Teaching and Learning Portfolio
Yelena Guller
TEACHING AND LEARNING PORTFOLIO
By
YELENA GULLER
APRIL, 2012
This portfolio submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Delta Certificate in Research, Teaching and Learning.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Table of Contents
Philosophy:
Teaching Philosophy .................................................................................. 3
Mentoring Philosophy ................................................................................. 6
Delta Pillars
Teaching as Research
Internship Project............................................................................. 8
Internship Summative Report ........................................................ 10
Internship Reflection ...................................................................... 19
Learning Communities
Mentoring Experience.................................................................... 22
Outreach Activities......................................................................... 23
Subgroup Facilitation ..................................................................... 23
Learning Through Diversity
PEOPLE program .......................................................................... 26
Technology in Teaching ................................................................ 27
Concluding Remarks........................................................................................... 30
Appendix A: Internship experimental group PBL materials ................................. 31
Appendix B: Internship control group materials …………...……………………....34
Appendix C: Internship pre-assessment ............................................................. 38
Appendix D: Internship post-assessment............................................................ 44
Appendix F: Subgroup Syllabus .......................................................................... 48
Appendix G: Effective Technology in Teaching and Learning Wiki ..................... 51
Teaching Philosophy
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The days of dry lectures, frantic note taking, and evaluation of rote memorization
skills are (or should be) over. Modern education techniques emphasize studentcentered learning, authentic teaching, and skill development with a focus on
future career needs rather than immediate information retention. Consequently,
my teaching philosophy is to provide students with an environment in which they
can learn to think critically, synthesize information and solve conceptual
problems while simultaneously developing and pursuing their own curiosities.
To better illustrate how this philosophy can be put into practice I will detail a
structure for a potential upper level neuroscience course. The aim is to combine
traditional lecture methods with modern approaches to education, thereby
exposing students to a variety of teaching and learning strategies, and providing
a comfortable environment for critical thinking and problem solving. Students will
learn material in each of three ways: lecture, inverted classroom, and problembased learning. For topics that are instrumental for the understanding of future
neuroscience concepts, material will be presented in a lecture format. For topics
that are more complex and are better learned through solving problems, the
classroom will be inverted such that students will watch pre-recorded lectures on
their own time. Class time will be used for solving problems, either individually or
with groups, and with the instructor’s assistance. Finally, for in-depth topics that
require synthesis of many concepts, a problem-based learning approach will be
used, requiring groups of students to solve large-scale problems and to teach
material to their classmates. For example, students will use real brain imaging
data to understand the role of different brain areas in perception. A practical
example of problem-based learning approaches is provided in the Teaching-asResearch internship project materials. Student evaluation will be based on
traditional exams, group projects, and oral presentations.
One method of helping students develop and pursue their own curiosities is to
give them the opportunity to educate the public on a topic of their choice.
Consequently, one component of the course will require students to choose and
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research an interesting topic that is minimally covered in class and to present
their findings either to lay community (at an informal lecture or an outreach
activity) or at a University poster session. This experience will provide students
an opportunity to participate in self-directed learning and community integration.
Throughout the semester, a running evaluation of the instructor and the course
will take place. A pre- and post- test will assess student’s gained knowledge. In
addition, an anonymous forum will be available for students to assess the course,
methods of instruction, etc. Data collected from these sources will be used to
improve future courses.
After participating in many teaching settings, I have come to appreciate and fully
embrace diversity in the classroom. Diversity itself is quite diverse, referring to
differences in learning styles, age, socioeconomic status, background, race, etc. I
have found that integrating student’s previous experiences into the presented
material encourages them to participate and creates a relative and interesting
learning environment. In addition, using teaching methods that cater to diverse
learning styles insures that students can not only have an opportunity to learn
using their own preferred method but also to explore and improve on other
learning styles. A productive, healthy environment requires that students from all
backgrounds are respected and treated equally and that students respect each
other and the instructor. Such expectations will be explicitly stated and discussed
at the beginning of the semester.
In an intellectually challenging environment that encourages students to think
critically and to escape the comfort zone of memorizing lecture material, an open
and trusting relationship between professor and student is paramount. In my
classroom I make a pact with students. If they come to class prepared, awake,
eager to discover, curious, and undaunted by hard work I promise to present
material to them that will be relevant to the real world, interesting, and rewarding
to learn. Furthermore, I promise students that I will be open to new ideas so that
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I can improve as a teacher. I promise to be available to discuss questions or
concerns that students may have and to be transparent in my expectations.
Student will be treated with respect and arrangements will be made for those with
special needs. Most importantly, I promise students that upon completion of my
course they will have gained the competence necessary to enable them to take
on challenges beyond the classroom. Hopefully, with this gain in competence will
come a gain in the confidence necessary to succeed in life.
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Mentoring Philosophy
Most people can remember a favorite teacher. Whether it was in elementary
school or college, that teacher was likely an effective instructor whose teaching
style reflected an investment and true interest in student learning and welfare. A
mentor is an individual who is not only a good teacher, but who takes upon
themselves the task of training a student for the purpose of advancing their
careers or enhancing their education, developing the student on a professional
and personal level.
