Neuroscience Simulation Project

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9354630 Olivo The Neuroscience Simulation Project will develop realistic, interactive, computer-based simulations of experiments in neuroscience, a field of rapid growth and increasing undergraduate interest. The simulations are targeted at introductory and intermediate courses in biology, psychology and neuroscience, especially at large courses that do not include a laboratory. Students in such courses often have difficulty understanding the remarkably rapid and dynamic responses of neurons, because these aspects are not conveyed well by static pictures in textbooks. Realistic, interactive simulations in which students see and hear neuronal responses as they control stimuli interactively give a much better understanding of the pace and dynamics of activity in the brain and nervous system. The Neuroscience Simulation Project, which will be extended and enlarged by this funding, was founded at Smith College in 1990 with partial support from the New England Consortium for Undergraduate Science Education. Its first software release, MacRetina, generated strong interest in the neuroscience community and won a Distinguished Natural Science Software Award in 1992 from EDUCOM. The pedagogical and technical challenges mastered in producing MacRetina will serve as a strong foundation for the proposed development of new simulation software. ***y