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Nature of course request C02909 :

New course

Undergraduate

First term offered : Fall 2013
Course Prefix&Number	Descriptive Title	Credits/Hours
BI 437	Neurobiology	4 -

Abbreviation for Class Schedule(20 spaces) Neurophysiology

Catalog Description: This course is an introduction to fundamental concepts in neurobiology. Content includes the anatomy and physiology of neurons, the molecular basis of cell communication, and the emergent properties of nervous systems. Integrated topics include animal behavior, research methods, and drugs used in neurobiology research. Learning will take place through lectures, demonstrations, laboratory exercises, discussions of outside readings and student presentations. Prerequisites: BI 315 and CH 223.

Course Goal and Objectives: By the end of the course, students should understand the structure and function of individual neurons, how individual neurons interact, and how the interactions between neurons give rise to the emergent properties of the nervous system. The lab portion of the course will give students hands-on exposure to lecture concepts, but will also be used to demonstrate common experimental techniques in neurobiology, to teach basic statistical skills, and to allow students to practice designing experiments. Primary literature will be integrated into the course to teach students how to critically evaluate scientific research.

Justification for adding the course (e.g. alignment with other institutions, program revision, etc.): Neurobiology is an interdisciplinary subject area that connects genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, animal physiology, animal behavior, and psychology. Neurobiology is a popular field for basic science research and for research relating to human brain disorders, as demonstrated by President Obama¿s recent ¿BRAIN Initiative¿ in which he pledged $100 million dollars to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support neuroscience research. Additionally, Neurobiology is a popular subject for students in the Biology major Pre-professional emphasis and is recommended for some pre-professional programs such as the Oregon Health Sciences University Doctor of Dental Medicine degree program. Offering Neurobiology at Western Oregon will give our students to opportunity to explore a vibrant and growing field. Different versions of neurobiology are common at the undergraduate level and will bring the course offerings at Western Oregon in line with other colleges and universities in the state. For example, Eastern Oregon University offers Cellular Neurobiology, Portland State University offers Neurophysiology, and Lewis & Clark College offers Neurobiology.

Faculty and facilities needed: The facilities are already in place for the course. BI 437 was taught as a temporary course in the 2012 Spring term. Dr. Michael Baltzley taught the course in 2012 and will continue to teach the course when it is offered bi-annually.

Brief Course outline: I build the course so students first learn how individual neurons, or brain cells, send information from one end of the cell to the other. We then cover how an individual cell communicates with another cell. We add more connections between cells to explore how communication between cells changes over time and how the interactions between 2 cells are modulated due to interactions with other cells in the nervous system. Ultimately, we use the visual system to put the basic lessons about neuron communication together into a functioning system, starting with the sensory cells that detect light and ending with how light information is constructed into our visual perception of the world. I also weave primary scientific literature into the course. Early in the course, students read a classic article written in 1949 that was central to our understanding of how neurons work. I use this paper for several reasons. First, the paper allows students to read a primary research article that is accessible to them because the background knowledge necessary for understanding the paper is comparable to what students learn about neurons in BI 211: Principles of Biology and BI 315: Cell Biology. Second, the paper exposes students to how conventions in scientific literature have changed over the years while the fundamental features of scientific research and publication have been conserved. Third, it shows the students how primary literature differs from their textbook and how the information in their textbook was originally introduced to the scientific community. The students read 3 other primary literature articles. I select two of the articles to fit in with the topics covered in class. The final article is reserved for a topic selected by the students. In week 7 of the term, the students vote on the last topic we cover for the year. We have 2 lectures on the student-selected topic followed by a discussion of a relevant primary literature article. The course also has a 3 hour lab meeting once a week. The labs are designed to teach students basic principles about nervous systems, but also allow students to design experiments and test hypotheses on their own. For example, the students learn how to record from the nervous system of a cockroach in one lab, and then in the subsequent lab meeting they can test how the cockroach responds to different stimuli. The syllabus from BI 437 Neurobiology that was offered in the Spring term, 2012, as a temporary course will be submitted as supporting documentation.

Approval Queue C02909

Attached Files:

BI 437 syllabus_2012.pdf

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