From the perspective of a mentor, a mentee is an opportunity to shape and
participate in the future of their discipline. My personal goals as a mentor are to
teach the student not a variety of facts, but how to obtain answers and how to
solve problems. Such skills are applicable to every project the mentee
undertakes. To accomplish these goals and to successfully form a synergistic
relationship with a student, I have considered several factors. First, I will make
every effort to be available to meet with students. During busy times this is in the
form of scheduled meetings, during less busy times I will have an open-door
policy. I will focus my efforts on both skill development and creative thinking,
allowing students to develop and test their own hypotheses. Furthermore, I will
make a special point to discuss the prevalence of failure in science focusing on
how to make each failure a learning opportunity. Finally, I will take it upon myself
to expose the student to a network of professionals in the field and to discuss
career options with the student directing them on a path of achieving educational
and occupational goals.
My current experience as a mentee greatly influences my mentoring philosophy.
Above all, I recognize the importance of maintaining open and honest
communication between mentor and mentee. Each should feel comfortable to
discuss both positive and negative aspects of the research. Each should be open
to altering their style of teaching or learning to better accommodate the other.
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The mentor must be flexible and approachable, while mentee must be willing to
follow direction, and discuss concerns. Through this flexibility and respectful
communication each can gain from the relationship.
Mentoring is a privilege and a responsibility. The relationship between mentor
and mentee is critical to the level of productivity of the student and to their
learning experience. While the time and energy invested on both sides is
substantial, the benefits are long standing for future generations and for the
development of the discipline.
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Delta Pillar: Teaching as Research
Internship Project
When I arrived to graduate school, eager to start research in brain imaging, I was
initially caught off guard. The skills that gained me admittance to the program
were not at all the skills I needed to succeed as a graduate student. I did not
know how to ask the right research questions and I did not know how to read
primary scientific literature. Given the abundance of traditional, lecture-based,
focus-on-fact-memorization classes, how can a student be expected to learn how
to analyze, and critique primary scientific literature, how to ask interesting and
meaningful questions, and how to design experiments? These skills require
integration of information from various sources, complex reasoning, and critical
analytical skills, not to mention patience! Consequently, my internship project aim
is to use a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach to enhance scientific
comprehension in an upper level undergraduate neuroscience course.
One method of achieving this goal could be incorporating PBL into a traditionally
lecture based course. While this has been done in undergraduate biology and
physics courses, and medical schools, it is seen less frequently in cellularmolecular and almost never in systems neuroscience courses. Thus, we (my coteaching assistant and I) have designed a PBL activity for an undergraduate
systems neuroscience course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to assess
weather this style of learning can improve students’ scientific comprehension and
help students better understand how the scientific method is implemented in a
real-world environment.
We addressed the problem of the inefficacy of lecturing for teaching students
how to conceptualize and comprehend scientific literature by exposing students
to real brain imaging data, asking them questions regarding the data, and
assessing whether PBL-style versus fact-based questions better prepare a
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student to critically assess primary science articles and to conceptualize
neuroscience experiments.
Research Design: To test the hypothesis that a PBL approach to enhancing
science literature comprehension is more effective than a standard lecture
approach, students volunteering to participate in this study were randomly
divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group. The
experimental group was provided with an interactive Electroencephalography
(EEG) computer program (session 1) and a functional Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (fMRI) data set (session 2). Using guided inquiry and the provided data
students in the experimental group addressed conceptual open-ended questions
requiring integration of information across domains and imaging modalities.
These questions (Appendix A- only the fMRI PBL activity is shown as the EEG
activity was designed by the co-investigator) required students to choose which
provided and acquired information is most appropriate for answering specific
questions, to not only draw conclusions from the data but decide whether the
experimental designs were effective, to assess the assumptions required to
interpret the data, and to determine future experiments that should be conducted
to answer remaining questions.
Students in the control group also participated in two sessions. However, during
each session they received a primary literature article and answered questions
(Appendix B) regarding this article geared towards reading comprehension and
knowledge of facts. While the experimental group worked in randomly assigned
groups (learning communities) with specified group roles, the control group was
given the option of working individually or in a group. All students participated in
a pre- and post- test assessment (Appendix C-D) that included reading a primary
literature article, answering multiple choice and short response questions, and
designing an original experiment.
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The study population consists of upper-level undergraduate students likely bound
for either medical or graduate school, or other careers in the medical field.
Compensation consisted of extra credit for the course and was contingent on
completion of the study rather than performance on the assessments. We
consented approximately 185 students to participate. However, 78 students (33
in the control group and 35 in the experimental group) fully participated in the
study. This level of student participation allowed for adequate power to assess
group as well as individual differences in the analysis.
Assessment: Assessment was in the form of a post-assessment similar to the
pre-assessment (matched in question quantity and level based on Blooms
Taxonomy). Students read a primary science article and answered fact-based as
well as open-ended, critical thinking questions. In addition, students were asked
to design an experiment that addresses a specific question. Assessments were
graded based on a rubric (if the question was open-ended; multiple choice
questions were scored automatically by the software program Qualtrecs:
http://www.qualtrics.com/ ). Differences in pre- and post- test scores between
students in the experimental and control groups were analyzed.
Final Summative Report
Introduction
Seventy-eight students participated in a study that evaluated the effectiveness of
a PBL approach on student comprehension of scientific literature. All students
completed a pre-assessment, were assigned randomly to a control or
experimental group, participated in two intervention sessions (either two control
or two PBL sessions) and completed a post-assessment. There were no
differences between the control and experimental groups in terms of current
research participation, current GPA, previous SAT scores and grade in previous
upper-level neuroscience course.
