NSF Award
9950735
The purpose of this project is to develop an integrated undergraduate laboratory experience in the field of neurobiology, utilizing careful, systematic observation of rat behavior. The experience will be integrated as a vital component in the conceptual development of our students as scientists. While the course will be able to stand on its own as an upper-level laboratory science elective, students will be encouraged to use the course as a bridge between the foundation (200-level) anatomy and physiology courses and independent research projects and collaborative empirical research-based senior theses. The focus of the guided laboratory work in the neurobiology course will be to design and complete an experiment examining the factors involved in altering rat exploratory behavior. Our goal is to provide a laboratory that will challenge students to "think as a scientist, rather than a technician," by involving the student in a research group that will be required to conduct a literature search, produce a hypothesis, develop an research plan, become proficient with experimental techniques, run a series of experiments, collect and analyze data, and write up a professional style journal report. Once obtained, these analytical skills can be applied throughout the students professional and personal fife. Audiences targeted by this program include women, who comprise 75% of our student population, and biology, psychobiology, and pre-professional majors. The impact of this project will be analyzed by student surveys, course evaluations, career choices, and employer evaluation. It is expected that the laboratory activities developed in this program will be made available to other undergraduate neurobiology programs (through the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience group of the Society for Neuroscience) and published in journals. The experimental results will be presented at local and national scientific meetings, and submitted to peer-reviewed journals.
