Have you ever wondered what lies within your brain, allowing you to run, jump, eat, and talk? Every second, billions upon trillions of neurons are sending messages around your body. For those ambitious students looking to take a dive into the science behind your brain, the Applied Neuroscience Course may be the perfect fit. With course selections just around the corner, it is important to start thinking about what electives might interest you.
The Applied Neuroscience Course is a full-year class that can be taken at both the CP and Honors levels. Available to rising Juniors and Seniors, completion of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics (Physics can be taken concurrently) is required for enrollment into this class. Dr. Geyer, the creator and teacher of the course, designed it “after a college science lab” to give students a taste of what it would be like to explore and learn at a higher level. The course is focused on studying the mechanisms behind cognitive and physiological processes such as language, perception, movement, and emotion. Throughout the course, students are expected to create research questions, design and carry out experiments, analyze results, and report their findings.
“From pretty much the first time I met Dr. Geyer, she talked about wanting to do something in her field,” says Ms. Ritchie, head of the WHS science department. A retirement within the department opened up a space for a new elective course, and Ritchie immediately thought of Dr. Geyer. Dr. Geyer has always held a deep passion for her own field, and nothing makes a class more meaningful than a teacher who is truly invested in the field of study. “As you get into this profession, you might teach the same course year after year. Finding that renewal, that opportunity to refresh and be inspired by your students is just going to naturally be there in some courses versus others,” says Ritchie.
The Applied Neuroscience course is an opportunity that is not available to many students. “Here at WHS, we are very lucky to have received multiple grants that allowed us to purchase very expensive equipment that typically would only be found in a college laboratory,” emphasizes Dr. Geyer. This course could never have come to life without the help of generous donations, and Ritchie adds, “I’d love to acknowledge WFEE (Winchester Foundation for Educational Excellence) for their continued support in the materials that we need to make this course move forward.”
The sensor technology that is accessible to WHS students allows students to get a taste of what work at a college laboratory will look like. Especially for high school students, finding a major and field of study they wish to pursue in higher education can be difficult. Many “high school students don’t know exactly what they want to do, which is perfectly appropriate,” states Dr. Geyer. “Having this opportunity that most high school students don’t have, to have hands-on experience in a class… they will truly come out knowing that this is something that [they] truly enjoy, or no [they will realize] ‘I don’t like working with human subjects.’”
Not only does this course make higher technology available, but it also introduces a more student-led approach to the curriculum. In most classrooms, teachers are expected to present the information to students in the form of presentations or lectures with labs throughout the course. However, Dr. Geyer created this class with the idea that students will “take ownership of their learning by deciding what topics they want to explore, how to explore them, and what the product of that exploration would be.” While traditional classroom settings have their benefits, for example, a structured and clear environment, it does not allow students to truly participate in a way that interests them. Through the creation of this course, Dr. Geyer wanted the teacher to take a more supportive role by “providing help and guidance when needed.”
However, while student-led learning has many benefits, there are many challenges that come with designing a “student-driven” course. Many students are not used to taking the initiative with their own learning; instead, students have conformed to passive learning, memorizing facts and statistics in order to achieve a good grade. When asked to explore their own scientific questions, many students are at a loss for where to start. Dr. Geyer reiterates that “there’s not a lot of confidence because [there’s] not a lot of practice with this [type of learning].” Alongside the competitive atmosphere at WHS, there is an intense pressure to get it “right” over enjoying the learning experience. Dr. Geyer realizes that “it takes a while for them to get comfortable with ‘oh, okay I can try, I can make mistakes, I learn from them [and] try again.'”
Having students adapt to this new method that prioritizes active learning can be beneficial to their learning habits but also hard to adapt to. Dr. Geyer attempts to mitigate this challenge by teaching the class in a more traditional manner at first, but “over time, turn[ing] over the reins of the class to students.” Dr. Geyer adds, “My hope is that, in addition to learning about neuroscience, my students will develop greater confidence in themselves, improve their communication and collaboration skills, become comfortable using neural and physiological sensors as well as data processing software, improve their technical writing skills, and increase their motivation for scientific exploration.”
Beyond gaining experience with higher technology, students also have the unique opportunity to have their work published in a scientific journal. Last year, two students’ research was approved for publication in the Journal of Emerging Investigators. This scientific journal was put together by Harvard Graduate students for the purpose of teaching middle and high school students about the publishing process. It requires students to submit manuscripts through a process akin to what real-life research goes through. “The students learned a great deal about what it takes to design and conduct publishable research,” highlights Dr. Geyer, “which included getting formal approvals, recruiting participants, obtaining consent forms, gathering and storing experimental data in a way that does not violate subject privacy laws, etc.”
For this proposal, an ad-hoc committee that included the assistant principal, school psychologist, science department director, and a college professor/research scientist was created to sign off on their methods. “There are international protocols and national protocols that student organizations follow,” says Ms. Ritchie, “they want professionals to have looked at the protocol to make sure that it is safe.” This course leads students through a simulation of what working as a scientific researcher would entail - including technical writing and paperwork that goes into proposals. “[The students] learned that side of things, people don’t realize you can’t just run experiments; you have to get them approved,” says Dr. Geyer.
“Ultimately, science is the process of knowing the world around us,” underscores Ritchie. “If we can instill, inspire, students with that desire to follow their own curiosity, we can also give [them] the skills to follow their own questions.” So if you are a curious STEM student looking to further your scientific knowledge or are simply looking for a challenge, be on the lookout for more information regarding Dr. Geyer’s course on Applied Neuroscience for the 2024-25 school year!
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