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The Amazing Brain: A Neuroscience Experience

Instructor:
Dr. Ian Harrington

Dr. Ian Harrington is an associate professor of Psychology at Augustana, who received his Ph.D. in Psychology (Neurobiology and Animal Learning) from the University of Toledo.

He is co-director of Augustana’s Neuroscience Program where he teaches courses like Brain & Behavior and Sensation & Perception, and conducts research in psychophysics and cognitive neuroscience.

Course has filled.

Program dates: June 24-26, 2013

Program cost: $300

Includes lodging, all meals and any field trips. Students arrive on campus Monday, June 24, and depart Wednesday, June 26.

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Course description

In this two-day workshop students will be introduced to the organization and function of the brain, our most amazing organ! Participants will learn about the brain in the same way the neuroscientists do by asking questions, performing hands-on experiments, and drawing conclusions from their findings. Activities, including sheep brain dissection, the recording of electrical potentials from the legs of cockroaches, and the collection of biophysical signals from the human brain and body, will be supplemented by videos, short lectures, and discussions of topics that most interest the group. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a clearer understanding of the field of neuroscience and its practices.

Tentative Schedule

Monday, June 24

  • 4 p.m. — Check-in

Tuesday, June 25

  • 9 a.m. — Brain organization and basic function
  • 10:30 a.m. — Sheep brain dissection
  • Noon — Lunch
  • 1 p.m. — Introduction to neural communication
  • 1:45 p.m. — Cockroach physiology lab I 
  • 3 p.m. — Introduction to neuroprosthetics
  • 3:30 p.m. — Cockroach physiology lab II

Wednesday, June 26

  • 9 a.m. — Introduction to cognitive neuroscience
  • 10:30 a.m. — Cognitive neuroscience lab I/II (concurrent)
  • 12:15 p.m. — Lunch
  • 1:30 p.m. — Cognitive neuroscience lab I/II (concurrent)
  • 3:15 p.m. — Frontiers in neuroscience
  • 3:45 p.m. — Wrap-up discussion & campus tours w/ student assistants