Curriculum Overview
This curriculum is designed to be implemented in a synchronous online setting. Teachers should prepare for each lesson by setting up the appropriate accounts (such as Padlet) and making copies of all Google Form assignments. Teachers can choose to do live demonstrations or show videos for each lab activity. Breakout rooms are frequently used for small group assignments and to encourage student discussions. Unit one of the course takes approximately 5 to 6 weeks while unit 2 takes approximately 4 to 5 weeks. All lessons assume a period length of 45 minutes.
Online Curriculum Standards
Unit 1
Module 1: Neural Communication
1. Engage: What do you already know about neuroscience?
As a pre-assessment, students will reflect on the accuracy of their existing conceptions of neuroscience and share their knowledge about reflexes.
Lesson Plan:
2. Engage: What is neuroscience?
Students will think critically about the expansive nature of neuroscience and how it connects to their everyday life.
Lesson Plan:
3. Explore: SpikerBox Lab: How does our brain communicate with our body?
Students will view a live or recorded experiment where action potentials are recorded from a cockroach leg and electricity is used to stimulate the leg.
Lesson Plan:
4. Explain: How do neurons communicate?
Students will learn about sensory, inter-, and motor neurons and how they communicate to produce reflexes.
Lesson Plan:
5. Explain: How do drugs affect neural communication?
Students will explore how drugs affect neural communication.
Lesson Plan:
Module 2: Brain Structure and Function
1. Engage: What do you already know about the brain?
As a pre-assessment, students will share what they know about the brain and the role ethics plays in neuroscience research. Aligned with a course goal, students will identify existing myths within neuroscience. Afterward, students will review and discuss pressing ethical issues within neuroscience (e.g. the use of animals in research) identifying the pros/cons.
Lesson Plan:
2. Explore: What are different parts of the brain?
Groups will undergo a virtual dissection of a sheep brain to identify the different parts and functions of the brain. Students will compare the size and shape of brains of different animals, and will hypothesize what features correlate with intelligence.
Lesson Plan:
3. Engage: The brain and its functions
Students will explore the human brain using a 3D atlas, and learn about different brain regions and their functions. Students will hypothesize how damage to different parts of the brain can affect different behaviors. By the end, students should understand that different parts of the brain have different functions.
Lesson Plan:
Module 3: Learning and Memory
1. Engage: What do you already know about how we learn and remember?
As a pre-assessment, students will brainstorm as many neuroscience concepts as they can.Then, students will go through the final neuromyths, and they will collectively make a neuroscience Kahoot to strengthen their understanding of the field.
Lesson Plan:
2. How do we learn and remember?
In this lesson, students will explore the concept of memory. As a class, students will participate in a memory activity and graph the class results. Students will then engage in multiple other memory activities independently. This portion can be done asynchronously. Finally, students will complete an online mirror tracing task independently then discuss it as a class during a synchronous class.
Lesson Plan:
3. Explain & Elaborate: How does neuroplasticity affect our brain?
Students will investigate the underlying mechanisms that allow neuroplasticity to occur. Students will also explore different case studies exemplifying the ability for the brain to reorganize itself based on different activities (e.g. taxicab drivers). Students will learn and identify the different components of the scientific method in articles on the different case studies. By the end, students should recognize the significance of neuroplasticity and how it applies to their own learning.
Lesson Plan:
4. BrainWaves Neuro Scavenger Hunt
Students will explore a 3-Dimensional museum that includes an overview of the 3 modules that have been covered so far.
Lesson Plan:
Unit 2: Student Research
1. Introduction to Cognitive Science tasks
Students will learn about the Stroop Task and the brain processes involved in executing the task. Next they will be their own experimental subject and will execute the task, collect their data and analyze it comparing it with the rest of the class.
Lesson Plan:
2. Research Questions
Students will review how to ask a research question. Students will also work with the teacher and mentor to brainstorm and select a testable research question. Students will base their research question as potential modifications of the experiments from the Experiment bank. Based on their interest, three students or less can be grouped together.
Lesson Plan:
3. Background Research
Students will work in their groups to find and summarize relevant research connected to the group’s research topic. Afterward, students will create a hypothesis relating to their research question and background research.
Lesson Plan:
4. Research Study Proposal & Methods
Students begin work on their proposal to determine how their research will be executed/analyzed and brainstorm potential results they may observe. Students should submit their proposals to the teacher for approval. If students complete this section early they can conduct a mini-pilot of their methods.
Lesson Plan:
5. Data Collection and Analysis
Students will use this time to execute their experiments while collecting data. Students will then analyze the behavioral data they collected.
Lesson Plan:
6. Student Presentations
Students will present their findings to the class, with the potential to publish on a class-wide, school-wide, or community level.
Lesson Plan:
Additional Resources for Online Implementation
Introduction to Brainwaves and EEG
YouTube video explaining brainwaves and how EEG technology is used
Virtual EEG LabIn this website you can find a java-based app that allows you to design, virtually run and analyze results of a visual cognition EEG experiment, and see what the actual EEG data looks like (from an EEG database).
PsyToolkit
In addition to the experiment bank used to unit 2, this website provides other lessons about cognitive neuroscience and allows students to design and run experiments online.
Ethical considerations when designing a study with human subjects
This article from JoVE can be used to supplement discussion related to ethics of experimentation with human subjects.
The brain from top to bottom
Includes lessons covering many areas of neuroscience at various levels. To navigate this website, use the tabs in the top-right corner.
Homunculus mapper
This website provides tools to map the somatosensory sensitivity of your brain in different parts of the body, and allows you to visualize a sensory homunculus of your own body.
Educational and Physical Activities for Stay at Home students
This website includes tutorials for home demonstrations and experiments. It also has lesson plans for teachers at various grade levels.
BrainFacts.org
This website hosts a great variety of short articles and short videos on different topics in neuroscience, with a section specifically for educators. Brain Facts also hosts a brain awareness video contest students can enter.