An Online Platform for Learning Neuroanatomy from Neural Connectivity

College Of Charleston, Charleston SC

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing and testing a web-based platform for neuroanatomy instruction based on neural connections. Understanding functional neuroanatomy is foundational to the rising number of undergraduates enrolled in neuroscience courses. At the same time, new techniques for brain imaging are leading to a paradigm shift in neuroscience research from focusing on individual brain structures to investigating neural networks and connections. This Engaged Student Learning Level 1 project will facilitate a revision in undergraduate neuroanatomy education to parallel the current paradigm shift in neuroscience research. An interactive 3D viewer will help students visualize and understand functional and structural relationships among brain areas, and psychologically validated training programs will serve as multimedia companions to current neuroscience textbooks. By using neural connectivity to associate brain structures with one another and meaningful functions, this project will provide undergraduates with a foundational resource and a functionally relevant perspective on neuroanatomy that better prepares them for a changing workplace in medicine and research shaped by quickly advancing technology. This project aims to develop and test a web-based platform that uses neural connectivity data to improve student learning of neuroanatomy. Aim 1 (Develop Technology) will include three components. Development 1 will revise and expand an interactive graphical software system called Show Me the Brain!! (SMtB) to include comprehensive 3D models of white-matter fiber tracts that visualize neural connections. Diffusion-weighted (DTI) images and neuronal tracing data will be used to generate 3D models of white-matter pathways that fully integrate with anatomical models based on cryosections and high-resolution structural MRI. Development 2 will create and test an extension to SMtB called Build-A-Brain for configuring connectivity networks. By interacting with Build-A-Brain, students will choose the brain areas they want to learn and will be automatically directed to white-matter tracts to organize them into functional networks. Suggested networks will be based on a database of brain networks in which permuted collections of brain areas are linked by white-matter pathways and empirically reported functions and applications. Development 3 will build an open-source community for continuous feedback and improvement of SMtB, Build-A-Brain, and future platform extensions. Aim 2 (Evaluate Learning) will include a series of four semester-long experiments in which SMtB and Build-A-Brain will be used simultaneously for student learning and data collection. These experiments will follow an existing highly controlled classroom-based protocol to evaluate the retention, transfer, and critical-thinking effects of connectivity-based training for undergraduates. Empirical findings from these experiments will inform and improve the SMtB and Build-A-Brain platforms. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.