Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine publishes positive review of NIA2
July 22, 2008 • Posted by Ann Stuarthttp://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2442728
NIA2 is a hit with the students in the SPINES course at the Marine Biological Laboratory
June 25, 2008 • Posted by Ann StuartThe 18 students of the Summer Program in Neuroscience, Ethics and Survival (SPINES) just finished a 6-day week of using NIA2 to solidify their understanding of basic neurophysiology. For me, one pleasure in teaching a course at the MBL is that there are no exams. Free of exam expectations, the students can learn at their own pace and thus enjoy the process. Nor are there competing pressures on the students. They do not have to "get done" so as to be somewhere else.
As we heard last year, the students said they loved learning this challenging material in NIA's hands-on manner. Even those who had backgrounds in psychology rather than cellular neuroscience appreciated the NIA learning tool and realized they could use it in the future if they had to teach this subject.
After an introduction by me using the Equilibrium Potentials tutorial, the students spent the first two days working through the Membrane and Na Action Potential tutorials. The students seemed immediately unafraid of capacitance when they realized that it may be thought of as membrane area.
They then worked through voltage and patch clamping, and then the Axons tutorials with their moving signals. Near the end of the week, students chose other tutorials that particularly interested them and presented the essence of the chosen tutorial to the rest of the class. Some students even took on the challenging Kinetics and Dynamic Threshold tutorials, became clearly excited about these advanced subjects, and then explained them clearly to their peers. Altogether the week was extremely satisfying to this NIA author as I watched students truly enjoy learning about how neurons work.
Article detailing various teaching venues for NIA is published online
May 20, 2008 • Posted by Ann StuartThe online journal Brains, Minds and Media has published my illustrated article entitled "Neurons in Action in Action." The article, based on my experience and that of many colleagues, has the following sections:
- Using Neurons in Action in lecture
- Didactic lecture: making lecture lively with movies and sound
- Interactive lecture: the educational value of suspense
- Using Neurons in Action in an undergraduate laboratory setting
- Turning students loose with NIA in a computer lab
- Using NIA in conjunction with a wet lab
- Using Neurons in Action in a graduate student course
- Using Neurons in Action for premed or medical students
I am hoping that this article will be encouraging and useful to anyone who may be intrigued by NIA but faces the usual energy barrier of introducing new technology into their teaching.
The article is published in a special issue of Brains, Minds and Media entitled Interaction Educational Media for the Neural and Cognitive Sciences:
http://www.brains-minds-media.org/archive/1433/
Article (HTML): http://www.brains-minds-media.org/archive/1401/
Article (PDF): http://www.brains-minds-media.org/archive/1401/bmm1401.pdf
Williams College Professor Discovers NIA2
May 18, 2008 • Posted by Ann StuartProfessor Steve Zottoli sent me this email about using NIA2:
I want to share the good news that I followed through on a promise to Ann. When she brought a copy of Neurons in Action to me last summer at the MBL, I promised that I would do more than look at the cover. First, I attended the session that both of you held for the MBL community on Neurons in Action. Second, after your inspiring presentation, I opened the cover and started to read but other obligations took me away from actually playing with the tutorials. Realizing that another year might go by without any follow-through on my part, I decided to use Neurons in Action as the text for my upper level Neurobiology course. This commitment forced me to actually load the CD and start my journey. What fun! In my typical fashion I did not read anything but immersed myself in the tutorials. I quickly realized that I had the power to do experiments that led to more experiments and sometimes questions that I could not easily answer. What more could an experimental scientist wish for!
The students were assigned a tutorial each week that coincided with the lecture material. As questions arose in the classroom concerning my lectures, I challenged the students to answer them by doing experiments with me on the big screen. The students were given challenge questions and were encouraged to use Neurons in Action to answer them (the equivalent of problem sets). My most memorable experience was when a student raised her hand and rather than directing a question to me she asked the question to Neurons in Action!
I wish to congratulate you both on one of the best teaching tools available for neuroscience. I also commend you for providing such an interactive tool for an affordable price. I applaud your selfless dedication to education.
Workshops on using NIA in lecture were held at SYNAPSE (Symposium for Young Neuroscientists and Professors of the Southeast) in Charleston SC
Apr. 22, 2008 • Posted by Ann StuartOn March 15, 2008, I offered workshops, attended primarily by faculty teaching undergraduates, on how to use NIA2 in teaching, especially in lecture. Much of the conversation focused on using NIA interactively by changing a parameter for a simulation and then asking the class to predict the outcome of the simulation before running it. Some of the workshop attendees teach very large lecture classes where the students are equipped with clickers; we discussed how students could then vote with the clicker for their choice of outcome. In smaller classes, more discussion of the possibilities could precede the simulation. I also called attention to the minimovies, which we designed for importing into lecture presentations when not enough time is available to run simulations. Attendees enjoyed the sound that accompanies the action potential minimovies and thought it would engage students.
Version 2.0.1 incorporates patches for Vista and Firefox
Dec. 12, 2007 • Posted by Ann StuartSinauer is currently shipping Version 2.0.1. This version incorporates an update patch that was previously required for Windows Vista users so that the NEURON simulations would run. It also allows Windows users who are already using Firefox as their browser to run NIA2 without experiencing conflicts between user and NIA2 preferences.
U. Wisconsin Professor Comments on Her Use of NIA2 in Discussions and Lecture
Nov. 17, 2007 • Posted by Ann StuartDr. Donata Oertel sent me this entry for posting on the NIA blog:
"NIA2 has revolutionized my teaching. The simulations are wonderful for giving students a chance to get involved during discussion sections; the minimovies are wonderful during lectures. They are just the right length to illustrate a point, the screens have no distractions, and they are technically foolproof. It was especially fun to ask students what they thought would happen and then use a minimovie to do the experiment. The moans from the audiomonitor made us all laugh.
"For years I struggled to teach honors undergraduate students how to think about electrical signaling; it was always a particular challenge to help students envision three dimensions when considering voltage changes in both time and place. It was then a wonderful improvement to be able to use simulations in NIA to illustrate how signals propagate. There is a lot to do and think about while giving a lecture; one has to be considering what to say, how to say it, and what to write on the blackboard. Using simulations requires additional thinking about what parameters to change in what direction... In NIA2 I have the simulations for discussions and the minimovies for lectures. What fun it was this year for all of us!"
Neurons in Action wins an award at the SfN meeting!
Nov. 12, 2007 • Posted by Ann StuartWell, actually, the Educator of the Year award was given to me by the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) at the FUN social on Monday evening (Nov 5). But, in presenting the award, Bruce Johnson, the current president of FUN, made reference to me as the author of Neurons in Action so I consider that NIA was a co-recipient. I am deeply grateful to FUN for choosing me for this year's award and am sharing the pleasure of it with John Moore, my co-author.