Building Community and Developing Professionally through FUN Final Friday Sessions.

FUN Final Fridays (FFFs) are a professional development effort resulting from a pandemic-inspired virtual pedagogical meeting. Over the past three academic years, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) has hosted FFFs as monthly professional development sessions. These sessions offer a mechanism to address current issues in higher education with emphasis on topics relevant to neuroscience educators. Broadly, topics covered in FFF sessions fall under three areas: a faculty focus that addresses issues of wellness and professional opportunity; a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging focus that addresses how to advocate for justice through education; and a pedagogical focus that address classroom strategies and issues that affect student learning. We share here our experiences and lessons learned regarding selecting topics, identifying facilitators, navigating timing across a semester, and engaging participants with a goal of providing a framework for successful professional development so that other institutional and departmental leaders can contribute meaningfully to the growth and development of their colleagues.

Promoting Scientific Exchange and Student Training Through Scientific Meetings; Insights from a Joint Virtual Undergraduate Neuroscience Conference During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Participation in scientific conferences is a fundamental part of neuroscience and student training. Many conference opportunities have been cancelled, limited, or changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper is a conference report from a joint virtual 2021 meeting of two regional undergraduate neuroscience conferences, the Midwest/Great Lakes Undergraduate Research Symposium in Neuroscience (mGluRs) and the Midwest Regional Neuroscience Conference (MidBrains). We discuss our conference planning logistics, benefits and challenges of the virtual conference format, student feedback on the virtual meeting, additional benefits of a joint meeting, and "take home" messages and considerations for future conferences. We hope insights from our experience can benefit future conference organizers in planning scientific conferences, both for in-person and virtual settings.

Integrating Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum: 1. Early Research Experiences and Training.

Undergraduate research experiences have emerged as some of the most beneficial high-impact practices in education, providing clear benefits to students that include improved critical thinking and scientific reasoning, increased academic performance, and enhanced retention both within STEM majors and in college overall. These benefits extend to faculty members as well. Several disciplines, including neuroscience, have implemented research as part of their curriculum, yet many research opportunities target late stage undergraduates, despite evidence that early engagement can maximize the beneficial nature of such work. A 2019 Society for Neuroscience professional development workshop provided multiple examples of integrating research into an undergraduate curriculum, including early engagement (Fernandes, 2020). This article is the first in a series of three that expands upon the information presented in those workshop discussions, focusing on ways to promote early research opportunities. The benefits and challenges associated with early research engagement suggest thoughtful consideration of the best mechanisms for implementation are warranted; some options might include apprenticeship models or course-based approaches. Regardless of mechanism, early research can serve to initiate more prolonged, progressive, scaffolded experiences that span the academic undergraduate career.

Integrating Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum: 2. Scaffolding Research Skills and Transitioning toward Independent Research.

Undergraduate research experiences are widely regarded as high-impact practices that foster meaningful mentoring relationships, enhance retention and graduation, and stimulate postbaccalaureate enrollment in STEM graduate and professional programs. Through immersion in a mentored original research project, student develop and apply their skills in critical thinking, problem solving, intellectual independence, communication, collaboration, project ownership, innovation, and leadership. These skills are readily transferable to a wide array of future careers in and beyond STEM that are well-served by evidence-based approaches. The 2019 Society for Neuroscience meeting included a well-attended workshop on integrating research into the curriculum at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs). This article is the second of three articles that summarize, analyze, and expand the workshop discussions. In this second article, we specifically describe approaches to transitional research courses that prepare students for independent research experiences such as undergraduate research theses. Educators can intentionally scaffold research experience and skills across the curriculum, to foster participation in scientific research and enhance diversity, equity, and inclusivity in research training. This article provides an overview of important goals and considerations for intermediate undergraduate research experiences, specific examples from several institutions of transitional courses that scaffold research preparation using different structures, and a summary of lessons learned from these experiences.

Integrating Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum: 3. Research Training in the Upper-level Neuroscience Curriculum.