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The PBL intervention consisted of: on week 1, a design, implementation, and
analysis of a virtual EEG experiment, and on week 2, an analysis of an fMRI data
set and mock outline of a scientific research paper based on that data (Appendix
A). During these two sessions control subjects read a primary literature article
and answered multiple choice and short response questions (Appendix B). The
pre- and post-assessments (Appendix C-D) required students to read a primary
research article and answer multiple choice and short response questions. A
question asking students to design an experiment was also included in both
assessments.
Results
Student performance
The control group and the PBL group performed approximately equally on both
the multiple choice and short answer portions of both the pre- and postassessment [Figures 1-2]. Qualitatively, there was more variability (as assessed
by calculating standard deviation; error bars) in the multiple choice assessment
than short answer. Multiple choice results were assessed by calculating the
percent of students who answered a question correctly. Short answer responses
were assessed based on points earned according to a rubric with each question
worth a maximum of five points. Parsing the questions into those that were of
high Blooms Taxonomy and those that were of lower Blooms taxonomy did not
alter the performance results.
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Figure 1
% students with correct
answer
Multiple Choice Answers
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Pre-assessment
Post-assessment
Figure 2
Short Answer Scores
5
average score
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Pre-assessment
Post-assessment
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In addition to multiple choice and short answer responses, the pre- and postassessment included a question asking students to design an experiment about
a given topic. This question was graded on a nine-point scale with three points
allotted for each of three sections of the response: hypothesis/questions,
methods, probably results/limitations.
On the pre- but not the pre-assessment, students in the experimental PBL group
performed significantly better than students in the control group [p<0.04, two
sample t test, Figure 3]. In fact, qualitatively, students in the control group
performed worse on the post-assessment experimental design than the preassessment, but the PBL group students performed better on the postassessment than on the pre-assessment. Within group comparisons were difficult
to calculate because several students did not complete either the pre- or postassessment due to technical difficulties with the Qualtrecs software program
(described in the “Limitations” section below).
Figure
Figure3 3
Design an Experiment
9
8
Total Points
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Post-assessment
Pre-assessment
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Students perception of PBL
Students in the experimental group were asked several questions about their
perception of the PBL activity. More than 40% agreed that the pre and postassessments were more difficult to complete than exam essay questions.
However, students also reported that they learned how to work more effectively
in a group setting, that they learned more through PBL than they would have just
reading an article, that they would choose to do PBL to learn other topics, and
that PBL gave them a better sense of how a researcher answers neuroscience
questions [Figures 4-8].
Figure 4
Learned How to Work More Effectively in
Group Setting
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Neither Agree
nor Disagree
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Agree
Strongly
Agree
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Figure 5
The Pre and Post Test Were _____ for me to
Complete Compared to Studying for Exam
Essay Questions
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Figure 6
Compared to Reading an Article
About the Topic, I Learned More
During the PBL Activity
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
TRUE
FALSE
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Figure 7
If Given the option, I Would Choose to
do a PBL Activity to Learn about a
Particular Topic
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
TRUE
FALSE
Figure 8
The PBL Activity Gave Me a Better
Sense of how a Researcher Might
Answer a Neuroscience Question
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
TRUE
FALSE
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Limitations
The incentive for students to participate in this study was two extra credit points
on an exam. Some students were motivated and completed the tasks with full
effort, but some, knowing that it was the participation and not the quality of work
that was important, were less motivated. In addition, the PBL and control session
took place on Sunday evening, a time when students are generally tired, and this
was evident in the interaction of some groups. In the PBL group, some students
were more engaged and willing to work with other students, some were less
engaged. Overall, there was a sense of trying to finish the assignment (for both
groups) as quickly as possible. This may have impacted the results. Perhaps
adding a PBL component to a class would require the assessment to hold more
value, motivating students to perform better.
We used a software program called Qualtrecs (http://www.qualtrics.com) to
distribute and anonymously collect the pre- and post-assessments. One question
on the assessments was to design your own experiment. Several students
clicked past this question to determine how many more questions would remain
to be answered. This was the end of the assessment and thus the empty
response was recorded and students could not return to answer this question.
Several other technical problems that arose included some students completing
only the pre- or post- assessment, difficulty in dividing the responses into correct
groups since all students responded to the same pre-post assessment, and
difficulty matching student numbers to student answers (precluding us from
conducting paired t test analyses).
Conclusion
We initially hypothesized that the experimental PBL group would perform better
than the control group on all aspects of the post-assessment. However, we only
found a significant difference in the design-an-experiment question. Several
reasons could explain this finding. First, the PBL activity specifically encourages
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students to act like scientists as they ask and answer questions and analyze
data. In fact, nearly all PBL participants agreed that the activity showed them
how a neuroscientist might conduct research. Perhaps the multiple choice and
short response questions did not require students to use the skills obtained
through PBL while the experiment design did. Also, students are used to reading
articles and answering questions. The post-assessment multiple choice and short
response questions, while difficult, required students to do something they were
already used to doing- reading and answering. Perhaps additional PBL-style
skills are not necessary for this type of thinking. On the other hand, students are
rarely asked to design an experiment, and the PBL activity may have helped
them conceptualize the process, from asking a question, to determining a
method, to understanding results.
To conclude, courses based on lecture could benefit from alternative exercises to
help students learn. Clearly, eliminating traditional forms of education such as
lecturing and asking questions based on scientific literature would not be
beneficial. However, adding a PBL component to a neuroscience course would
not only expose students to how scientists conduct research, but would also
better prepare them for careers in science or for consumption of scientific
literature. At the upper level, undergraduate students are preparing to attend
medical or graduate school. The skills they learn as students are often not the
ones they will need in their further endeavors. The PBL approach exposes
students to those skills and encourages them to challenge their own thinking
process.
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Reflection
Prior to my internship experience I never considered how my skills as a scientist
could apply to better understanding the teaching and learning process. Although
the final outcome of my Delta project is not yet clear, the journey of asking a
question, designing a study to answer the question, implementing the study and
analyzing the data, all in an education-based setting, has been an invaluable
experience. Although the internship projects aims to address teaching-asresearch, it truly encompasses all of the Delta Pillars. My understanding of
teaching-as-research, learning through diversity, and learning communities was
previously based on reading the definitions from the website and is now based
on experience.
It turns out that teaching can be very scientific! The goal of my internship project
was to assess the effectiveness of a PBL approach on comprehension of
scientific literature. From deciding how to recruit participants in an unbiased way,
to designing the materials for the intervention and the assessment, many
variables had to be controlled and accounted for. Specifically, the design of the
pre- and post-assessment had to be modified several times. Initially, these
materials were quite variable from one another. Through a peer review process
they were modified until both addressed our research question and both were
matched in terms of question quality and quantity. Additionally, the initial
willingness of students to participate in the study and to put forth maximum effort
was encouraging and illustrative of the fact that studies such as this can be
effective and informative. The internship project has given me the opportunity to
understand and experience the role of research in the teaching and learning
process. Admittedly, the effort waned as the semester came to an end, but this
too was an opportunity to realize that student motivation and effort is variable that
is difficult to control.
One underlying theme of the internship project was to address the idea that
students do not always learn best via lecture and structured question-answer
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assessment. In fact, when students are given the opportunity to ask and answer
their own questions, to teach each other, and to explore freely, they may gain
valuable insight and critical thinking skills. The PBL activities implemented here
were not specifically intended to provide students with an opportunity to learn
using an alternative method and to interact in a diverse environment, but that is
exactly what the activities did. Rather than lecturing about brain imaging
methods, students experienced them. Rather than passively listening to
information, students worked together to gain understanding. Different students
contributed differently to the group assignments, each providing unique insight
into the problems and drawing from personal experiences and knowledge.
Watching the groups figure out how to answer vague open-ended questions was
a clear example of how different students approach problems differently, each
adding a new perspective. The students truly learned from each other’s diversity
and in turn I learned how diversity can enrich the students’ experience.
Finally, the internship project was designed with learning communities in mind.
The PBL students were assigned groups and roles within that group. The control
students were given the option to work in groups. However, even those who
chose to work in groups did much of the work independently, or used the other
group members only to confirm answers. Conversely, the PBL groups formed
small communities. They worked together for two days and developed
relationships and roles that allowed them to maximize their experience. Working
in groups allowed ideas to flow freely and to be manipulated and adjusted as
needed. Students taught and learned from each other as they figured out the
problems they were assigned. From this internship project it became evident to
me that an exciting and stimulating process occurs when students learn in
communities, and that process should be encouraged.
Prior to the internship experience, my concept of teaching-as-research, learning
through diversity, and learning communities was vague. Although I have had
other experiences in these areas, the internship was critical in bringing these
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concepts together. I now understand the value of using research to support
teaching methods. In addition, I was able to witness the benefits of diversity of
thought and learning communities. These experiences and impressions will
certainly guide my future teaching endeavors.
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Delta Pillar: Learning Communities
Mentoring Experience
During the summer of 2010 I was asked to mentor an undergraduate summer
student. She came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison with very little
research experience but eager to learn. Upon our initial meeting, we decided on
several goals, the primary one being that she would produce some data that
could be presented at a conference poster session. Throughout the summer I
was met with several mentoring challenges, the biggest one being that I was
unsure of how to answer her many, many questions. It took nearly the entire
summer to figure out the right balance of simply giving answers, pointing her
towards appropriate resources, and asking her to search for the answer
independently. Fortunately, my mentee had a fantastic experience, produced a
poster, wrote me a kind ‘thank-you’ email, and returned the following year to work
as a research assistant.
My time as a mentor was invaluable and a welcome opportunity to give back to
the scientific learning community. When I was a first year graduate student I
would have perished without the support of a community of scientists to turn to
with questions and concerns. As a mentor I was able to understand the
importance of community from a different perspective. For example, when my
mentee came to me with a question I could not answer, I often suggested
another lab member or colleague to whom she could turn. When we discussed
her project in lab meetings she and I worked as a team to present data and
answer questions. We needed the input from this outside community to bring
perspective to the work and to introduce new ideas. Our community started out
with two members working together to promote learning and growth. We quickly
grew to include new members all working on a common goal. It may take a
village to raise a child, but it takes a learning community to raise a scientist!
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Outreach Activities
Through the Neuroscience Training Program I have been given the opportunity to
participate in nearly a dozen outreach activities. These activities involve
introducing elementary, middle and high school students to neuroscience. We
have implemented this goal by facilitating presentations about the brain, allowing
students to hold and ask questions about the human brain, conducting motor
learning experiments, and assisting in sheep brain dissections.
The excitement and curiosity that we are able to stimulate in the students (and
the teachers) reinforces the importance of bringing science to the lay community.
In small groups students are encouraged to explore and ask questions. Often, we
allow other students to answer the questions- encouraging small learning
communities to develop. After conducting many outreach activities, I now realize
that the classrooms themselves are learning communities and within them are
smaller communities of students. By bringing our experience and knowledge to
them we are integrating the scientific research community with the grade-school
student community. We reach out to the students and infuse their classrooms
with new knowledge that supports the growth of learning (for them) and supports
our own growth as teachers.
