifelike. Microscope video can also be streamed live over Zoom or other services for live online demonstration. It can be difficult, however, to match a microscope and camera such that the field of view (FOV) captured by the camera encompasses the entire FOV seen by the microscope user. Standard recommendations usually give a camera FOV much smaller than the user's FOV. This paper explains how to work with three variables (camera sensor size, microscope coupler magnification, and ocular diameter) to achieve a good FOV match.
Teaching About Sex and Gender in Neuroscience: More Than Meets the "XY".
Casto KV, Leininger EC, Tan T
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323054 · Full text
Offering courses on the neuroscience of sex and gender can help support an inclusive curriculum in neuroscience. At the same time, developing and teaching such courses can be daunting to even the most enthusiastic educat...
Offering courses on the neuroscience of sex and gender can help support an inclusive curriculum in neuroscience. At the same time, developing and teaching such courses can be daunting to even the most enthusiastic educators, given the subject's complexities, nuances, and the difficult conversations that it invites. The authors of this article have all developed and taught such courses from different perspectives. Our aim is to provide educators with an overview of important conceptual topics as well as a comprehensive, but non-exhaustive, guide to resources for teaching about sex/gender in neuroscience based on our collective experience teaching courses on the topic. After defining vital terminology and briefly reviewing the biology of sex and sex determination, we describe some common topics within the field and contrast our current nuanced understandings from outdated misconceptions in the field. We review how (mis)representation of the neuroscience of sex/gender serves as a case study for how scientific results are communicated and disseminated. We consider how contextualization of sex/gender neuroscience research within a broader historical and societal framework can give students a wider perspective on the enterprise of science. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion on how to choose learning goals for your course and implementation notes.
Online Neuroscience Instruction: Insights, Lessons Learned, and Moving Forward.
Wee BEF
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323053 · Full text
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us had little to no experience with online teaching. With the realization that we would need to teach our students remotely during the pandemic, we needed to develop our online tea...
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us had little to no experience with online teaching. With the realization that we would need to teach our students remotely during the pandemic, we needed to develop our online teaching skills and apply this knowledge to create effective online classes for our students. Tulane University's Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT, http://celt.tulane.edu) and its Innovative Learning Center (ILC, http://it.tulane.edu/innovative-learning-center) partnered to teach an Online Teaching Training (OTT) course for all instructors. This five-week session covered many of the topics needed to teach an engaging and interactive online course. The training included not only the theory but also practical applications of many resources available to online course instructors. This training prepared me to teach a fully online course for the first time in Summer, 2020 and again the following summer. Student evaluations compared between the Emergency Remote Learning done in quick response to the COVID-19 pandemic (Spring 2020) and the online course after completion of the OTT (Summer 2020) indicated that student experiences were much more positive when taught by a trained instructor. Many of the resources/techniques for online courses can be incorporated into in-person or hybrid classes, and vice versa. Further, sharing ideas among colleagues, especially as new resources become available, is critical for the success of all instructors. In this article I share my lessons learned, insights, and thoughts for moving forward as we approach a new era of neuroscience instruction.
Why Students Cheat and How Understanding This Can Help Reduce the Frequency of Academic Misconduct in Higher Education: A Literature Review.
Miles PJ, Campbell M, Ruxton GD
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323052 · Full text
Academic integrity is fundamental to effective education and learning yet cheating continues to occur in diverse forms within the higher education sector. It is essential that students are educated about, and understand...
Academic integrity is fundamental to effective education and learning yet cheating continues to occur in diverse forms within the higher education sector. It is essential that students are educated about, and understand the importance of, good academic practice. Strict standards of academic integrity help to ensure that knowledge is acquired in an honest and ethical manner, creating fairness and equity for students, ultimately enriching the student experience at university and the wider society's trust in the value of university education. This literature review synthesizes the many varied reasons why students cheat, as presented in a large body of existing literature. We then turn our attention to what we can do as educators to help reduce the rates of academic misconduct. Factors influencing the propensity of students to cheat are diverse but relatively well understood. Whilst policing and applying appropriate punishments should be part of institutional responses to academic misconduct, it is clear that this is only part of the solution. We emphasize the need for a much broader range of proactive activities to be brought to bear. Many of these are educational in nature and should have benefits for students, staff and institutions beyond discouraging academic misconduct. Resource implication should not be a barrier to their implementation.
