Teaching Tactics - Neuroethics in the Curriculum

I made and abandoned several
attempts at an opening sentence for this post and all of them included a deft
way to bury the lead. The lead is this: I’m thrilled for two of my students
whose video, Empathy and your Brain, was selected as one of the top submissions to the 2014 Brain Awareness Video
Contest. Their video
now has the chance to be selected as the fan favorite in the People’s Choice
contest.

But why was I burying it?





I suppose I’ve become
accustomed to integrating Neuroethics content and dialogue in courses that I teach,
sometimes as part of the formal curriculum, but more often as implicit or hidden curriculum. Since Neuroethics courses
are still not yet standard fare in most academic institutions, I generally
don’t have an opportunity to explicitly
test out some of the currently evolving creative techniques in Neuroethics education
like those featured on NeuroethicsWomen Leaders teaching resources page. Instead, I often work the ideas and concepts into
other more general courses. The examples and cases I select in Research Design
courses, Introduction to Psychology and even Statistics courses, usually have
some Neuroethics content, and I’ve assigned readings from AJOB Neuroscience and this blog as entry points to discuss topics in Neuroethics
and Neuroscience. From controversial to practical or current and topical, I’m
constantly seeking ways to engage a wide variety of students  in the course material. The dynamic nature and
novelty of the issues addressed in Neuroethics provide fertile ground for
discussion, engagement and the development of critical thinking and problem-solving
skills.

Student-Designed Teaching Ideas -  Candy Synapse

Student-Designed Teaching Ideas - Neuroanatomy

Ann and Kat’s video was
submitted as a final project in the undergraduate Biopsychology course I taught
at Georgia Gwinnett College in the spring semester 2014. For the final project,
students were given the choice to write a research proposal or develop and
produce a short educational video for an audience of their choosing. As I
always do, I encouraged the students to submit their final project to the Brain
Awareness Video Contest. I’m thrilled
that they accepted my challenge and their video now qualifies for the people’s
choice contest. I would be tickled if they won the $500 cash prize for fan
favorite video, but if I am to be completely honest, I’ll admit that I’m
equally thrilled that Empathy, ripe with its Neuroethics implications was
their topic of choice for not only this video, but for their independent
research projects. Voting is open from September 9 to September 30 at http://www.brainfacts.org/bavc.

Ann Gillman and Kat Kelkenberg, creators of the video

Want to cite this post?




Hue, G. (2014). Teaching Tactics - Neuroethics in the Curriculum. The Neuroethics Blog. Retrieved on , from http://www.theneuroethicsblog.com/2014/09/teaching-tactics-neuroethics-in.html

Now Available! Videos of The Truth About LIes: Neuroscience, Law, and Ethics of Lie Detection Technologies Symposium

Did you miss this awesome event? Don't despair! We have the videos for all of our neuroethics friends who couldn't be there.

You
Can’t Handle the Truth! On May 25, 2012, the Neuroscience Program, Center for Ethics
Neuroethics Program, and the Scholars Program in Interdisciplinary
Neuroscience Research (SPINR) combined forces to hold a symposium
on the intersection of neuroscience and law pertaining to the use of
fMRI and other lie detection technologies in the courtroom.



Dr. Hank Greely, director of the Center for Law and Biosciences at Stanford Law School, opened the symposium with a talk entitled, "fMRI-based lie detection: The Gap Between Lab and Life."

Dr. Daniel Langleben, a professor of Psychiatry at University of Pennsylvania and pioneer of using fMRI to detect lies gave a talk entitled, "Brain Imaging and Deception: Research and Practice."

Dr. Steven Laken,
founder, president, and CEO of Cephos; a company that markets the use
of fMRI for courtroom lie detection, gave a talk entitled, "Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Lie Detection."

Following the talks, Emory’s Carolyn Meltzer,
Chair of the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, joined
the speakers in answering questions from the audience during a panel
discussion moderated by Julie Seaman
from Emory Law School. 

If you'd like to watch a quick 3-min video about brain imaging as evidence, you might want to check out this little gem by the Neuroethics Creative Team on Neuroscience in the Courtroom.