Pedagogical shifts to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted learning outcomes for STEM students. Many courses have remained online after the pandemic, making it essential to assess the effectiveness of these practices on student skill development. While prior research has examined engagement, confidence, and self-efficacy, less is known about how online learning affects oral scientific communication skills. This study analyzed 23 undergraduate women enrolled in an upper-level neuroscience course at a women's liberal arts college during Fall 2020. Using a pre/post format, we assessed students' growth across three areas: (1) reading and analyzing primary neuroscience articles, (2) designing neuroscience-based experiments, and (3) developing and delivering oral scientific presentations. Assessments included weekly written article analyses and two oral presentations, evaluated with a rubric that measured experimental design, presentation slide quality, and oral communication. Results demonstrated significant improvement in students' ability to critique scientific literature and construct professional presentation slides. In contrast, rubric scores for oral presentation performance showed no statistically significant gains, though this may reflect a ceiling effect, as most students scored at or near the rubric maximum in the pre-assessment. Taken together, these findings suggest that online learning environments can effectively support analytical and written aspects of science communication, while further refinement of assessment tools is needed to determine their impact on oral communication growth.
This editorial discusses the impact of Open Educational Resources (OER) on the success of undergraduate neuroscience students. In order to provide students with high-quality, accessible, free educational materials, we have launched a series of free neuroscience textbooks and ancillary materials. These are a work in progress and would benefit from contributions from the FUN community. Textbook expenses disproportionately impact first-generation students, students of color, and those on financial aid, often preventing timely access to materials, increasing stress, and hindering academic success. The research suggests that traditional textbooks fail to meet students' needs, either because they are unnecessary or financially burdensome. Free, high-quality neuroscience OER textbooks can alleviate financial stress, lower DFW (drop, fail, withdraw) rates, and improve student-teacher relationships, ultimately enhancing the learning experience. By reducing barriers, OER can foster equitable access to education and support student success in neuroscience and beyond.
Understanding both the content and the relevance of neuroscientific material is often challenging for undergraduate students. To increase student interest in, engagement with, and understanding of neuroscientific material, Forensic Psychology and Psychology majors completed group presentations of case studies selected from the journal Neurocase. Cases were selected to emphasize issues relevant to psychology and forensic psychology. Presentation groups consisted of students with the same major, and students were reassigned to different groups for each presentation, ensuring an opportunity to work with different classmates. Presentations included a summary of the case study, explanation of the connections to neuroscience (i.e., neuroscience content), and a description of the different careers that might be associated with that case. Each group also generated a question used to stimulate discussion of the case study with the class. In addition to the instructor's assessment, students engaged in self-and peer-grading for each presentation. Demographic and group project questionnaires were administered after the last group project was completed. The project questionnaire consisted of 22 questions, using a Likert scale, and 3 free response questions. Non-parametric one-sample Wilcoxon Signed Ranks tests revealed statistically significant effects for all 22 questions. Students found the work interesting and valuable, reported an increased understanding of the field, its applications, and career relevance, and a facilitation of critical thinking about the material. Students also found the grading rubric and the peer grading process to be an effective means of assessing student involvement and performance.
Substance use disorder (SUD) is a chronic, relapsing disease with medical, psychological, and social complications. Sufficient knowledge of addiction mechanisms and compassion for individuals with SUD are essential for combatting the prevailing stigma associated with substance use and generating efforts for effective treatments. This article describes a unique undergraduate course on addiction where efforts to enhance understanding of the neurobiology of addiction are coordinated with an emphasis on the human element of SUD. Reinforcing the neurobiological details of addiction and their relation to SUD behaviors can humanize addiction and further motivate students to invest in learning these complex details. College students have increased exposure to and opportunities for drug use and face an increased risk of developing a SUD. Substance use among college students can contribute to physical, mental, academic, and social issues. A thorough education on the neurobiological mechanisms of addiction with emphasis on the human element can help students gain a better understanding of what happens in the brain and an appreciation for the disease nature of addiction. Ultimately, this knowledge can benefit students dealing directly or indirectly with SUD and can encourage and equip them to champion for more effective and empathetic approaches for tackling addiction. The impact of this course on student learning and motivation was measured by before and after course surveys. The results demonstrate that students developed a better understanding of addiction as a disease, gained a more compassionate view of individuals with SUD, and were inspired to learn more about how addiction affects the brain.
