Teaching Biological Psychology: A Spoonful of Sugar

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Teaching Biological Psychology A Spoonful of
Sugar.

• Laura Freberg
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis
  Obispo

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What is the problem?

• Biological Psychology may be perceived as too
  hard by many students.
• Questionable preparation in science
• Phobias for math and science
• Biological Psychology may seem disconnected from
  other material in the psychology major.
• To know psychology, therefore, is absolutely no
  guarantee that we shall be good teachers.
  William James

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What are the solutions?

• We do not need to or want to dummy down our
  content.
• Many faculty do not see themselves as
  entertainers.
• So, how do we engage students?

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Use Examples!

• Examples anchor concepts to students existing
  databases, enhancing retention.
• Examples remind students of how much they already
  know, building confidence.
• Examples are fun, building motivation.
• Example isn't another way to teach, it is the
  only way to teach. --Albert Einstein

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Einstein Practiced What He Preached

• You see, wire telegraph is a kind of very long
  cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head
  is meowing in Los Angeles.And radio operates
  exactly the same way you send signals here, they
  receive them there.
• The only difference is that there is no cat.
• When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it
  seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot
  stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours.
• Thats relativity.

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Example 1

• Does catharsis really happen?

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The Dry Stuff

• Freud, Lorenz, and others believed that
  unexpressed emotions built up in a reservoir.
• Expressing the emotion reduces the feeling.
• Contrasting views Izard, Ekman.

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The Memorable Stuff

• The traditional Maori haka prepares warriors
  for battle.
• The New Zealand national rugby team, the All
  Blacks, prepare for competition with a haka
  (which also seems to intimidate the English side!)

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Example 2

• What are the biological and cultural
  contributions to disordered eating?

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The Dry Stuff

• Twin studies suggest a genetic vulnerability to
  eating disorders (Hsu, Chesler, Santhouse,
  1990).
• Once established, eating disorders may be
  maintained by biological factors, such as
  elevated CART (Stanley et al., 2003).
• Media and other cultural influences also
  participate in the development of eating
  disorders.

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The Memorable Stuff

• Prior to the introduction of American TV programs
  in 1996, Fijians preferred a well-muscled,
  robust body.
• Following exposure to American programming,
  eating disorders quickly reached American levels
  (Becker et al., 2002).

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Example 3

• Which ions participate in the generation and
  propagation of
• action potentials?

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The Dry Stuff

• Diffusion, electrical force, and the selective
  permeability of the neural membrane influence the
  relative concentrations of ions in the
  intracellular and extracellular fluids.
• The movement of sodium ions into the neuron is
  especially critical to electrical signaling.

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The Memorable Stuff

• Tetrodotoxin (produced by puffer fish) blocks
  voltage-dependent sodium channels in the neural
  membrane.
• Several hundred people are poisoned each year by
  eating puffer fish sushi (fugu).
• I want to eat fugu, but I dont want to die.
  Japanese folk song

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Example 4

• Why do we need inhibition?

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The Dry Stuff

• the amount of neural inhibition to which the
  cortex is subjected may play a major role in
  human intelligence. Kircher Glendenning, 2002
• Inhibition is essential to fine sensory
  discrimination and control of fine motor
  movements.

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The Memorable Stuff

• Tetanospasmin, which cant cross the blood-brain
  barrier, hitchhikes from a wound to the spinal
  cord, where it attacks inhibitory neurons.
• Extreme muscle spasms (lockjaw) result due to
  loss of inhibitory input.
• This example also works in discussions of
  retrograde transport.

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Example 5

• What is the effect of age on recovery from brain
  damage?

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The Dry Stuff

• The assumption that young brains reorganize more
  effectively than adult brains was articulated by
  Margaret Kennard (1936, 1942).
• Subsequent research shows that some cognitive
  functions (e.g. language) show this effect more
  than others (e.g. spatial processing).

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The Memorable Stuff

• Hemispherectomy is a common treatment for
  Rasmussens syndrome.
• This 7-year-old had her right hemisphere removed
  at age 3.
• She retains her bilingual abilities, and has only
  slight motor problems on her left side.

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Example 6

• How does the body maintain
• fluid levels?

