Introduction to Neuroscience

Neuroscience continues to be one of the fastest-growing areas of biology and is at the cutting edge of technical and conceptual advances in the life sciences. If you want to know the mechanisms that animals use to hear, see, smell, and remember things, then you need to study ions, molecules, cells, neural networks, brain structure, and behavior. This course begins with the study of nerve cells: their structure, the propagation of nerve impulses and transfer of information between nerve cells, and the effect of drugs on these processes. We will then move to the sensory systems, including touch, olfaction, gustation, audition, and vision. We will discuss how energy, such as light, is converted into neural signals, where these signals travel in the brain, and how they are processed. We will study the control of voluntary movement, the neurochemical bases of some brain diseases, behavioral disorders, and learning and memory.

This is a hybrid course with lectures recorded in advance. Students will be required to watch and take notes asynchronously. There will be a 3-hour in-person session each week. In addition, students will be expected to complete assigned readings from the textbook, submit homework/problem sets, and take weekly quizzes.

This course satisfies a prerequisite for the Behavioral Health Support Specialist certificate and also pairs well with Algebraic Thinking for students interested in pursuing additional science programs in the future.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies: