Neurovisions: Teaching neuroscience with neuroimaging data

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) application is to fill a major void in the undergraduate neuroscience curriculum: A lack of educational materials that give students the opportunity to learn neuroscience by working hands-on with neuroimaging data. The NeuroVisions: Teaching neuroscience with neuroimaging data project will create six Blackboard course cartridges to supplement curricula used in undergraduate neuroscience, psychology, and biology courses and serve as replacement units for course laboratories. The modules will involve students in discovery-based explorations of neuroscience topics with real data provided by leading neuroimaging scientists. Two innovations introduced in the modules are: (1) a decision-modeling tutorial that guides students through the process of posing a research hypothesis and choosing an appropriate research design; and (2) an image analysis tool built into structure of the module that is used to gather data for statistically testing the hypothesis posed earlier. The project's emphasis on image manipulation and image analysis will afford a novel and accessible learning experience for today's visually oriented undergraduate students. The NeuroVisions project will build the instructional materials around an image analysis tool adapted for educational use from professional software employed by biomedical researchers worldwide: WebImage. WebImage is a Java-based image processing and analysis program adapted from the open-source ImageJ software by Science Approach. WebImage will be integrated into the course cartridges to be produced by the project. By reducing the rich, but complicated, set of selection, measurement, calibration, and data rendering tools available in ImageJ to only those functions needed to accomplish specific research tasks, NeuroVisions will greatly simplify the process of analyzing data and thus give novice users the opportunity to experience neuroimaging research first hand. The NeuroVisions materials will be based on the 5E model developed by BSCS and recently evaluated by BSCS for the Office of Science Education at the National Institutes of Health. The 5E model specifies a lesson structure with the following elements: engage; explore; explain; elaborate; and evaluate. The materials will be developed by Science Approach, LLC, in collaboration with four advising faculty, six neuroscience researchers, and the West Texas Office of Evaluation and Research (WTER). The following milestones will be accomplished: (1) Work with the collaborating neuroscientists to identify research scenarios and data to be used in the NeuroVisions modules; (2) Make needed improvements and modifications to WebImage; (3) Create additional data analysis, simulation, and multimedia objects needed for the modules; (4) Develop six NeuroVisions modules for field testing; (5) Submit pilot modules for independent review; (6) Field test the modules in development; and (7) Use formative feedback from all project phases and the results from the evaluation program to revise the NeuroVisions modules and prepare the series for publication. Project Narrative/Relevance to Public Health: The proposed NeuroVisions project will provide opportunities for college faculty and undergraduate students to explore neuroimaging data in a manner that is currently not available in most college classrooms. Not only will the proposed instructional materials highlight the key role that NIH-supported research plays in improving biomedical diagnoses, treatments, and research, NeuroVisions will promote development of a scientifically literate public that can carry forward the endowment of science and technology that has made the United States a leader in the field of biomedicine and provided its citizens with the high standard of living the nation enjoys.