Big Idea
The Power of the Human Brain
Phase 2
I am
My year-long project will be implemented in my senior level Honors Neuroscience class at Lane Tech College Prep in Chicago, IL. My big idea is to flip the way I introduce material in order to create intrigue about the inner workings of the brain and give students a reason and context with which to learn about the brain. My goal is for students to see the amazing power of the brain and how much our perspective and our individual realities are shaped by brain activity we are generally unaware of. By changing the order of material covered in the class and exposing students to interesting case-studies and real-world simulations of different brain disorders I hope to invest students up front for each new unit. In the past, I would cover "normal" brain behavior in a certain part of the brain and then we would discuss what happens when that part does not function properly. I think that by introducing the abnormality first, it will make the students wonder how it could possibly be that people could lose the ability to see motion, or see sounds as colors or lose their short-term memory while keeping their long term memory in tact, etc. Starting at the end and working our way back through the material seems like a much more interesting way to dive into neuroscience and it also more closely mimics how those ideas were first discovered by scientists in the first place.
I plan to frame my course around this idea of wonder and the introduction of a new lens with which to see the world. I would like to have a daily "world of wonder" for at least the first month of school so that students start to see the world in new and interesting ways that can carry over into the classroom. I also plan to incorporate several new approaches to the curriculum in an effort to deeply engage students and make the challenging material more approachable. My assessments will utilize as many "maker" based projects as I can. For example, last year my students really struggled with the concept of action-potentials, which is how neurons communicate with each other. Ion movement into and out of the neuron are responsible for this electric signal. This is such a complicated topic and previously it was also very dry to teach. Now, I have many ideas about how to challenge students to make sense of the material by utilizing "makey makey" kits and other types of hands-on learning activities. I also envision having students act out scenes from the perspectives of early neuroscientists as a much more engaging way to learn about and assess understanding of the contributions of early researchers rather than teaching them in a traditional manner, such as with a PowerPoint presentation and then taking a quiz. I really want my assessments to be tangible and be something that has to be created rather than a rote memory exercise. The assessments themselves can be fun, inventive and require students to challenge themselves in a way that is exciting for them and for me!
My year-long project will be implemented in my senior level Honors Neuroscience class at Lane Tech College Prep in Chicago, IL. My big idea is to flip the way I introduce material in order to create intrigue about the inner workings of the brain and give students a reason and context with which to learn about the brain. My goal is for students to see the amazing power of the brain and how much our perspective and our individual realities are shaped by brain activity we are generally unaware of. By changing the order of material covered in the class and exposing students to interesting case-studies and real-world simulations of different brain disorders I hope to invest students up front for each new unit. In the past, I would cover "normal" brain behavior in a certain part of the brain and then we would discuss what happens when that part does not function properly. I think that by introducing the abnormality first, it will make the students wonder how it could possibly be that people could lose the ability to see motion, or see sounds as colors or lose their short-term memory while keeping their long term memory in tact, etc. Starting at the end and working our way back through the material seems like a much more interesting way to dive into neuroscience and it also more closely mimics how those ideas were first discovered by scientists in the first place.
I plan to frame my course around this idea of wonder and the introduction of a new lens with which to see the world. I would like to have a daily "world of wonder" for at least the first month of school so that students start to see the world in new and interesting ways that can carry over into the classroom. I also plan to incorporate several new approaches to the curriculum in an effort to deeply engage students and make the challenging material more approachable. My assessments will utilize as many "maker" based projects as I can. For example, last year my students really struggled with the concept of action-potentials, which is how neurons communicate with each other. Ion movement into and out of the neuron are responsible for this electric signal. This is such a complicated topic and previously it was also very dry to teach. Now, I have many ideas about how to challenge students to make sense of the material by utilizing "makey makey" kits and other types of hands-on learning activities. I also envision having students act out scenes from the perspectives of early neuroscientists as a much more engaging way to learn about and assess understanding of the contributions of early researchers rather than teaching them in a traditional manner, such as with a PowerPoint presentation and then taking a quiz. I really want my assessments to be tangible and be something that has to be created rather than a rote memory exercise. The assessments themselves can be fun, inventive and require students to challenge themselves in a way that is exciting for them and for me!