Applying perceptual and adaptive learning technologies to undergraduate neuroanatomy

The National Science Foundation awarded a $599,998 Project Grant to the University of California, Los Angeles under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2025.

The grant funds the development and testing of Perceptual Adaptive Courseware (PAC) to improve undergraduate neuroanatomy instruction. PAC combines principles of perceptual and adaptive learning by interweaving short instructional modules with web-based interactive exercises. The university will iteratively develop, pilot, and evaluate the PAC intervention across multiple sections of a behavioral neuroscience course. Controlled experiments will compare learning outcomes between student groups using PAC versus traditional lecture formats for targeted neuroanatomy content. User feedback will help optimize the PAC experience. Findings will be shared with faculty through neuroscience society publications to inform neuroanatomy and related STEM instruction. The project aims to advance effective neuroscience education and serve as a model for other domains.

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing and testing innovative instructional technologies based on well-established principles of perceptual and adaptive learning to help undergraduates master neuroanatomy. During a time when there has been a sustained explosion in both neuroscience research and in undergraduate enrollment in neuroscience courses and majors, effective neuroanatomy education is critically important in providing a common foundation by which the brain and its functions can be understood. However, mastering neuroanatomy involves several different forms of learning and poses significant instructional challenges. Perceptual learning refers to improvements in how people pick up information as they gain experience and practice in a given domain. Prior research shows that interactive computer-based perceptual learning interventions reliably develop students? Ability to quickly and accurately recognize and distinguish complex structures, patterns, and relationships, such as those that are encountered in neuroanatomy courses. However, perceptual learning has largely been ignored in formal education because the learning conditions that promote IT most effectively are rarely available in standard course materials and instructional formats. This project plans to combine perceptual and adaptive learning technologies in a novel format known as perceptual adaptive courseware (PAC), in which short cycles of expository instruction are interwoven with web-based adaptive interactive learning, enabling students to advance and consolidate their learning. The approach may improve learning in neuroanatomy and also provide valuable information regarding the applications of these learning innovations to other stem domains. The project?s goal is to generate new knowledge by investigating whether enhancements based on this combination of perceptual and adaptive learning technologies produce improved instructional outcomes for undergraduates learning neuroanatomy. The PAC intervention will be iteratively developed, piloted, and tested across two cohorts of undergraduates enrolled in multiple sections of an upper-level course in behavioral neuroscience at a public university with a diverse student body. The project will implement a controlled experimental design comparing groups that experience the PAC intervention for a defined segment of the neuroanatomy curriculum to groups that experience instruction in normal lecture and lab formats for the same portion of the curriculum. Pre/post assessments will yield quantitative data on students? Learning of the targeted content. Students, teaching assistants, and instructors will also provide qualitative data to help design and optimize the user experience with respect to features such as navigation, pacing, graphics, and interactive interfaces. Perceptual adaptive courseware, which runs on laptops, desktop computers, and tablets using standard browsers, represents a model approach that can be readily extended to other stem domains. Findings from the project will be shared with faculty who teach neuroanatomy or related disciplines through meetings and publications of the society for neuroscience and the faculty for undergraduate neuroscience. Results will also be disseminated to audiences interested in applications of cognitive research to instruction and learning technology. The NSF iuse: EHR program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of stem education for all students. Through the engaged student learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.