RCN UBE: Connectomes for Undergraduate Education and Learning (CUNEL)

据了解，作为本科课程的一部分，学生通过接触真实的研究可以获得巨大的教育收益，但这些经验的可用性可能会受到高成本和难以实施的限制。本科生神经科学教育和学习的连接点(CUNEL)项目旨在为学生提供获得尖端神经科学研究工具的机会，并提供将这些工具整合到本科教育中的框架。CUNL项目将通过招聘和培训神经科学讲师网络来实现这一目标，这些讲师将实施和评估实验室方案，提供真实的连接学研究经验。连接学是神经科学的一个新兴领域，旨在创建突触连接的全面地图，即显示神经如何在神经系统内连接的“接线图”。该项目的广泛成果将是提高神经科学教育的质量和可及性，同时为本科生提供处于该领域前沿的神经科学领域的现实世界科学经验。CUNEL项目将创建、实施和评估利用公开可用的成年雌性苍蝇脑(FAFB)数据集和海量图像数据协作注释工具包(CATMAID)软件平台的本科生实验材料。CUNEL团队将创建教学材料，以促进FAFB/CATMAID实验室模块在不同本科院校的本科生课程中的采用、实施和评估。这些单元将通过神经科学讲师的用户网络进行传播和评估，这些讲师将由项目领导招聘、支持和协调。使用CUNEL项目创建的实验室材料的学生将有机会与其他网络机构的学生和连接学研究社区进行科学接触。该项目的成果将包括：1)创建可在各种本科机构成功实施的实验室材料，作为本科课程的一部分，提供真实的连接学研究经验；2)创建和组织一个神经科学教育工作者网络，他们将合作使用这些真实的研究工具来加强神经科学教育。该项目由生物科学局、生物基础设施部和教育与人力资源局联合资助。本科教育司作为他们努力应对本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁(http://visionandchange/finalreport/).This奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估)提出的挑战的一部分。

While it is understood that students experience tremendous educational benefits from exposure to authentic research as part of their undergraduate coursework, the availability of these experiences may be limited by high cost and difficult implementation. The Connectomes for Undergraduate Neuroscience Education and Learning (CUNEL) project seeks to provide students with access to cutting-edge neuroscience research tools and provide the framework to integrate these tools into their undergraduate education. The CUNEL project will accomplish this by recruiting and training a network of neuroscience instructors who will implement and assess laboratory protocols that provide authentic research experiences in connectomics, the burgeoning field of neuroscience that seeks to create comprehensive maps of synaptic connectivity, the ‘wiring diagram’ showing how nerves connect within a nervous system. The broad outcome of the CUNEL project will be to enhance both the quality and accessibility of neuroscience education, while providing undergraduate students with real-world scientific experience within an area of neuroscience at the forefront of the field. The CUNEL project will create, implement, and assess undergraduate laboratory materials that make use of the publicly available Female Adult Fly Brain (FAFB) dataset and Collaborative Annotation Toolkit for Massive Amounts of Image Data (CATMAID) software platform. The CUNEL team will create instructional materials that facilitate adoption, implementation, and assessment of FAFB/CATMAID laboratory modules in undergraduate classes at diverse undergraduate institutions. These modules will be disseminated and assessed through a user network of neuroscience instructors who will be recruited, supported, and coordinated by the project leadership. Students who work with laboratory materials created by the CUNEL project will have opportunities to engage scientifically with students at other network institutions and with the connectomics research community. The outcomes of this project will include: 1) the creation of laboratory materials that can be successfully implemented at a wide variety of undergraduate institutions to provide authentic research experiences in connectomics as part of undergraduate coursework, and 2) the creation and organization of a network of neuroscience educators who will collaborate to enhance neuroscience education using these authentic research tools.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.