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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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Volume XI, No. 3 |
March 2006 |
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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Volume XI, No. 3 |
March 2006 |
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Curiosity Drives Learning In and Out of Class
By Edward Stricker, Neuroscience I have taught Introduction to Neuroscience for many years. As the title implies, the general goal of the course is to introduce stud the science of the nervous system. Because it is a prerequisite for all other courses in the neuroscience major, I must prepare students for more advanced courses. However, I tell them that the course is less oriented around the product than the process of neuroscience. By that I mean that I will be less interested in whether they learn numerous facts (although they certainly will do so) than whether they learn how to understand scientific information. When I was growing up in the Bronx, I thought that food came from stores, and I remember being surprised to learn about farms and orchards. I can imagine that many students similarly still believe that scientific information comes from books. Instead, I want them to appreciate that it was obtained from experiments, that those experiments generated new theories, and that those theories were evaluated in subsequent experiments. This research-oriented course is fairly large (120 enrolled students) and is taught exclusively in a lecture format. In one semester I cannot provide a comprehensive introduction to the entire discipline of neuroscience; so, instead, I select topics that will illustrate its basic principles. I have found these topics to be of considerable interest to the students and, just as important, to me. Thus, I know a lot about this material, and I can speak about it knowledgeably and enthusiastically. There are many phenomena with explanations that can provide insights into the nervous system. Some can be presented as anecdotes. For example, when London was being firebombed during World War II, a wooden nursing home which housed patients who could not move was set afire. Patients with spinal damage perished, but patients with Parkinson’s disease fled to safety only to become akinetic (unable to move) again when they reached the streets. Few students have heard this story, and it makes them curious about the biological bases for the observed difference between the patients. More familiar phenomena can be presented as questions without elaborate anecdotes. For example, why do we get hungry? How can we see in color? I begin each class with a story or question of this sort, intended to capture the students’ attention and spark their curiosity, and then I describe the experimental evidence that allowed an understanding of the phenomenon. I believe that questions drive learning. Therefore, in addition to describing the research questions that stimulated experiments, I encourage students to ask questions both in and out of class (via electronic messages). I am pleased to say that I am bombarded with such questions every day, and I post the questions and my answers on the course Web page so that all students can participate in this virtual discussion. That is a hidden agenda of the course, to have students think at all times (not just while they are in my class), in all courses (not just in mine), and in all settings (not just in courses).
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