This study investigated the impact of undergraduate learning assistants on students' educational experiences in large lecture neuroscience courses. These courses were highly structured and incorporated weekly assignments co-developed with undergraduates trained in a Certified Learning Assistants Program (CLAP). We employed four undergraduate learning assistants (LAs) in two large lecture general education neurobiology courses who assisted the instructor in developing targeted homework assignments based on lecture content. Students were encouraged to interact with LAs via email, Canvas, or an online messaging platform. The messaging platform did not include the instructor or graduate student teaching assistant (TA). LAs provided weekly in-person homework assignment introductions and review sessions during lectures. At the end of the course, students answered surveys about their learning experience, communication preferences, and overall sense of belonging. Findings suggest that the incorporation of undergraduate learning assistants improved students' sense of belonging and confidence in large lecture neuroscience courses. Students were more comfortable asking content questions of LAs in a collaborative group messaging chat without graduate TAs or the Instructor. Group chat communications were preferable to using their course Canvas site or traditional email. Student interest in the course was increased by knowing that the course assignments were generated by the undergraduate LAs. Although students felt that LAs improved their sense of belonging, they were still less comfortable interacting with LAs in person compared to online platforms. In summary, LA involvement provided effective peer support for students and student perspective for the instructor, increasing students' sense of belonging and interest in course content.
Neuroscience draws upon concepts from biology, chemistry, computer sciences, philosophy, physics, and psychology, to study the nervous system. Growth of this field is evidenced by the expansion of neuroscience programs, all of which undergo accreditation to ensure educational quality. Content knowledge is commonly assessed for accreditation, but a standardized instrument measuring neuroscience content knowledge is yet to be developed. To address this gap, we are leveraging the eight neuroscience core concepts identified by Chen and colleagues to design a Neuroscience Concept Inventory (NCI). As a first draft, we generated a 57-multiple choice question tool and distributed among students in an introductory neuroscience course and declared neuroscience majors at a large public R1- institution. Item discrimination scores determining the quality of items ranged from 0.65-0.10, with 48 falling within acceptable range (>0.20). Alpha reliability scores determining reliability of items within a core concept ranged from 0.77-0.51, with 4 falling within acceptable range (>0.70). To exemplify the utility of a NCI, we present an accreditation report case study. Utilizing the NCI draft we demonstrate learning gains in an Introduction to Neuroscience course and among neuroscience majors. Our project sets the groundwork for the continued development of a reliable tool that facilitates content knowledge assessment of neuroscience programs and courses. The interdisciplinary nature and diversity of neuroscience programs present a major challenge to the development of a comprehensive content knowledge tool. Thus, we share this first draft as a call to the neuroscience community to join us to iteratively improve the instrument through collaboration and feedback. Those wishing to collaborate for tool development, please fill out this Qualtrics Form.
We describe the experimental design and procedures for a word recall task in combination with positive (i.e. pleasant) or negative (i.e. unpleasant) valance images and salivary cortisol response. The word recall task was a component of a 200-level psychological statistics and methods course. Two groups of student subjects were presented with one of two sets of 25 word-image pairs: identical words with images of positive or negative emotional valence. Salivary cortisol was collected prior to word-image pair presentation and following word recall. Cortisol was then analyzed in a 400-level advanced behavioral neuroscience laboratory course, and by student researchers (independent studies). These students learned the basic procedures of an enzyme immunoassay including aspects of quality control. Data collected across four semesters demonstrated word recall was significantly greater in subjects who viewed the positive valence word-image pairs. Salivary cortisol was not different between the groups. This paradigm generated a novel shared data set across classes appropriate for exploration and statistical analysis in each class. Conceptually, this approach provided a gateway for the discussion of the neuroendocrinology of cortisol and memory. It produced greater student investment in the experiment and outcome. Assessment data revealed significantly improved performance on a pre- versus post-quiz of central concepts in the 200-level course and to a lesser degree in the 400-level course. This approach resulted in a greater breadth and depth of topics that otherwise could not be accomplished within a single class. Here, we present guidelines for executing this experiment in the classroom with possibilities for novel variations.
This paper provides a step-by-step guide to developing a neuroscience themed escape room. We designed the escape room based on our introductory neuroscience learning outcomes which required students to remember key concepts while working together both as a group and individually to solve six neuroscience-themed challenges. Data include time to escape, as well as the results of a post-event survey that had individual students rate the value of the activity, their own personal effort, and their perceptions of instructor contribution. We found that students enjoyed this activity and that the amount of personal effort put in by the student was correlated with how fast they solved the six challenges in our escape room. We conclude that the escape room is a low cost, high impact event that can motivate student learning of neuroscience and promote retention.
