Modular Digital Course in Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (MDCUNE): A Website Offering Free Digital Tools for Neuroscience Educators

We are providing free digital resources for teaching neuroscience labs at http://mdcune.psych.ucla.edu/. These resources will ultimately include materials for teaching laboratories in electrophysiology of neuronal circuits (SWIMMY), a Neuroinformatics/Bioinformatics module, and two modules for investigating the effects of hormones on early CNS development—one focusing on the development of the song system and one focusing on sex differences in spinal cord motor neurons. All of these modules are inquiry based—students gain from genuine experiences in doing actual studies rather than just simulations. These materials should provide instructors the ability to provide good quality laboratory experiences regardless of resource limitations. Currently, modules on sex differences in the spinal cord and virtual neural circuits (SWIMMY) are available on our website. More will be available in summer 2009 and 2010. SWIMMY was demonstrated at the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) Workshop—The Undergraduate Neuroscience Education: Interactions, interdisciplines, and curricular best practices at Macalester College in July 2008.