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Dr. Douglas Falls
(Biology, Emory University)
Dr. Falls was funded to develop a neurodevelopment
course. The groundwork for Building Brains prepared over the summer
of 2000, and the course was first offered during the fall, 2000
semester. This course in neurodevelopment was jointly offered to
graduate students (IBS 509, Neurodevelopment) and to advanced undergraduate
students (Bio 470H, Building Brains). The rationale for a joint
graduate undergraduate offering was that the previous graduate Neurodevelopment
course had not been offered in a number of years due to inadequate
enrollment and Paul Lennard, Director of the NBB Program, felt it
important to have an undergraduate neurodevelopment course in the
curriculum.
While there has in the past been a graduate neurodevelopment
course, this course was almost entirely new in both content and
format. Dr. Falls was the sole instructor. The enrollment was as
follows:
- 4 Undergraduate students enrolled in Bio 470H
- 4 Undergraduate students enrolled in IBS 509
- All of these students are in the Honors Program of the College
and through taking this course fulfilled the Honors degree requirement
for completion of a graduate course
- 2 Graduate students (both in the Neuroscience Program; 1 is
an MD/PhD student)
- One faculty (Andre Nahmias) and one postdoctoral (Bruce Mungall)
auditor
- Of these students,
- 3 of the undergraduates were women and 5 were men.
- 1 of the graduate students was a woman and one was a man
- one student with Indian (i.e., India) and one with SE Asian
heritage and one Turkish graduate student.
- none of the students were from disadvantaged minority groups.
- Written evaluations from 9 of these 10 students were received,
the students found this course to be a very valuable experience
and would certainly urge that be continued.
Doug reports that, "major achievements of the course"
included:
- Interaction of graduate students in the Biological Sciences
with undergraduate students in a course that includes a substantial
component of class discussion: It is hoped that this interaction
will help attract some of the undergraduates to careers in scientific
research.
- Teaching students to critically read the primary research literature:
For each paper we studied, we structured our discussion around
the following questions: What is the broad issue in neurodevelopment
addressed by this study? What is the major hypothesis tested in
this study? What is the significance of testing this hypothesis?
How does each experiment contribute to a strong test of the hypothesis?
What was accomplished? In what future directions does this study
point?
- Quantitative training: In discussions of papers, quantitative
aspects of the data presented were emphasized, including both
concepts underlying statistical analysis of data and interpretation
of mathematical models. For example, in our study of retinotectal
maps, we compared the predictions of mathematical models of map
formation to the maps formed after experimental perturbations
of the retina and/or tectum during development and regeneration."
For most of the primary literature papers discussed,
as well as for the supplementary readings in the textbook Principles
of Neuroscience (Kandel et al.), Doug prepared a study guide and
a Powerpoint Presentation to facilitate class discussion. These
materials and PDF files of the readings were posted on LearnLink,
and at the end of the course each student received a CD containing
a compilation of all of course materials (full text of primary literature
readings, study guides, and PowerPoint Presentations.
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