Subgroup Facilitation
One aspect of the Neuroscience Training Program at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison is that students must participate in a subgroup discussion
class each semester and three students from the subgroup must present the
topic to the program in three weekly seminars. The subgroup is focused on a ‘hot
topic’ and is typically led by a faculty member. During the fall 2012 semester a
subgroup topic was organized about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. My labmate and I were asked to assist the faculty sponsor in facilitating the subgroup.
Our responsibilities included identifying the appropriate primary literature to
discuss during the subgroups (see Appendix E for syllabus), conducting the
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discussions and preparing three students to present the material to the entire
program.
We specifically structured the subgroup in a way that would encourage learning
in a communal setting. For example, rather than sitting at desks facing the front
of the room, we insisted that students sit in a circle and face each other. We
encouraged all students, those with experience in the topic and without, those
who study neuroscience on the cellular level and those who study it on the
systems level, to participate. We asked particularly quiet students to summarize
important figures and we required everyone to provide an opinion on
controversial aspects of the topic. After the first couple of sessions, everyone
was naturally involved with the topic and wanted to participate in discussion. Our
meetings were full of energy and conversation and everyone grew as a scientist
and critical consumer of literature.
Typically, subgroups are viewed as a requirement that does not carry much
benefit. However, upon completion of the subgroup our evaluations proved
otherwise. Several students remarked that upper level graduate studentfacilitation was a huge success, that they learned the most in this subgroup than
any previous subgroup that that our model of teaching (semi-structured, but
providing ample time for discussion) was highly effective. This positive feedback
reinforced the importance of maintaining effective and interested scientific
learning communities. Importantly, our program is now considering using the
graduate-student facilitator model for all subgroups. Thus, our learning
community has created a potential foundation for institutional change.
Learning Communities Reflective Statement
Through mentoring, outreach, and subgroup facilitation I have had the
opportunity to participate and contribute to learning communities. These three
experiences have lead to my belief that at each (single-student, lay community,
and discussion group) level the most effective methods of teaching are different,
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but the goal is the same- to engage students in learning. Moreover, at every level
students and teachers can benefit from fostering a learning community.
A community can consist of just two people, as it initially did with my mentoring
experience. My mentee and I collaborated and discussed all aspects of her
project and eventually grew our community to include other lab members and
colleagues. The input from others was invaluable and brought many answers as
well as perspectives. Learning communities are also found in the lay community.
A grade-school classroom is a community, one in which the students work
together every day. We can meld our scientific community with their classroom
community to create an environment of curiosity and learning. Finally,
communities can be built. Sometimes it requires deliberate effort to construct an
environment that will promote communal learning. However, through sometimes
unpopular tactics (such as restructuring classroom seating and requiring all
students to participate) a healthy learning community can result.
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Delta Pillar: Learning through Diversity
PEOPLE Program
For two consecutive summers I was an instructor in the PEOPLE (Pre-College
Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Experience) program. This
program is attended by high-school students who come from underprivileged or
minority families, maintain an average grade point average, and are interested in
attending college. Completion of the program for four consecutive summers
guarantees them, upon admittance, a scholarship to UW-Madison. As an
instructor I was charged with developing a one-week neuroscience curriculum.
During the first summer my curriculum was based on neurological disorders. For
each day I prepared a short lecture as well as classroom activities that illustrated
lecture topic. I found it difficult to engage the students during lecture and even
more difficult to stimulate the curiosity and eagerness to ask questions. To better
prepare for the following year, I asked students to provide written evaluations of
their experience in the class.
Based on the evaluations and my own assessment of the course, for the second
summer I revamped the class. To encourage student’s attention, I introduced an
oral review of the previous days subject that consisted of questions with prizes
for correct answers. I also minimized the time spent lecturing. Students were
asked to bring in questions each day about a specific topic and the majority of
lecture was spent on answering those questions. I made a specific effort to ask
students about their personal experiences. Finally, the classroom activities were
reorganized and most involved a presentation to the entire class. This
encouraged students to produce a high-quality presentation and to fostered
teaching and collaboration skills.
The most effective strategy was utilizing the diversity of the students in class. .
For example, when discussing Alzheimer’s Disease, I asked the students to
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discuss what they knew about the illness, then I asked someone to describe
someone they knew who was afflicted. When talking about drug addiction we
tried to piece together what they knew about drug use with what scientists know
about addiction and the brain. Many students who would ordinarily shy away
from answering questions in class were eager to participate in such discussions.
Conversely, I was exposed to teaching diverse students, who, while eager to
learn, are not always straightforward to teach. By incorporating diversity via
personal history and by including more diverse teaching strategies (such as class
presentations and more discussion) I was able to include and engage more
students.
Left: Students are assigned roles
in the medical field (patient,
doctor, nurse, etc) and provided
with a clinical case. The medical
team must agree on a cause,
diagnosis and treatment plan and
present it to the class. Students
are also required to show the
location of the brain insult. They
do this using a swim cap and
markers to identify brain areas.
Effective Technology in Teaching and Learning
This semester I participated in a course that focused on using technology to
teach. Through this course I was exposed teaching methods that tailor to the
diversity of learning methods that students might have. Most importantly,
technology enables instructor’s to provide students with disabilities with a variety
of learning opportunities, to reach out to students who live in a highly technologydriven world, and to allow students to better demonstrate learning.
