In association with the undergraduate Neurobiology Major and graduate student volunteers from the Neurobiology & Behavior Program at the University of Washington, we have developed a single neuron recording exercise using cockroach mechanoreceptors that can be adapated for students at a wide variety of levels of experience. Groups of students come into the neurobiology teaching laboratory and make extracellular recordings from single mechanosensory neurons using research-grade equipment and computer-based data acquisition systems. In the exercise, students can study properties as simple as f requency coding of stimulus intensity or as sophisticated as phase-locking of neuronal responses to sinusoidal stimuli, depending on the level of the students and the time available for the exercise. We have carried out this exercise with students ranging from 5th to 12th grade, in as little as 2 hours for a simple version of the laboratory or for a full day or more for more advanced students who want to have lecture and discussion time as well as the hands-on laboratory.

If you are a teacher in the Seattle area and wish to discuss whether this kind of activity would be appropriate for your students, please contact Professor Moody. The laboratory in which this exercise occurs is available only in the Summer and Fall quarters (approximately July through December. 

I am also happy to visit local schools to talk about the brain and careers as a scientist/educator. Feel free to contact me at profbill@u.washington.edu.