The benefits of undergraduate training in research are significant. Integration of such training into the undergraduate experience, however, can be challenging at institutions without extensive research programs, and may inadvertently exclude some populations of students. Therefore, inclusion of research into the academic curriculum ensures all students can access this important training. The 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience included a workshop on integrating research into the curriculum at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs). In this last article of a three-part series, we describe models for integrating research into advanced stages of the undergraduate curriculum, specifically for juniors and seniors. First, we describe multiple models of faculty-mentored group-based research. Second, we detail a peer-mentored research system, in which seniors mentor groups of first through third year students. Third, we describe multiple examples of integrating research into "capstone" courses for seniors. Fourth, we describe models in which a senior thesis is a graduation requirement for all students. Lastly, we describe several models of implementing an optional honors thesis for students. Although similarities exist across these programs, their differences allow for specific secondary objectives to be met, which are often unique to institutions and/or departments. Therefore, for each of these examples, we describe the context, specific design, and required student assessments. We conclude by discussing some of the key successes and challenges of developing programs that facilitate undergraduate research by upper-level students, and suggest a number of concepts that should be considered by individuals developing and assessing new programs.

Student-led Recaps and Retrieval Practice: A Simple Classroom Activity Emphasizing Effective Learning Strategies.

It is imperative that college and university faculty members continue to collaborate to develop and assess innovative teaching methods that effectively encourage learning for all undergraduates, particularly in STEM. Here we describe a simple student-led classroom technique, recap and retrieval practice (R&RP), that we, as two instructors at different institutions, collaboratively implemented in three upper-level STEM courses. R&RP sessions are short, student-led reviews of previous course material that feature student voices prominently at the start of every class period. R&RP sessions require a small team of students to prepare and deliver a review of prior course content via active retrieval practice formats, which are well known to be particularly effective learning tools. These R&RP assignments were also designed to emphasize additional evidence-based learning practices (concrete examples, dual coding, elaboration, interleaving, and spaced practice). Our analysis of undergraduate student experiences both in leading and participating in R&RPs indicates that overall R&RP sessions were well-received, active learning strategies that our students indicated fostered their learning. As instructors, we found R&RPs an effective and efficient strategy to encourage class participation, assess class participation, and emphasize student voices in our classrooms. Moreover, we found that collaboratively deploying a learning activity allowed us to observe the impact of a specific pedagogical activity in varied instructional settings and enhanced our professional development as educators.

Engaging undergraduate summer research students and faculty in a regional neuroscience network.

Students who engage in experiential research programs and who form communities of learning are more likely to persist in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs. Faculty who collaborate are more likely to publish and to stay engaged in their field. With funding from the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) Expanding Collaboration Initiative, we engaged in a series of summer seminars with neuroscience faculty and their research students at five regional institutions, the College of Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan University, Earlham College, Oberlin College and Kenyon College. Our goals were to provide an opportunity for faculty and students to learn about the methods used in the labs at these institutions, to increase collaborative relationships across these institutions, to develop a community of learning among participating students, and to provide students with professional development opportunities. Pre- and post-assessment data indicate knowledge gains in demonstrated methods and increased comfort performing the methods with supervision or collaboration. In addition, several collaborative relationships were formed and significant assistance with planning, materials, and/or apparatus was provided across institutions. In open-ended post-experience questions, students indicated valuing the relationships formed with other students in this community of learning. We will continue this program with continued funding through the GLCA Expanding Collaboration Initiative and submission of a multi-center National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates grant and encourage others to engage in similar practices at their own institutions.

Graduate admissions in clinical neuropsychology: the importance of undergraduate training.

Discussions of and recommendations for the training of clinical neuropsychologists exist at the doctoral, internship, and post-doctoral level. With few exceptions, the literature on undergraduate preparations in clinical neuropsychology is sparse and lacks empirical evidence. In the present study, graduate-level faculty and current trainees completed surveys about graduate school preparations. Faculty expectations of minimum and ideal undergraduate training were highest for research methods, statistics, and assessment. Preferences for "goodness of fit" also emerged as important admissions factors. These results offer evidence for desirable undergraduate preparations for advanced study in clinical neuropsychology. Although undergraduate training in psychology is intentionally broad, results from this study suggest that students who desire advanced study in clinical neuropsychology need to tailor their experiences to be competitive in the application process. The findings have implications for prospective graduate students, faculty who train and mentor undergraduates, and faculty who serve on admissions committees.