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My project for this class was to set up a student-generated wiki to facilitate
discussion and group-work in a large lecture-format course. This format allows
some students, who often do not participate in class discussion, to voice their
opinions. It also allows students the flexibility to work online eliminating problems
that arise with class\work schedules. The learning objectives for the wiki were: 1)
develop a virtual space that allows students to collaborate on a variety of group
projects, specifically, clinical case studies, 2) provide students with an
environment that simulates the environment they will work in as doctors or
scientists, 3) expose students to real clinical case studies and 4) allow students
to learn through student-generated content. For a template for the wiki site,
please see: www.studentgeneratedcontent.wikispaces.com. A screen shot is
provided in Appendix F.
Another aspect of the diversity evident in the course is that of diversity of
classmates. At UW-Madison, classrooms are often not diverse, however, in a
cross-institution online course, this is not the case. Students in this course came
from Howard University, Vanderbilt, and even Chile. Each had a different
perspective based on the experiences with technology at their institutions as well
as the resources their institutions could provide. For each topic the diversity of
the students was evident in the questions they asked and the experiences they
described. This aspect of the course reminded me of the importance and value of
diversity among scientific community members.
Diversity Reflective Statement
Diversity comes in many forms. It may refer to race and ethnicity or it may refer
to the different experiences that each student acquires during his/her lifetime or
to differences in learning styles. In all cases, diversity should be seen as an asset
to the classroom, an opportunity to supplement course topics with diverse
opinions and interesting interpretations. Sensitivity to student differences is also
important, and my aim is to be knowledgeable of student backgrounds so that a
welcoming and encouraging environment is created for all students.
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Students learn in diverse ways. For this reason it is important to incorporate
many different ways of learning and assessment into the classroom. Exposure to
such variety may also encourage students to become more capable of learning
using a method different from one they are accustomed to.
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Concluding Remarks
My teaching career thus far has exposed me to several scenarios that have
helped to develop my teaching and mentoring philosophies. Participation in the
Delta Certificate program has provided a framework that highlights the
importance of teaching-as-research, learning communities, and diversity in the
classroom. Consequently, my future teaching will incorporate these pillars by
conducting formal research and evaluation of the courses that I teach, creating
ample group discussion and outreach opportunities, and respecting and
incorporating diversity.
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APPENDIX A: PBL Activity- fMRI experimental group
SUBJECT ID#’s of all the students in your group:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A data set has been uncovered in Dr. Bold’s laboratory. Sparse information is
available regarding its collection and analysis (see below for said sparse
information). You are the senior scientists in the lab and have decided to try to
decipher the data and what it means, hoping to publish your findings in the near
future. Use the provided AFNI computer program (and AFNI guide), the
uncovered data set, your current knowledge and any new information you need
to acquire, to address the issues below.
Please form the same groups as assigned during the last session. However, the
previous Organizer becomes the Facilitator. The previous Recorder becomes the
Devil’s Advocate. The previous Facilitator becomes the Organizer. The previous
Devil’s Advocate becomes the Recorder.
Group Roles
• Organizer- creates strategy for project completion, insures group stays on
topic, allots necessary amount of time for each question
• Facilitator – insures everyone is heard (including his or herself!)
• Recorder - records the final answer
• Devil’s advocate – questißons the group decisions/conclusions…etc
*a presenter (not the same person as last week) will be randomly chosen
from your group to discuss some of the questions below
1. What possible research questions and hypotheses were the scientists
trying to address when they designed the study and collected these data?
2. Identify three possible results/conclusions from the data and critically
assess each one (ie. What leads you to each result/conclusion? What
data suggests it may be INcorrect?).
3. Describe 3 limitations of the imaging modality/method used to collect the
data. Are these limitations evident in the data? If so, ho might the
limitations affect the interpretability of the uncovered data set.
4. Combining points 1-3 above, and any additional information you think is
important (such as, but not limited to assessing additional variables and
creating additional figures, tables, etc) produce an outline for a scientific
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article, including all sections typically found in primary scientific literature.
(Figures can be sketched out and/or described in words).
5. What additional information would you like to have received that would
have made your conclusions stronger or more interesting?
6. What additional questions arise from these data and your conclusions?
How could these questions be tested?
7. Identify an alternate imaging modality that could be used to either answer
questions this data could not answer or could answer the same questions
more successfully. Which imaging modality (the one with which the data
was actually collected or the alternate one you come up with) is better
suited for answering the questions that led to this study. Why?
Uncovered Data Set Information
Participants
12 Healthy Subjects
Methods
Subjects placed in an fMRI scanner were shown stimuli consisting of
photographs of famous faces. Subjects were instructed to press a button if they
recognized the face. Presentation of face stimuli was interleaved with blocks of
resting. Uncovered data is activation during stimulus presentation (famous + nonfamous faces) minus activation during rest. fMRI data has been normalized to a
standard brain template. A template structural image is also provided.
Subject #
S001
S002
S003
S004
S005
S006
S007
S008
S009
S010
S011
S012
Age
39
24
28
30
30
28
50
31
31
46
43
33
32
Sex
M
F
F
F
M
F
M
F
F
M
F
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Brief AFNI GUI Guide
8
7
4
9
41
2
3
6
5
1. Image button: opens/closes the image of the stated slice view
2. Provides a list of possible files to open. Click on the one you would like to
make the underlay.
3. Provides a list of possible files to open. Click on the one you would like to
make the overlay.
4. Slider that thresholds the values (positive and negative) of the overlay.
(ie: the overlay will only display voxels that are have a value of greater
than .5 or less than -.5)
5. Toggle switch that, when checked, allows for viewing only positive values
on the overlay.
6. The value at crosshair of the underlay (ULay) and overlay (OLay).
7. Turns overlay on/off
8. Opens/closes window with overlay options
9. Color scale for overlay (ie: overlay values closer to 1.0 will be red; those
closer to -1 will be…you guessed it…blue!)
Further AFNI questions? Go to: http://afni.nimh.nih.gov/
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APPENDIX B- PBL Activity Control group
The Fusiform Face Area: A Module in Human Extrastriate Cortex Specialized for
Face Perception
Kaniwasher N., McDermott, J., and Chun, M.M. J Neuroscience 1997
Based on the article by Kaniwasher, N. et al., answer the following questions:
1. What was the objective of this study?
2. What were the results of the study? Was the hypothesis confirmed or
rejected?
3. The author’s state: “We therefore conclude that area FF responds to faces
in general rather than to some particular low-level feature that happens to
be present in all the face but not nonface stimuli that have been present
so far”. Provide evidence to support this suggestion. What kind of result
would have refuted this statement?
4. How could EEG data help to strengthen the main point of this article?
5. How could an animal study help strengthen the main point of this article?
6. fMRI can most accurately be described as a measure of:
a. synaptic integration
b. neuronal firing
c. blood flow
d. glucose consumption
e. hydrogen spin interactions
7. The stimuli used in this study were designed to do which of the following?
a. rule out the possibility that the FF area’s response to faces is
modulated by attention
b. identify which brain areas respond to faces more than places and
objects
c. rule out the possibility that the FF area has a wide range of
functions
d. identify the brain area that is involved in responding to face stimuli
8. Why do you think the authors chose to do a single-subject analysis rather
than a group-level analysis?
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a. Brain shape and size differs, so averaging the data would not make
sense.
b. A group-level statistical map would not reveal whether the effect
was driven by one subject’s data.
c. The brain’s response to face stimuli is so spatially variable across
subjects that averaging the data may have revealed no effect of the
stimulus.
d. a and b
e. a and c
f. b and c
9. Which of the following statements is least likely to be followed by a
citation of the Kaniwasher article?
a. When viewing faces, most subjects consistently use the fusiform
gyrus more than the collateral sulcus.
b. An individual who has trouble identifying faces may still have an
intact fusiform gyrus.
c. The FF area’s preferential response to faces is not due to its
underlying role in visual attention.
d. The FF area will not likely be activated by images of the back of a
human head.
e. The FF area will likely be activated by a movie of a moving face.
10. Which of the following stimuli would add the least amount of new
information to what is known about the FF area?
a. pictures of feet
b. pictures of faces of different races
c. movies of moving faces
d. pictures of animal faces
e. Pictures of half of a face
11. Why was it necessary to conduct Parts II and III of the investigation?
a. Results from Part I have already been demonstrated in several
studies.
b. Scientific journals do not accept papers that are too short.
c. To identify which brain area responds to the face, which brain areas
do not respond to the face, and which brain areas respond to other
stimuli such as houses and other objects.
d. To show that the fusiform face area was specifically responding to
faces, not to properties of faces that are also properties of other
stimuli.
12. What is the most practical next step the authors should pursue to support
their findings?
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a. Perform lesion studies on mice to determine if the fusiform face
area is also selective for faces in non-human animals.
b. Replicate the study with more subjects.
c. Replicate the study using a stronger MRI scanner.
d. Replicate the study with the same participants and equipment.
e. Perform a similar study in patients who have prosopagnosia.
13. Defend the answer you provided in question 13 (3-4 sentences).
14. What is the difference between the percent signal change plot in figure 1
and those in figures 3-4?
a. Figure 1 shows the percent signal change for faces and objects
while figures 3-4 show percent signal change for faces and places.
b. Figure 1 shows percent signal change for 1 subject while figures 34 show percent signal change in several subjects combined.
c. Figure 1 is the result of a block designed experiment where faces
are shown continuously for 30 seconds at a time while figure 3-4
are the result of an event-related design where faces are shown
one at a time, randomly and interspersed with periods of rest.
d. The experiment that produced Figure 1 had longer periods of rest
between stimuli than the experiment that produced figures 3-4.
15. True/False. If patient H.M. participated in this study, he might perform
poorly in the 1-N-back task, but would likely have the same FF area
activation as other subjects.
16. You want to determine what brain area responds to faces first- the visual
cortex or the fusiform area. Could you use EEG for this purpose?
Why/why not?
17. Was fMRI data collected from the whole brain? What evidence is there for
your answer? What could be the consequences of whole brain vs. partial
brain data collection.
18. Would you expect activation in the visual cortex? Why?
19. Do the fMRI figures show visual cortex activation? Why?
20. What do the time courses in figure 3 represent?
a. Averaged response from an anatomically defined fusiform gyrus
ROI.
