William Grisham - US grants

Psychology - Biological (71)
Intellectual Merit: This project is creating three state-of-the-art laboratory research modules that comprise "Modular Digital Course in Undergraduate Neuroscience Education-Revised" (MDCUNE-R) and making these available to students and instructors at a wide range of institutions. The first module explores neurophysiology by experimenting with a virtual neural circuit to discover and analyze the mechanisms generating rhythmic neural activity. The second module introduces the subject of bioinformatics and makes extensive use of bioinformatics tools available free on the web. The third module analyzes sex differences and hormonal effects in the development of the bird song system.

Broader Impacts: This project is modifying existing materials so that the modules are exclusively digital and publishing them in an enduring form. They are available on demand using open access media on the Web. These modules are inquiry-based laboratory experiences and demonstrations. They provide sufficient material for an entire laboratory course and allow instructors at any institution to employ the digital materials to create high-quality didactic experiences with no equipment required except a computer.
MDCUNE-R is also providing extensive faculty development opportunities including workshops, articles, presentations at conferences, webcasts, and web-based tutorials with each module. The project is explicitly targeting faculty members at underserved institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges.

In keeping with the CCLI cyclic model, MDCUNE-R is being evaluated at four steps in its execution by: 1) testing and refining the teaching tools with UCLA students, 2) obtaining feedback from faculty and students at other institutions testing these materials, 3) receiving peer review feedback during the publication review process, and 4) receiving feedback from faculty and students who are using the materials once they have been released for general dissemination. At each of these points the feedback is being used to revise the materials.

The potential for advances in coordinated design, production and analysis of big-data bases in neuroscience to help us better understand the interaction between the structure and function of the brain are highlighted by the White House Brain Initiative (http://whitehouse.gov/share/brain-initiative). However, in order for that potential to be realized, there is a need for a workforce capable of both creating and maintaining these data bases in a sustainable, well annotated, easily accessible format. This workshop is designed to consider the challenges inherent in educating such a work force and ensuring undergraduate education in information-neuroscience (iNeuro) will reflect the diversity of the nation's population and institutions of higher education, consider the myriad demands on that work force, and promote workforce flexibility in responding to changing needs and resources as the discipline evolves. It will benefit the nation in such areas as workforce development, curriculum enrichment, undergraduate student education and establishing interdisciplinary approaches to complex national challenges.

This one and one-half day iNeuro workshop will create a roadmap outlining necessary steps to educate the next generation of information curators/scientists. It will identify: 1) the skill set(s) and training necessary for such individuals (e.g. neuroscience, mathematics and quantitative methods, information science, computer science, and others) as well as the appropriate trans-disciplinary blend, 2) the educators and programs needed to train such individuals, and (3) actions needed to help faculty and institutions incorporate the precepts advanced by the Vision and Change report into their educational strategies/programs. Attendees will represent the full spectrum of higher education institutions across the nation and will include experts in such areas as: managers and purveyors of data resources, individuals involved in bioinformatics/analytics training, library and information scientists, computer scientists, neuroscience educators and research-involved neuroscientists. The workshop will be preceded by a period of information exchange among the participants to ensure an efficient use of workshop time and will be followed by production of a white paper summarizing workshop findings.

This project is being supported jointly by the Division of Undergraduate Education and the Division of Research on Learning in the Directorate of Education and Human Resources and the Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems within the Directorate of Biological Sciences as part of their efforts toward support of Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education.

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing and testing innovative instructional technologies based on well-established principles of perceptual and adaptive learning to help undergraduates master neuroanatomy. During a time when there has been a sustained explosion in both neuroscience research and in undergraduate enrollment in neuroscience courses and majors, effective neuroanatomy education is critically important in providing a common foundation by which the brain and its functions can be understood. However, mastering neuroanatomy involves several different forms of learning and poses significant instructional challenges. Perceptual learning refers to improvements in how people pick up information as they gain experience and practice in a given domain. Prior research shows that interactive computer-based perceptual learning interventions reliably develop students’ ability to quickly and accurately recognize and distinguish complex structures, patterns, and relationships, such as those that are encountered in neuroanatomy courses. However, perceptual learning has largely been ignored in formal education because the learning conditions that promote it most effectively are rarely available in standard course materials and instructional formats. This project plans to combine perceptual and adaptive learning technologies in a novel format known as Perceptual Adaptive Courseware (PAC), in which short cycles of expository instruction are interwoven with web-based adaptive interactive learning, enabling students to advance and consolidate their learning. The approach may improve learning in neuroanatomy and also provide valuable information regarding the applications of these learning innovations to other STEM domains.

The project’s goal is to generate new knowledge by investigating whether enhancements based on this combination of perceptual and adaptive learning technologies produce improved instructional outcomes for undergraduates learning neuroanatomy. The PAC intervention will be iteratively developed, piloted, and tested across two cohorts of undergraduates enrolled in multiple sections of an upper-level course in behavioral neuroscience at a public university with a diverse student body. The project will implement a controlled experimental design comparing groups that experience the PAC intervention for a defined segment of the neuroanatomy curriculum to groups that experience instruction in normal lecture and lab formats for the same portion of the curriculum. Pre/post assessments will yield quantitative data on students’ learning of the targeted content. Students, teaching assistants, and instructors will also provide qualitative data to help design and optimize the user experience with respect to features such as navigation, pacing, graphics, and interactive interfaces. Perceptual Adaptive Courseware, which runs on laptops, desktop computers, and tablets using standard browsers, represents a model approach that can be readily extended to other STEM domains. Findings from the project will be shared with faculty who teach neuroanatomy or related disciplines through meetings and publications of the Society for Neuroscience and the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience. Results will also be disseminated to audiences interested in applications of cognitive research to instruction and learning technology. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

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.