A significant promise of scientific research is that basic science discoveries lead to innovations that result in positive change for individuals and communities. Considering this, translational communication skills and motivation to engage the general population are critical measures to consider when educating future scientists. A community-based learning (CBL) teaching method has been shown to be effective in developing these skills when used in higher education humanities settings, as students are able to synthesize class information with real-life community problem solving. Despite this evidence, CBL approaches are not generally practiced in STEM classroom settings. To assess the efficacy of CBL within a STEM setting, 90 undergraduate seniors in a Developmental Neuroscience course at the University of Notre Dame from 2017-2019 completed pre/post surveys focusing on four areas: content knowledge, scientific literature literacy, effective communication of scientific literature to the general population, and degree of civic engagement. During the course, students participated in a CBL experience along with regular coursework but were not subject to high-stakes examinations. Ten of 90 alumni completed the same pre/post survey to assess long-term learning gains. Results indicated significant gains in content knowledge, literature literacy, and translational ability between pre-course and post-course conditions, with significant gains maintained over time in the alumni condition. These data make a valuable contribution to both the STEM and CBL literature by demonstrating the long-term efficacy of a CBL approach in a STEM course in the absence of high-stakes examinations, as well as demonstrate long-term learning gains associated with scientific communication skills and dispositions towards civic engagement.
Neurophysiology is crucial but often-intimidating subject for undergraduate students. To address the challenge of “neurophobia” educators have developed myriad techniques to inspire students and enhance their interest in the discipline. We therefore sought employ one such innovation to further engage our students, leveraging students’ familiarity with food to make the abstract concept of the action potential accessible.Seventy-seven Foundation Year students undertook a 60-minute in-person didactic lecture and then a two-hour active learning class using Smarties and Play-Doh to make a detailed model of an action potential and its constituent phases. They were given a post-activity five-point Likert questionnaire with four open-ended questions, and responses were analyzed with a weighted average (〖x̄〗_w). Broadly, students enjoyed the playfulness of the activity and agreed that they would like to repeat it. Respondents did not agree that the activity per se motivated them, but they agreed that the activity improved their knowledge of action potentials, felt the format was appropriate to check their knowledge, and felt that it helped identify weaknesses in their understanding. Students felt they were able to connect with their team during the activity, that they learned from their teammates during the activity, and teamwork as a positive was a repeated theme in the open answer questions.Using Smarties to teach action potentials is a fun and effective way to teach neurophysiology and further research is required to determine its impact on student attainment.
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) engage students in the research process to promote active learning of complex material. We created a 5-week Biopsychology Laboratory (Biopsych) CURE that integrates concepts in genetics, neurotransmission, autonomic regulation, executive function, electroencephalography, and human subjects research. The underlying principles of the Biopsych CURE focus on how the prefrontal cortex orchestrates cognitive control and coordinates parasympathetic activity. The rs4680 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene may explain individual variability in prefrontal cortical function since the presence of the A versus G alleles directly affects neurotransmission in this region. To assess this, students in the Biopsych CURE conducted a prospective cohort study on themselves to examine whether there would be differences between rs4680 GG, AG, and AA genotypes in executive function, parasympathetic activity, and frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA). During the allotted class time, students successfully learned to collect buccal swab samples, isolate DNA, quantify DNA with a spectrophotometer, and use the iWorx data acquisition system to measure heart rate, vagal tone, and alpha and beta EEG waves. They also learned to analyze the data and wrote a research report on their findings. For their class research project, they found that the GG genotype had higher vagal tone compared to A carriers while taking the Stroop test, indicating greater parasympathetic activity. The GG genotype also showed higher FAA compared to A carriers while viewing emotional face presentations, indicating greater left cortical activity. This suggests that the GG genotype may display parasympathetic and cortical activity patterns that are generally conceded as advantageous to mental health. Students learned to graphically depict their data and wrote a research report on their findings. Overall, the Biopsych CURE enabled students to work actively with core topics in the field while conducting meaningful research and the course evaluations demonstrated high student satisfaction with CURE activities.
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide a variety of benefits to student learning outcomes. Here we describe an upper-level semester-long CURE that was implemented in Spring 2024 at Amherst College, a small liberal arts college, as part of the NEUR 313: Social Neuroendocrinology course. In the CURE students conducted behavioral and immunohistochemical assays in the fighting fish Betta splendens. Students assessed whether behavioral and neural response differed between fish exposed to social and nonsocial stimuli. The CURE exposed students to a suite of behavioral, wet lab, and data analysis techniques. In addition to completing weekly lab primers, the students' research efforts culminated in a final written paper and oral presentation where students integrated both mechanistic and eco-evolutionary thinking. The CURE was very positively reviewed by the students, and future iterations of the CURE can be easily modified to fit new research topics that further explore biological questions through a neuroethological lens.