Digital Timeline Assignment of Key Opioid Research Articles Spanning Five Decades.
Hill AS
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323051 · Full text
Learning to read scientific literature is a crucial component of an undergraduate science education. Undergraduate science students learn to analyze data, read primary literature, and integrate knowledge across articles...
Learning to read scientific literature is a crucial component of an undergraduate science education. Undergraduate science students learn to analyze data, read primary literature, and integrate knowledge across articles into a cohesive understanding of a field of study. Often, a class includes students with varying experience reading primary literature, making it difficult to develop assignments that are adequately approachable yet challenging for every student. Here I describe a three-part assignment for an intermediate level neurobiology course that seeks to address this concern. Each student was first assigned a single article in the field of opioid research, which they summarized in an entry for a digital timeline. Second, students presented their timeline entries to the class, and the compiled digital timeline was made publicly available online. In the third part of the assignment, students wrote a brief perspective paper. Here, students explained how their assigned article fit into the field of study using their classmates' timeline entries, along with the option to include additional references outside of the timeline. This three-part assignment sought to provide a supportive yet challenging project for students at all levels. The project was designed as a non-disposable assignment, aligned with additional learning goals and pedagogical practices, including interdisciplinary awareness, writing-to-learn, and inclusive pedagogy. Versions of this assignment have been used for both in-person and remote instruction.
Neuroscience Ambassadors: Creating a Network of Academia-CommunityPartnerships.
Flaisher-Grinberg S
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323050 · Full text
The field of neuroscience offers exciting, yet complex, insights into the human mind. In recent years, the need to improve the dialogue between neuroscientists and the public has been recognized, and an emphasis has been...
The field of neuroscience offers exciting, yet complex, insights into the human mind. In recent years, the need to improve the dialogue between neuroscientists and the public has been recognized, and an emphasis has been placed on the generation of public-based educational programs which reach outside the academic environment and into the community. One promising avenue includes the generation of mutually beneficial academia-community partnerships. These have the potential to allow faculty and students to acquire the necessary skills to become effective "neuroscience ambassadors", while delivering attractive, fun, informative and educational opportunities to the general public. The Department of Psychology/Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Minor at Saint Francis University (SFU) created a public-oriented, neuroscience-based network of educational programs with local public libraries, Girl and Cub scout troops, elementary schools, high schools, children museums and nursing homes, in rural Pennsylvania. We envisioned that the programs will serve to improve academia-community conversations and benefit students, faculty, community partners and the public alike. In this paper, the design, implementation, implications, limitations, and future directions of the project are discussed.
Lt: A Resource to Future-Proof the Laboratory in Uncertain Times.
Calderon B, Steel C, Ford B … +2 more , Sue J, Bracewell K
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323049 · Full text
The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly challenged educators to transition previously in-person courses to an online environment. This has been especially difficult for laboratory courses where students must experience the proces...
The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly challenged educators to transition previously in-person courses to an online environment. This has been especially difficult for laboratory courses where students must experience the process of science to develop lab skills and scientific competencies. Due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, it is essential that instructional resources are flexible and robust for use in various potential learning environments. The Lt software platform (ADInstruments) is a resource designed to support in-person, online, and hybrid learning environments. Lt supports the in-person lab experience by integrating with data collection hardware and facilitating collaboration through group-based activity. In addition, the platform also provides several avenues for teaching online labs using the same experiments that would be done on campus. At home, students can analyze Lt's built-in example data, or be supplied with low-cost hardware to complete labs remotely. In conjunction with other online tools, Lt can support online group work and student collaboration. Lt hosts a wide range of pre-built lab experiments and activities covering neuroscience, anatomy, physiology, clinical health science, biology, and chemistry. Although the material can be used "out-of-the-box", the content is completely editable and new labs can be created. Feedback from students suggests that Lt has proved valuable for supporting flexible instructional practices during the pandemic.
Neurosim: Some Thoughts on Using Computer Simulation in Teaching Electrophysiology.
Heitler B
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323048 · Full text
Neurosim is an interactive simulation program designed for teaching electrophysiology. It was first published in 1989, but has been updated several times over the years, and v5.3.3 was released in January 2022. Much effo...
