Author(s):
Title
Toward an online platform for learning neuroanatomy from neural connectivity
Need
The increasing number of undergraduates in neuroscience courses has created a need for better access to foundational neuroanatomy. Unfortunately, many students view neuroanatomy as difficult, tedious, and only indirectly relevant. They tend to lose interest and to forget the material once the course is over. Meanwhile, large-scale initiatives like the Human Connectome Project are leading to a paradigm shift in neuroscience research. With the advent of new tools such as fMRI functional connectivity and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), researchers can now map functional and structural relationships, and focus on exploring the connections among different brain structures. However, teaching methods for undergraduate neuroanatomy have not kept up with these advances. Functions attributed to different brain regions are still being taught in isolation or in categories unrelated to their connectivity.
Guiding Question
This project combines Neuroscience, Psychology, and Computer Science to create a web-based platform for learning neuroanatomy. The guiding hypothesis is that neural connectivity can associate brain structures with one another and with meaningful functions. This approach will integrate neuroanatomy with functional systems, making the material easier for students to comprehend, learn, and retain. To test this approach, we revised and expanded an interactive graphical software system called Show Me the Brain!! (SMtB) to include comprehensive 3D models of DTI-based white-matter fiber tracts that help to visualize neural connections. We assess the educational benefits of connected neuroanatomy instruction through classroom-based experiments in which SMtB is used simultaneously for student learning and data collection. These experiments follow a highly controlled classroom-based protocol to evaluate the retention, transfer, and critical-thinking effects of connectivity-based training for undergraduates.
Outcomes
The SMtB educational platform will be open-source and easily accessible to all students, instructors, and other users. We are building a community for continuous feedback, improvement, and platform extension. Additionally, we are creating 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 white-matter tracts will be automatically suggested to organize them into functional networks. Suggested networks will be based on an open wiki-based database in which networks of brain areas are linked by white-matter pathways and empirically reported functions and applications. Students and instructors can load customized training protocols directly from Build-A-Brain into SMtB, and we will release chapter-by-chapter structure sets to serve as multimedia companions to current neuroscience textbooks.
Broader Impacts
The project can potentially impact neuroscience education globally and has already significantly impacted STEM undergraduates at two institutions. Undergraduates are combining creative ideas with computer programming to enhance neuroanatomy instruction through SMtB. This includes enrollment in Independent Study and Bachelor’s Essay courses in Psychology, Biology, and Computer Science. Larger courses organized around the project include Research Methods in Psychology, Systems and Integrative Neuroscience in Biology, and a soon-to-be-offered capstone project in Computer Science. SMtB will help align neuroanatomy education with the current paradigm shift in neuroscience research, providing students with free access to more engaging and relevant perspectives on neuroanatomy and offering instructors innovative teaching tools.
Coauthors
Anthony Bishara, College of Charleston, Charlseton, SC; Ellie Lovellette, College of Charleston, Charlseton, SC; John Pani, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