As a subset of active learning, gamification involves the application of gaming principles as a means of improving student outcomes in the classroom. Recent work has shown that such active learning strategies may be particularly effective at reducing the rate of failure in STEM courses. In this retrospective case study, I examined the effects on student exam performance, rate of failure, and perception of instruction following a semester-long course improvement project that involved implementing a novel tabletop style roleplaying game (Build-a-Zombie) during lab sessions in an undergraduate neuroanatomy course. The game I developed tasked students with using their knowledge from lecture to design their own pathological zombie nervous system. When compared to a previous cohort, students in the gamified version of the course showed significantly increased exam scores, a trend toward decreased rates of failure, and a more positive perception of instruction, even though lecture and exam content remained the same.
Any written work concerning the history of neuroanatomy would be difficult to imagine without acknowledging the pioneering works of Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Camillo Golgi. Cajal improved upon Golgi’s staining technique at the turn of the 20th century. He implemented it to deliver the world’s first incredibly detailed visualizations of cellular networks of the nervous system. Dating further back to the 15th century, most students of neuroanatomy or of the philosophy of science are familiar with René Decartes’ depiction of mind-body dualism which illustrates the passing of visual information to the brain. These illustrations (i.e., mostly Cajal’s) have gone on to significantly influence future research, commonly featured as visual aids in neuroscience presentations. Like most of the historical depictions of the brain, including medieval illustrations of trepanning, these drawings are of western European origin. Little, if any work has attempted to compile or assess historical depictions of the brain from outside of the western world. It is very likely that non-western historical depictions of the brain exist, but are less popularized and have been scarce in the circulating historical literature. Thus, more historical investigations are required to balance these views for a complete historical lens on neuroanatomy. Since early civilizations existed far across the globe, it is likely that depictions of the nervous system have existed before the aforementioned scholars who make up the mainstream approach to neuroanatomy history education. The present work aims to introduce students and instructors of neuroscience, and particularly neuroanatomy, to other early illustrated neuroanatomical works which may be less popularized. Additionally, this assessment seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the historical emergence of neuroscience and more specifically, neuroanatomy. This article attempts to start this conversation, utilizing what are thought to be the first modern neuroanatomical analyses of some of the cited illustrations from the non-western world.
Students are thinking about ethical, moral, and societal implications of science-as individuals and communities- regardless of whether these topics are part of formal curricula. Ethical questions can arise from broad neuroscientific questions (What is consciousness?), emerging topics (e.g., synthetic biological intelligence), neurotechnologies (e.g., human brain organoids), and respective intersections (Could brain organoids be intelligent or conscious?). As a field of scholarship, the ethics of brain science, or 'neuroethics', can help students to situate what they are learning in the classroom within a broader socio-philosophical context that advances critical and ethical reasoning toward future neuroscience research or technologies. I will argue that neuroethics can also enhance student situational interest and cognitive engagement with core neuroscientific concepts that align with core learning objectives. Yet faculty face challenges when incorporating neuroethics topics into courses, which may include, but are not limited to i) lack of disciplinary expertise, ii) time or resource constraints within courses, or iii) the perceived lack of value in formally including ethics instructional content in courses focused on core concepts in neuroscience education. This Opinion article aims to demonstrate how these challenges can be overcome. I describe how the Value Reappraisal Model can be used as a process theory to guide integration of neuroethics into neuroscience curricula. My autoethnographic account of developing and teaching a new course provides a case study for faculty who are interested in creating curricular opportunities for students to engage with ethical issues by fostering deeper learning and appreciation of core concepts in neuroscience.
It is well-understood that active learning approaches have positive learning outcomes and improve retention. Active learning strategies for the neuroscience laboratory setting have been extensively developed. Fewer active learning approaches are available for the traditional lecture-based setting. Here we describe novel active learning exercises that teach fundamental principles of neuronal circuits and synaptic connectivity ideal for introductory neuroscience courses. Given the complexity of synaptic networks in the brain and the difficulty this material can present to students, our novel exercises can be beneficial to the neuroscience education community.
Supplementing textbooks with primary literature in teaching neuroscience is a growing practice associated with several positive outcomes, such as increased content knowledge, research and data skills, and critical thinking. This pedagogical approach, however, still needs further development to make it accessible to instructors and valuable to students. This article describes a series of published articles we used in an undergraduate neuroimmunology course. Articles were selected to supplement the teaching of significant principles in the neuroimmunology of disease in neuro-infections, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Specifically, articles on multiple sclerosis, experimental autoimmune encephalitis, Herpes Simplex Virus 1, SIV/HIV infections, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's diseases are described, and the pedagogical value of each is enunciated. These sources could be incorporated into a range of undergraduate and graduate courses to introduce several topics and principles of neuroimmunology.