Neurosim is an interactive simulation program designed for teaching electrophysiology. It was first published in 1989, but has been updated several times over the years, and v5.3.3 was released in January 2022. Much effort has been put into making Neurosim as easy to use as possible, while at the same time offering a wide range of facilities. It contains 7 modules that simulate at biological levels ranging from single channel membrane properties, through spike and synaptic properties, small network properties, up to whole-population firing dynamics. It is highly configurable and can be useful for teaching from the beginning undergraduate level dealing with basic neuron physiology, through to the post-graduate level suitable for use as an introduction to computational neuroscience. The article describes how Neurosim has been useful in my own teaching over the years and gives several examples of student activities that have proved effective in aiding understanding. There is a comprehensive set of tutorial exercises available on the support website.
Convening the Undergraduate Neuroscience Education Community in a Period of Rapid Change: Insights from the FUN 2020 Summer Virtual Meeting.
Basu AC, Kang YY, Leussis MP … +1 more , Chan J
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323047 · Full text
Abstract loading — click title to view on PubMed.
Enhancing Student Research Experiences with Open Data from the Allen Brain Map.
Casimo K
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323046 · Full text
The Allen Brain Map is the main data repository for the Allen Institute for Brain Science, containing big, open datasets commonly used in neuroscience research (Allen Institute for Brain Science, 2022). Open data from th...
The Allen Brain Map is the main data repository for the Allen Institute for Brain Science, containing big, open datasets commonly used in neuroscience research (Allen Institute for Brain Science, 2022). Open data from the Allen Brain Map can be used to teach core concepts in neuroscience, data analysis methods, and other critical skills and knowledge to neuroscience students. These datasets can be used as the main data source for completely online lab experiences, or analyzed in combination with data students collect themselves. Applications may range in scope and format from a short worksheet used in a single class session to a coding tutorial to a guided independent research project. While open online data cannot fully replace lab experiences for learning techniques, they can be used to expose students to analysis of big data, introduce resources widely used in the field, and teach skills like statistics and coding. This article reviews potential assignment formats where big and open data can be applied, introduces selected popular resources and sample use cases for each, and discusses benefits and limitations of open online data for lab experiences. Some specific applications in the context of distance learning are also detailed.
FraidyRat: A Virtual Module Examining the Neural Circuitry Underlying Fear Conditioning.
Grisham W, Schottler N, Soto J … +1 more , Krasne FB
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323045 · Full text
FraidyRat is a teaching tool that allows students to investigate the neural basis of fear conditioning and extinction using a virtual rat with a virtual brain. FraidyRat models well-known phenomena at both a behavioral a...
FraidyRat is a teaching tool that allows students to investigate the neural basis of fear conditioning and extinction using a virtual rat with a virtual brain. FraidyRat models well-known phenomena at both a behavioral and neural level. Students use virtual versions of tract tracing, systemic and intracerebrally infused drugs, neural recording, and electrical stimulation to understand the neural substrates underlying the observed behavior. This module helps students develop critical thinking skills in order to deduce immediate cause and effect as well as inductive reasoning to grasp the broader scheme. This module utilizes scaffolded instruction and formative assessment to shape the thinking of students as they unfold and discover the neural mechanisms responsible for fear conditioning and extinction in FraidyRat, which largely reflect what is found in real rats. Experience with this three-week module resulted in students showing significant gains in content knowledge as well as a trend toward gains in critical thinking. An attitudinal questionnaire showed that students had an overall positive experience. This module can be replicated at any institution with just a computer. All materials are available at: https://mdcune.psych.ucla.edu/modules/fraidy-rat.
Trainingspace: Neuroeducation Without Borders.
George P, Sandström M, Abrams MB
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323044 · Full text
Advancements in the field of neuroinformatics have resulted in a massive explosion of raw data of many varieties, yet many traditional neuroscience training programs have not changed their curricula to reflect the urgent...
Advancements in the field of neuroinformatics have resulted in a massive explosion of raw data of many varieties, yet many traditional neuroscience training programs have not changed their curricula to reflect the urgent need for improved computational skills that would enable trainees to handle, organize, and interrogate such large, multimodal datasets. Thus, the objective of this project was to build an open access hub of neuroscience educational resources to fill the gap between current neuroscience curricula and the computationally focused skillset required to work with big data. To achieve this aim, we invited representatives from the world's leading neuroscience societies and large-scale brain initiatives to form the INCF Training and Education Committee that would provide oversight over the content and capabilities of the online hub. As a result, we developed TrainingSpace (https://training.incf.org/), an open access hub of nearly 500 multimedia courses, lectures, and tool tutorials covering the subspecialisms of neuroscience and neuroinformatics, as well as computer science, data science, and ethics. In addition to course content, TrainingSpace also provides users with access to publicly available datasets through KnowledgeSpace, a discoverability portal and community encyclopedia for neuroscience, as well as a question and answer forum, Neurostars.org. Since its launch in 2019, TrainingSpace has steadily increased in popularity with both trainees and trainers alike. It has also become popular with content providers that want to make their training materials available to the neuroscience community-at-large, as well as integrate their content into the larger TrainingSpace ecosystem.
