Development of an Introductory Neuroscience Teaching Experience for Undergraduates with a Low-Cost Neuroscience Summer Academy

Abstract

Undergraduate students studying neuroscience have limited opportunities to develop and apply teaching skills before joining a graduate program. Once in a graduate program, students in neuroscience programs are often hired as teaching assistants, adjuncts, or instructors of record. We propose that a low-cost, mentored, short-term summer neuroscience brain academy with high school student participants provides undergraduate students with critical introductory neuroscience teaching experience. Additionally, the experience serves as a service-learning opportunity for faculty and student personnel in a neuroscience laboratory. In this specific program, undergraduate students generate and deliver neuroscience lessons to high school students under the mentorship of a faculty member. This article contains an overview of the purpose of the summer academy, budgetary considerations, materials required, and the roles of faculty and students, with the goal that this model can be replicated at other universities. We propose that this experience addresses a critical gap in early neuroscience professional training.