Cells of the CNS

  This week we begin exploring the basic cells of the central nervous system. For this chapter, I invite you to view two 30-minute videos in which Professor Robert Sapolsky explains these fascinating structures. You can find the videos under “My Course Content.” Videos to watch in order: 1. “The Basic Cells of the Nervous System” 2. “How Two Neurons Communicate” Robert Sapolsky is a professor and neuroscientist at Stanford University, and he released a series of lectures on "Biology and Human Behavior" some years back. As you already know from having seen his introductory video, he offers a lot of fascinating information and examples. He also moves through the material quickly, so feel free to pause and rewind as much as necessary. The videos will help you understand the material in chapter 2 a bit better. After viewing the videos and reading the chapter, discuss your thoughts. Clearly, cells are a complete world of their own. What are the concepts that make most sense to you? What are the concepts you find more difficult to understand? Help each other out. When posting, stay focused on the material, keeping private comments to a minimum. These discussions are meant to help you tease the material apart and understand it better. Also, when posting to Discussion Board, please follow these procedures: When posting your reply to the week’s “challenge” question, please start your own thread titled with your name. When responding to someone else’s post, reply within that person’s thread. To read chapter here is the website for my E-book. Please see login details below. https://sso.bncollege.com/bes-idp/ssologin?pub=WVVaVQ== Please see grading criteria: Postingsshoulddemonstrate well-developed thoughts and should be written in the student’s own words, with appropriate grammar and spelling. All citations must be provided. You are also required to read and respond to at least 2 other students’ answers to the weekly Discussion Board question (WDBQ). Note: Discussion board is important in that it allows students to discuss challenging material.Youareencouragedtohelpeachotheroutwiththecontent. Toensurethat everyone is working on the same material, discussions are “locked” at the end of each week so that everyone advances to the next topic together. As such... No “make-ups” of discussions are allowed once the topic deadline has passed. Detailed discussion board expectations: Class participation is an integral part of the learning process, and, therefore, a significant percentage of your course grade will be based on your "voice" in this course. Clearly, a person who does not participate in class cannot demonstrate learning. The following is a rough breakdown of how a student is evaluated on Discussion Board: “A” Discussion grade: Participates in discussion board early in the week and throughout. Answersallassignedquestionscorrectly,withattentiontowhat’sbeenpostedbyothers. Always includessourcecitations. Encouragesfurtherdiscussionby(1)managingone’sownthreadand replying to comments and questions within it; and (2) participating in at least 2 other students’ threadsbyaddingtoordisputingtheircontributionstotheweeklydiscussionboardquestion. The “A” student has an established presence in the class, deepens the class discussions, assists in the learning process, and demonstrates strong writing skills.