The effects of aging and dorsal hippocampal lesions: performance on spatial and nonspatial comparable versions of the water maze.

Aged intact and young hippocampal-lesioned rats show similar deficits on the spatial water maze. However, this does not necessitate that the source of these deficits in the aged animals is due to hippocampal damage. These water maze deficits may arise from other aging factors such as changes in thermoregulation, muscle fatigue, swim ability, and response to stress. Consequently, it is imperative to examine the performance of aged rats on a comparable nonhippocampal version of this task. Past attempts to develop a hippocampus-independent version of the water maze were confounded because these tasks were easier (i.e., the rats spent much less time swimming in the water) than the spatial versions of the task. The current study examined performance on a hippocampus-independent task comparable in difficulty to the spatial water one. Middle-aged (16-m) and old (25-m) male F344 rats were given sham or dorsal hippocampus lesions and tested on both a spatial and a nonspatial water maze. The middle-aged rats with hippocampal lesions were impaired on the spatial task but not on the nonspatial task. Conversely, aged animals showed a similar impairment on both types of water maze tasks. Additionally, hippocampal lesions exacerbated the age-related impairment on both tasks. These findings indicate that caution must be used when interpreting the results of water maze tasks for aged animals.

Spatial and nonspatial Morris maze learning: impaired behavioral flexibility in mice with ectopias located in the prefrontal cortex.

About half of BXSB/MpJ-Yaa (BXSB) mice have neocortical ectopias (misplaced clusters of neurons located in layer I of cortex). Previous behavioral studies have suggested that ectopic mice have superior spatial, but equivalent nonspatial, reference memory learning. However, since spatial and nonspatial learning were not assessed in the same apparatus and with the same testing procedure, it is unclear if this conclusion is accurate. We have created a new nonspatial Morris maze for mice that differs from the spatial task only in the type of cues that must be utilized to efficiently locate the platform (intra-maze black/white patterns vs. extra-maze room cues) and does not differ in the level of task complexity or the presence of objects within the maze. Ectopic mice were very good in utilizing extra-maze cues when learning the spatial version and in utilizing intra-maze cues when learning the nonspatial version of the Morris maze, while non-ectopics were not, suggesting that ectopics have superior spatial and nonspatial reference memory. Ectopias in BXSB mice are usually located in prefrontal and/or motor cortex. The prefrontal cortex is involved in behavioral flexibility (e.g. being able to easily switch from using spatial to nonspatial cues). Only ectopic mice with ectopias specifically located in the prefrontal region of cortex demonstrated difficulty switching from using extra-maze to intra-maze cues and vice versa. Thus, the presence of one or more ectopias in the prefrontal region of cortex disrupted one of the normal functions of the prefrontal cortex.

Differential learning strategies in spatial and nonspatial versions of the Morris water maze in the C57BL/6J inbred mouse strain.

We recently developed a new nonspatial version of the Morris water maze that requires the use of four visually distinct intra-maze patterns to efficiently locate a hidden platform. The nonspatial version was designed to match the spatial version on complexity of cue usage, and differs only on spatiality of cues, thereby allowing more meaningful comparisons between the two versions. Following a previous experiment that demonstrated nonspatial learning with the BXSB inbred mouse strain, C57 inbred mice were tested in this study. They received spatial and nonspatial training in a counter-balanced order so that Test Order and information transfer could be assessed. Subjects that received spatial training first had superior performance in both the spatial and the nonspatial tasks when compared to mice that received nonspatial training first. The mice that received spatial training first used extra-maze cues as a spatial strategy. However, during nonspatial testing they did not use the intra-maze cues to locate the platform; instead, the mice used an egocentric strategy of circling through the platform annulus. Subjects that received spatial testing first were superior on the nonspatial task to those subjects that received nonspatial training first. Moreover, subjects that received nonspatial testing first were unable to learn the spatial version. Overall, C57 mice can learn both the spatial and nonspatial versions of the Morris maze presented here; however, the nonspatial version is more difficult and is solved using an egocentric strategy.