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b. Response from a spherical ROI centered on the voxel most
activated by viewing faces in Part I.
c. Averaged response in a functionally defined ROI based on data from
Part I
d. Response from an ROI drawn based on the activations derived
from Part II.
e. None of the above
21. If this study were really an experiment about the brain areas involved in
object recognition, what brain area would you expect to be most
activated?
a. Fusiform gyrus
b. DLPFC
c. MT/V5
d. IT
e. VMPFC
APPENDIX C PRE-ASSESSMENT (ALL GROUPS)
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Administered anonymously through Qualtrics Survey Software
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APPENDIX D PRE-ASSESSMENT (ALL GROUPS)
Administered anonymously through Qualtrics Survey Software
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APPENDIX E: SUBGROUP SYLLABUS
Neuroscience Training Program 900-Seminar
Spring 2012 Subgroup # 1 "Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation"
Faculty coordinator: Brad Postle
Meeting Dates: February 8-March 19
Meeting Times: Wednesdays 8-10am and Fridays 4-5:30pm
Meeting Location: MSC Room 281 except Friday February 24-Bardeen 341
*
*
*
So, my two trusty students, Ellen & Bornali, are riding shotgun w/ me on this, and
we decided that an initial partition of the topic into thirds might look like what
appears below. Please come to our first meeting having read the Walsh &
Rushworth, Walsh & Pascual-Leone, Esser et al., and Wagner et al. papers, and
we’ll try to get through much of those when we first meet next Wednesday (Feb
8), finishing them plus the Rossi et al. paper on Friday (Feb 10).
Principles: We will cover the physics, biophysics, systems-level physiology, and
safety issues regarding TMS. corresponding seminar presentation date:
March 5
Walsh & Rushworth (1999). A primer of magnetic stimulation as a tool for
neuropsychology. Neuropsychologia, 37, 125-135.
Excerpt from Walsh & Pascual-Leone (2003) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation:
A Neurochronometrics of Mind. MIT Press. (file is called “Walsh&PLexcerpts2003.pdf”)
Esser et al. (2009). Modeling the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on
cortical circuits. Journal of Neurophysiology, 94, 622-639.
Wagner et al. (2009). Biophysical foundations underlying TMS: Setting the stage
for an effective use of neurostimulation in the cognitive neurosciences.
Cortex, 45, 1025-1034.
Rossi et al. (2009). Safety, ethical considerations, and application guidelines for
the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation in clinical practice and
research. Clinical Neurophysiology, 2008-2039.
Basic science applications: We will cover papers discussing a number of
different uses for TMS in the context of basic sciences. These include using TMS
to create a virtual lesion and study corresponding behavioral deficits; using singlepulse TMS via a “perturb-and-record” method to stimulate the brain under different
conditions and discern brain function; and finally, using repetitive TMS to entrain
underlying brain oscillations to bias behavior. Meeting Dates: Wednesday,
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February 15th and Friday, February 17th; corresponding seminar presentation
date: March 12
Pascual-Leone, A. and V. Walsh, Fast backprojections from the motion to the
primary visual area necessary for visual awareness. Science, 2001. 292(5516):
p. 510-2.
Silvanto, J., et al., Striate cortex (V1) activity gates awareness of motion. Nat
Neurosci, 2005. 8(2): p. 143-4.
Romei, V., et al., Spontaneous fluctuations in posterior alpha-band EEG activity
reflect variability in excitability of human visual areas. Cereb Cortex, 2008.
18(9): p. 2010-8.
Feredoes, E., et al., The Neural Bases of the Short-Term Storage of Verbal
Information Are Anatomically Vairable across Individuals. J Neurosci,
2007 27(41)
Hamidi, M., et al., Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation affects behavior
by biasing endogenous cortical oscillations. Frontiers in Integrative
Neuroscience, 2009. 3(14).
Massimini, M., et al., Breakdown of cortical effective connectivity during sleep.
Science, 2005. 309(5744): p. 2228-32.
Rosanova, M., et al., Natural frequencies of human corticothalamic circuits. J
Neurosci, 2009. 29(24): p. 7679-85.
Thut, G., et al., Rhythmic TMS causes local entrainment of natural oscillatory
signatures. Curr Biol, 2011. 21(14): p. 1176-85.
Clinical applications: We will talk about using TMS as a diagnostic tool for
disorders of consciousness and mental disorders, specifically schizophrenia. We
will also discuss use of TMS in disease treatment, specifically depression and
schizophrenia. Meeting Dates: Wednesday, February 22nd and Friday,
February 24th (reminder, we will be in Bardeen 341 on the 24th);
corresponding seminar presentation date: March 19
Ferrarelli, F., et al., Reduced evoked gamma oscillations in the frontal cortex in
schizophrenia patients: a TMS/EEG study. Am J Psychiatry, 2008. 165(8): p.
996-1005.
Rosanova, M., et al., Recovery of cortical effective connectivity and recovery of
consciousness in vegetative patients. Brain, 2012.
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George ., et al. Daily left prefrontal transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy for
major depressive disorder: A sham-controlled randomized trial. Archiv
Gen Pscyh 2010
Hoffman R.E, et al Temporoparietal transcranial magnetic stimulation for auditory
hallucinations: Safety, efficacy and moderators in a fifty patient sample
2005. Biol. Psych
Wasserman, E.M. and Zimmermann T. Transcranial magnetic brain stimulation:
Therapeutic promises and scientific gaps 2012. Pharm & Therap ---Review--Guller, Y. et al. Probing thalamic integrity in schizophrenia using concurrent
transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional magnetic resonance
imaging. 2012 In press. Archives Gen Psychiatry
The remaining weeks we will practice the seminar talks and catch up on
missed papers.
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APPENDIX F: EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING AND LEARNING
WIKI WEBSITE SCREEN CAPTURE
APPENDIX F: EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING AND LEARNING
WIKI WEBSITE SCREEN CAPTURE
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THE END
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