ABSTRACT
Research papers are a common end-of-semester assessment for senior-level seminars. The mid-semester switch to remote learning due to COVID-19 provided an opportunity to rethink this model and offer an alternative final assessment using a multipart online portfolio that addresses the learning goals of the course and the objectives of research paper-based final assessments. The smaller weekly tasks coupled with ongoing peer feedback reduced student stress and allowed for creativity and community building. Students responded positively to the novel assignment.
ABSTRACT
Slides showcasing research of one or two neuroscientists from diverse backgrounds were added to weekly, learning assistant-led sections in a large (~80 person) primarily lecture course required for neuroscience majors. Students appreciated the slides, and survey data suggests that the slides increased the sense of belonging for both underrepresented and not underrepresented students.
ABSTRACT
Although textbooks are still assigned in many undergraduate science courses, it is now not uncommon, even in some of the earliest courses in the curriculum, to supplement texts with primary source readings from the scientific literature. Not only does reading these articles help students develop an understanding of specific course content, it also helps foster an ability to engage with the discipline the way its practitioners do. One challenge with this approach, however, is that it can be difficult for instructors to select appropriate readings on topics outside of their areas of expertise as would be required in a survey course, for example. Here we present a subset of the papers that were offered in response to a request for the "most amazing papers in neuroscience" that appeared on the listserv of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN). Each contributor was subsequently asked to describe briefly the content of their recommended papers, their pedagogical value, and the audiences for which these papers are best suited. Our goal is to provide readers with sufficient information to decide whether such articles might be useful in their own classes. It is not our intention that any article within this collection will provide the final word on an area of investigation, nor that this collection will provide the final word for the discipline as a whole. Rather, this article is a collection of papers that have proven themselves valuable in the hands of these particular educators. Indeed, it is our hope that this collection represents the inaugural offering of what will become a regular feature in this journal, so that we can continue to benefit from the diverse expertise of the FUN community.
ABSTRACT
ERIN, Educational Resources in Neuroscience, is the Society for Neuroscience's web portal to selected, high-quality materials for higher education. A Board of Editors approves resources after describing them and classifying them by topic, subtopic, media type, author, and appropriate educational level. Some resources are also accompanied by reviews and ratings from faculty who have used the resource. These features make a search of ERIN far more useful than a typical Google search. ERIN's development was funded by the National Science Foundation with a three-year grant to SfN. Along the way, various unexpected problems arose and solutions were found, many of which are described in this overview of ERIN's history and the various decisions that were made in its design and development.
ABSTRACT
Manipulations of activity in one retina can profoundly affect binocular connections in the visual cortex. Retinal activity is relayed to the cortex by the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN). We compared the qualities and amount of activity in the dLGN following monocular eyelid closure and monocular retinal inactivation in awake mice. Our findings substantially alter the interpretation of previous studies and define the afferent activity patterns that trigger cortical plasticity.
