Neuroscience in the Classroom

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Main -> In the Classroom: Neuroscience

Using Mnemonics to Study Cranial Nerves. Effective memory aid for your class. The article provides the needed materials.

Bloom, C. M., & Lamkin, D. M. (2006). The Olympian struggle to remember the cranial nerves: Mnemonics and student success. Teaching of Psychology, 33(2), 128-129. DOI: 1207/s15328023top3302_8

Using Mnemonics to Study Neuroscience. If you like to use memory aids in your classroom, this article provides mnemonic materials to learn neuroscience.

Carney, R. N., & Levin, J. R. (1998). Coming to terms with the keyword method in introductory psychology: A "neuromnemonic" example. Teaching of Psychology, 25(2), 132-134. DOI: 10.1207/s15328023top2502_15

Teaching Psychology for Sustainability: Biopsychology

Looking to incorporate environmental issues into your courses? Check out these "lecture discussion topics; class activities; multimedia resources; suggested readings for students..."

Neuroscience Online. "This online, interactive courseware for the study of neuroscience is provided by the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston."

Create your own customized view of 3-D Brain (and Body) Parts

by Jeff Stowell (jrstowell@eiu.edu)

Instructions:

Go to: http://lifesciencedb.jp/ag/index.jsp
To add a body part, just select from the body part navigation menu on the left, then select the name of the body part to add and click on the button “add.” I recommend you delete the default “bone” part by checking the box next to it and clicking on “Delete checked.”
Add whatever body parts you want, then change the color and opacity of each part, so you can highlight certain parts. You can use the “image rotation” buttons at the top right of the screen to change the viewing angle.
To save your customized body parts as an image, right-click on the body part image and select “Save image as...” (Firefox) or “Save picture as...” (Internet Explorer). The file is saved as a *.PNG image, which can be inserted into a PowerPoint presentation, or edited in many graphic software programs.
If you want to get fancy and create an animated rotation through the different angles of view, then save an image of each view (this would result in 24 different images), convert the PNG images into a GIF format (I recommend a free, image conversion program called Free Photo Converter at http://www.pixelapp.com/). Then load each of the images into the free Microsoft GIF Animator program. Help for using this program can be found at: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~bats/PDF/Students/WWW/Gifanimator.pdf
Below are several animations that you can use in your courses. They will animate when placed on a PowerPoint slide and shown in “Slideshow View.” They will also animate when displayed on a web page. Finally, if you want to change the speed of animation, you can open and edit these animated GIFs using the free Microsoft GIF Animator program, mentioned above.