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The Dry Stuff

• Sodium is essential to the maintenance of
  extracellular fluid levels.
• When sodium levels are low, water moves into
  cells.
• With too much sodium, water release from the
  cells into the blood may contribute to high blood
  pressure.

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The Memorable Stuff

• During endurance activities, low sodium and low
  fluid levels may coexist, leading to
  hyponatremia.
• Low volume promotes ADH release, leading to water
  retention.
• Low sodium leads to movement of water into cells.
• Resulting hypovolemic thirst leads athlete to
  overdrink.
• Hyponatremia may be prevented by adequate sodium
  intake.

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Example 7

• How do organisms maintain body temperature?

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The Dry Stuff

• Heat loss is a function of the bodys surface
  area.
• Heat generation is a function of the bodys
  volume.
• Heat loss occurs as a function of
  surface-to-volume ratio, so smaller animals work
  harder to maintain core temperature.
• Some sample surface-to-volume ratios
• Rat 1 6.67
• Human 1 35.3
• Elephant 1 150

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The Memorable Stuff

• Heat stroke is the second leading cause of death
  among athletes, following head and spinal cord
  injuries.
• At 64, 335 lbs., Vikings lineman Corey Stringer
  could not deal with heat, humidity, heavy
  exercise, layers of clothing, and lack of water.

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Example 8

• How do biological and environmental factors
  interact in the development of gender identity?

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The Dry Stuff

• The topic of sex is never boring for
  students.but we can make it better.

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The Memorable Stuff

• David Reimer (John/Joan)
• Guevedoces or 5-alpha-reductase deficiency
  (Imperato-McGinley et al., 1979)

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Example 9

• Why do we electrically
• stimulate the brain?

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The Dry Stuff

• The topic of research methods is ALWAYS
  potentially dry.

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The Memorable Stuff

• José Delgado and his fighting bulls.
• Ratbots
• This is also a good time to introduce ethics of
  animal research.

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Example 10

• How do some infections circumvent the formidable
  protections enjoyed by the nervous system?

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The Dry Stuff

• The brain enjoys the protection of the
  blood-brain barrier, but certain infectious
  agents do manage to invade it anyway.
• We promised you brainworms, so here they are!

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The Fun Stuff

• The route to our current understanding of TSEs,
  including mad cow, reads like a good mystery
  novel.
• Neurocysticercosis (brainworms) is guaranteed to
  get your students attention.

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What makes a good example?

• The 3 Fs (with apologies to Frank Lloyd Wright)
• Form Good examples have visual impact.
• Function Good examples promote controversy and
  discussion, yet relate directly to the
  curriculum.
• Fun Good examples are novel and engaging.
  Students report discussing these issues with
  friends and family.

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Where can we find good examples?

• You have to become a generalist.
• Read sources from fields outside of psychology.
  Think about how a psychologist would explain a
  phenomenon.
• Scan the daily news, such as Yahoos Most
  Popular.
• Listen to your students. Learn about their
  interests.

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Next Steps If you like examples, youll love
Problem-Based Learning

• PBL cases are scenarios that are relevant, but
  just outside the learners experience (Neild,
  2004).
• Groups discuss the case and decide
• What is and is not understood
• Who will learn what is needed to solve the case
• How to share and compare what has been learned
• How to present what has been learned

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Stages of a PBL Case

• Brainstorm hypotheses
• Evaluate data included in problem
• Identify additional data needed to solve the
  problem
• Actions required to complete the problem
• Evaluationhas the problem been solved or are
  additional steps needed?

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Examples of PBL Casesfrom the University of
Buffalo

• The Mozart Effect A Psychological Research
  Methods Case
• A Case Study of Memory Loss in Mice
• A Search for the Right Answer Fetal Tissue
  Research and Parkinsons Disease
• Selecting the Perfect Baby The Ethics of Embryo
  Design

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Additional information is posted on
www.laurafreberg.com

• This PowerPoint
• Additional resources for PBL
• A biological psychology discussion board.
  Students are posting and responding to current
  events. You and your students are welcome to join
  in or lurk.
• Email me laura_at_laurafreberg.com

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Thank you for your time and attention!