Bornali poster final

Significance Neuroscience education is a nascent branch of biology education. However, because understanding the human mind is at the forefront of science today, the public is barraged with innumerable amounts of information and studies regarding brain function and cognition. The ability to interpret these claims and gain scientific literacy is crucial, not only for better understanding the neurobiology of one’s own brain, but also for informing public views regarding controversial public policy issues such as: should clinical psychopaths be tried in a similar fashion to “normal” humans in a court of law based on functional imaging data or what defines a “conscious” being. It is for these reasons that it has become crucial for college students to gain an understanding of the nature of neuroscientific research and discovery. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) activities may provide a means for enhancing scientific literacy beyond that of traditional lecture-based techniques (Barron, 1998; Rutherford and Ahlgren, 1991). ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Can Inquiry-Based Learning activities in an upper-level undergraduate neuroscience course improve student understanding of the nature of neuroscience research? Bornali Kundu 1 1 Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin - Madison Instructional Activity ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],We wish to test the hypothesis that the ability to interpret scientific literature tested through interpretation of data presented in figures from primary literature and popular literature (pertaining to neuroscience) significantly benefits from doing IBL activities versus simply participating in traditional didactic lectures on the topic. This is a “what works?” type of question addressing the efficacy of a teaching technique to achieve a specific goal. The approach goes beyond giving students a list of guidelines to evaluate scientific literature (e.g. looking the credibility of the authors, the currency of the articles, etc) and emphasizes the use of logical reasoning to come to conclusions about scientific claims. Teaching as Research Question Research Design Educational setting ,[object Object],[object Object],References Chinn CA and Malhotra BA. (2002) Wiley Periodicals D. Ebert-May et al Bioscience, 47:9, 601 (1997) Laugksch and Spargo, (1996) Science Edu. 80(2) 121-143 Miller BR, Troyer M, and Busey, T. (2008) JUNE. 7(1): A19-A25 Rutherford FJ and Ahlgren, A. Science for all Americans (1991) ISBN13: 978-0-19-506771-2 VanRullen, R and Thorpe, SJ. (2001) J Cogn Neurosci. 13(6) 454-461 ,[object Object],[object Object],Planned data analyses Group change on pre/post performance measures will be assessed using mixed model regression that controls for repeated units (students), groups, and session variance. IV: performance (domain specific) and measures of general scientific literacy (Laugksch and Spargo, 1996) Covariates: affect: attitude towards science assessed with the SALG (Student assessment of learning gains); personality (PRF); career goals (professional or graduate school, industry, other); currently doing an individual research project in a lab (yes/no); major (arts/science/engineering); race; educational background (private v public HS); GPA; gender; age; parental educational backgrounds; working memory capacity – find a simple measure – OSPAN; attention – ANT; fluid intelligence (Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices) Acknowledgement CIRTL is funded through the Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation (CIRTL; http://cirtl.net/ ; Award 0717768, 2008-2011). Figure 1 Figure 2 Our goal is to test the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning activities in increasing measures of scientific literacy in the context of an introductory undergraduate neuroscience course. Significant results would provide evidence for instructors (scientists in an undergraduate educational setting and also teachers in high school and middle school) to shift curricula and teach neuroscience using IBL activities.

Bornali poster final

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Bornali poster final