The Society for Neuroscience and the Undergraduate

Suppose you are in your first year as an assistant professor-in your dream job in a small liberal arts college-with an assignment to teach a course in neuroscience to a class of eager, bright, upper-level undergraduates. Amongst the resources that you might expect to tap would be, perhaps, the Web site of the Society for Neuroscience (www.sfn.org). Maybe you have had experience with the Web site of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) where the home page has an encouraging link called " Educational Resources " that takes you to all sorts of wonderful materials and images under " Resources for Teachers. " Or perhaps you are familiar with the Web site of the American Physiological Society (APS), where a link called " Education, " again on the home page, takes you to " Undergraduate Education " and linked resources that are plentiful and inspiring. So, with great expectations of finding a cornucopia of helpful links and materials, you go to the SfN Web site. On the SfN home page you find a link called " Information for Educators. " That looks promising. But hold on-you find that the materials on this site are targeted to K-12 education and the lay audience. Where are materials for the undergraduate teacher? A little research into this situation reveals that, indeed, SfN Council has decided to focus the Society's limited resources on K-12 (" get 'em in their critical period) and lay (especially members of Congress) education. The Society's committee in charge of overseeing the materials and projects for these two groups is called the Public Education and Communication Committee (PECC), a committee recently formed from the merger of the former Public Information Committee and the Committee on Neuroscience Literacy. (There seems never to have been an Education Committee devoted to undergraduate resources.) The charge to the PECC is on the Web site; it is extraordinarily long and detailed, but clearly does not include undergraduate or graduate education per se. That is, the PECC is charged to advise Council on how the SfN can best tell our kids, our high school students, our Senators and our Representatives about the brain, and about ongoing research and new knowledge. And certainly it does its job, providing an assortment of educational materials such as the Brain Briefings newsletter, promoting Brain Awareness Week, and fostering a program to partner neuroscientists with K-12 teachers. But it seems …