NeuroLab 2.0: An Alternative Storyline Design Approach for Translating a Research-Based Summer Experience into an Advanced STEM+M Curriculum Unit that Supports Three-Dimensional Teaching and Learning in the Classroom

Abstract

In this case study, we describe an alternative storyline design approach that we adopted to translate an informal, out-of-school summer science experience with a strong emphasis on developmental neuroscience and data literacy into a more inclusive, replicable, and scalable experience for formal high school science instruction. Combining elements of problem- and project-based learning, a storyline is a curriculum model that engages students in the application of investigative science and engineering practices to incrementally build conceptual models that explain an observable (anchoring) phenomenon. Published reports on the storyline design process describe procedures and tools that are well suited to the creation of novel instructional units. However, these design methods are difficult to apply to projects aimed at translating pre-existing science experiences and resources into classroom storyline units. In this descriptive case study, we discuss a series of alternative design procedures that we utilized to achieve this adaptation. Our overarching project goal was to create the resources necessary to engage high school students in the construction of a multidimensional explanatory model for an unusual movement disorder that assimilates converging lines of behavioral, neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, molecular genetic, developmental, and cellular data. The methods described in this case study establish a design template for other biomedical scientists who are interested in adopting a storyline approach to bring aspects of their work or educational projects into science classrooms and into closer alignment with a new vision for science teaching and learning articulated in the National Research Council's A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards.

Keywords: Big Data; Clinical Neuroscience; Data Literacy; Developmental Neuroscience; High School Students; Interdisciplinary; Mirror Movement Disorder; NGSS; NeuroLab; Neurology; Precollege Students; Researcher-Educator Collaboration; STEM+M; STEMM; Science Practices; Scientific Modeling; Storylines; Student Collaboration.

Figure 1.

A model showing the corticospinal tract in normal human subjects and patients affected by congenital mirror movement disorder (CMM). In normal human subjects (A), axons from cortical motor neurons in the brain cross the midline of the central nervous system (CNS) at the junction of the medulla and the spinal cord (indicated by arrow) and make connections with α spinal cord neurons on the opposite (contralateral) side of the body axis. These spinal cord neurons activate muscle fibers controlling movement of the hands. In patients affected by CMM (B), some cortical motor axons fail to cross the CNS midline. As a result, these axons establish connections with α spinal cord neurons that activate muscles on the same (ipsilateral) side of the CNS. This neuroanatomical defect, which arises during CNS development due to an axon guidance error involving mutations in either the NTN1 or DCC genes, can be inferred from electrophysiological tests (e.g., electromyelography and transcranial magnetic stimulation) or visualized directly with diffusion tensor imaging tractography.

Figure 2.

Interim model created by a student during an early implementation trial of the storyline.