Meeting Behind the Seen: Synchronous Teaching without Virtual Meeting Fatigue.
Upchurch M
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323043 · Full text
Videoconferencing platforms provide opportunities for synchronous teaching and interaction between classmates but they come with disadvantages including video fatigue. Moreover, presenters using videoconferencing program...
Videoconferencing platforms provide opportunities for synchronous teaching and interaction between classmates but they come with disadvantages including video fatigue. Moreover, presenters using videoconferencing programs may feel as if they are lecturing into a void. In an online class on Behavioral Pharmacology, we used Google Meet essentially as a conference call in the background while the class "met" within a Google Doc that everyone could edit. This format permitted both oral and written discussions and gave the students easy access to links posted within the Google Doc directing them to pictures, videos, web pages, and separate Google Meet addresses for small group discussions. For both the instructor and the students, class interaction and engagement were enhanced by the students' ability to add notes and comments to the common Google Doc. We used this technique for a synchronous online class but it could be adapted to hybrid or asynchronous teaching.
An Introduction to the Proceedings of the 2020 FUN Summer Virtual Meeting.
Johnson BR
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323042 · Full text
Abstract loading — click title to view on PubMed.
Open Educational Resources for Neuroscience.
Leussis MP
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2022 · PMID 38323041 · Full text
Open educational resources (OERs) promise to play an increasing role in making educational materials such as textbooks available to all and in helping to (slightly) mitigate exorbitant costs often associated with post-se...
Open educational resources (OERs) promise to play an increasing role in making educational materials such as textbooks available to all and in helping to (slightly) mitigate exorbitant costs often associated with post-secondary education. True OERs provide the ability to use, distribute and even adapt available resources to fit with the needs of the user. Many other free resources often get lumped in with OERs but may have restrictions prohibiting specific forms of use, modification or distribution. In neuroscience, there is a growing collection of OER and open-access materials for instructors to consider incorporating into their courses, ranging from textbooks and other books to entire courses, a single lecture or videos and animations. This paper briefly reviews two free online textbooks for neuroscience. Further, the available platforms for organizing and distributing OERs are outlined and briefly discussed, with an emphasis on their usefulness at the present time for neuroscience education.
Continued Challenges for Neuroscience Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Ramos RL
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2021 · PMID 35540953
Abstract loading — click title to view on PubMed.
The Simpsons Neuron: A Case Study Exploring Neuronal Coding and the Scientific Method for Introductory and Advanced Neuroscience Courses.
Cammack KM, Reppert TR, Cook-Snyder DR
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ · 2021 · PMID 35540952
A fictitious patient, Miguel, has been diagnosed with drug-resistant epilepsy and is awaiting neurosurgery. While in the hospital, Miguel agrees to participate in a research study in which depth electrodes are used to re...
A fictitious patient, Miguel, has been diagnosed with drug-resistant epilepsy and is awaiting neurosurgery. While in the hospital, Miguel agrees to participate in a research study in which depth electrodes are used to record neuronal activity in response to a range of stimuli. Interestingly, a neuron is identified that seems to respond selectively to video clips of the animated satirical TV show The Simpsons. Students are challenged to make observations, formulate and revise hypotheses, and interpret data, excerpted from an authentic dataset derived from actual patients in a 2008 paper. Students then consider implications for these data, evaluate their ability to generalize to non-human (rodent) models, and speculate about future directions for this research. Adaptations of this case have been implemented in introductory and advanced neuroscience courses. Students responded positively to the case, and reported gains in science competence and identity, particularly in the introductory courses. Suggestions for implementation and adaptation of this experience are offered. While this case has been implemented in undergraduate neuroscience courses, it might also be used in physiology, psychology, biology, research methods, or clinical courses.
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