Teaching Neuroscience in the Laboratory

在实验室教授神经科学

• 批准号: 9555095
• 负责人: Ronald Hoy
• 金额: $ 25.92万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-02-01 至 2000-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9555095&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Teaching; Neuroscience; Laboratory

Neurobiology is an emerging interdisciplinary study that attracts world-wide attention in popular media. There is genuine curiosity abroad to understand the dynamic linkage between one's brain and one's behavior that should be part of the education, of not only scientists, but the lay public. Yet the teaching of neurobiology, especially in a laboratory setting, has badly lagged the demand. In part, this is because of the lack of availability of "teacher friendly" instructional exercises as well as easy availability of ethically and environmentally acceptable experimental animals. This project addresses these problems by providing teachers of physiology, neuroscience, and introductory biology, at the college and the high school level, with a new curriculum of laboratory exercises in neuroscience. We are teaching teachers how to use these exercises in their own labs by: (1) conducting a series of summer workshops in our teaching laboratory at Cornell; (2) producing an instructional videotape of our teaching exercises, aimed at teachers; and (3) setting-up an electronic bulletin-board service that permits us to stay in close contact with any teacher who is using or wants to use our teaching modules in his/her own laboratory instruction. Our teaching labs are based on an integrated set of classroom-tested labs that use the crayfish as the experimental animal. The crayfish is ideal because it is very hardy and easy to dissect. In terms of laboratory logistics, it is cheap, commercial, and easy to maintain. Pedagogically, the crayfish is ideal because it permits the instructor to select from simple lab exercises dealing with fundamental cellular properties of neural tissue to intellectually stimulating and challenging exercises that deal with the integrative properties of neural networks, synaptic computations, and learning and memory. These teaching modules thus cover basic neuronal properties, such as the ionic basis of bioelectric potentials to synaptic transfusion to elementary forms of learning and synaptic plasticity. They take advantage of the fact of the unity of neural function, the neuronal computations that lead to behavioral change are similar, whether occurring in the brain of a crayfish or a college freshman. The crayfish is therefore a suitable replacement for vertebrate preparations, which are becoming controversial as laboratory subjects. This project not only provides teachers with a set of conceptually-rich yet technically simple lab exercises, but it provides direct instruction to relatively inexperienced teachers via a "see and do" methodology. The proposal has two parts. First, a hands-on workshop for laboratory instructors at Cornell. Second, and very importantly, an instructional videotape for instructors showing step-by-step how to make each preparation is being produced. The intended target of these exercises include liberal arts college and university teachers, but our experience tells us that high-school teachers are perfectly capable of learning and employing these labs in their classes, and the workshop provides opportunities for them, as well. In summary, this proposal seeks to disseminate a thoroughly tested set of laboratory teaching exercises, proven to be stimulating to undergraduate students in many settings, to any teacher who wants to bring neuroscience content into his/her laboratory.

神经生物学是一门新兴的跨学科研究，在大众媒体上引起了世界范围的关注。 国外有真正的好奇心去了解一个人的大脑和一个人的行为之间的动态联系，这应该是教育的一部分，不仅是科学家，但外行公众。 然而，神经生物学的教学，特别是在实验室环境中，已经严重落后于需求。 在某种程度上，这是因为缺乏“教师友好”的教学练习，以及容易获得道德和环境可接受的实验动物。 本计画针对这些问题，提供生理学、神经科学、生物学导论的教师，在大学和高中的水平，与神经科学实验练习的新课程。 我们正在教教师如何在他们自己的实验室里使用这些练习：（1）在康奈尔大学的教学实验室里举办一系列的暑期讲习班;（2）制作一盘针对教师的教学练习的教学录像带;及（三）设立电子公告-董事会服务，使我们能够与任何正在使用或希望在他/她自己的实验室教学中使用我们的教学模块的教师保持密切联系。 我们的教学实验室是基于一套完整的课堂测试实验室，使用小龙虾作为实验动物。 小龙虾是理想的，因为它是非常哈代和容易解剖。 在实验室物流方面，它便宜，商业化，易于维护。 在教学上，小龙虾是理想的，因为它允许教师从处理神经组织基本细胞特性的简单实验室练习到处理神经网络，突触计算以及学习和记忆的综合特性的智力刺激和挑战性练习中进行选择。 因此，这些教学模块涵盖了基本的神经元特性，例如突触的生物电势的离子基础。 向学习和突触可塑性的基本形式过渡。 他们利用了神经功能的统一性，导致行为变化的神经元计算是相似的，无论是发生在小龙虾的大脑还是大学新生的大脑中。 因此，小龙虾是脊椎动物制剂的合适替代品，脊椎动物制剂作为实验室对象正变得有争议。 该项目不仅为教师提供了一套概念丰富但技术简单的实验练习，而且通过“看和做”的方法为相对缺乏经验的教师提供了直接指导。 该提案有两个部分。 首先，康奈尔大学实验室教师的实践研讨会。 第二，非常重要的是，正在制作一盘供教员使用的教学录像带，逐步说明如何进行每一项准备工作。 这些练习的预期目标包括文科学院和大学教师，但我们的经验告诉我们，高中教师完全有能力在课堂上学习和使用这些实验室，研讨会也为他们提供了机会。 总之，这项建议旨在传播一套经过全面测试的实验室教学练习，证明是刺激本科生在许多设置，任何教师谁想要把神经科学的内容到他/她的实验室。