Cobbers on the Brain

This neurochemistry course opened my eyes to various perspectives and topics that I would not have sought out otherwise. I am grateful for the opportunities we were given to strengthen our skills as up-and-coming scientists.

Instill a love for learning

There were many aspects in which this course promoted my love for learning. To begin, the group discussions made the topics much more interesting and enjoyable. It was nice to communicate knowledge effectively with fellow peers who had similar academic backgrounds. There were many opinions and perspectives that made the discussion a learning experience that we would not have had in class or gathered through research. Also, I really enjoyed the topics that the class got to choose to research for each article. It was much more fun to search the literature on topics that we were interested in rather than topics were assigned.

Develop foundational skills and transferable intellectual capacities

Neurochemistry helped with this more than I could believe! The in-depth understanding of various articles that was required for this class really improved my comfortability as a researcher. It forced us to think critically and ensure full understanding of each topic, as well as choose specific subjects within that topic to research even further. This class also helped with collaboration and communication of knowledge. These characteristics were used within the PEAK project, as well as in group discussions, and the end-of-year presentation. This course truly helped with discussion and communication of knowledge to fellow scientists.

Develop an understanding of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and intercultural perspectives and their connections

There were many connections between disciplines found in this course. While there were obvious ties between neuroscience, chemistry, biology, and even psychology, many of these topics had implications towards disciplines such as socioeconomics and education. Pertaining to topics such as mental illness and addiction, there needs to be further education on these issues at a young age and beyond. Within socioeconomics, topics such as obesity are heavily influenced by SES and the availability of nutritional foods. The subject of neurochemistry has far-reaching influences on multiple disciplines.

Cultivate an examined cultural, ethical, physical, and spiritual self-understanding

Neurochemistry cultivated quite a lot of self-understanding, mostly on a physical and spiritual level. I was not only curious about signaling and neuronal connections within my own brain, but also how disruptions in these pathways can negatively impact one’s life in so many ways (and my own life I suppose). I was never truly aware of the many signaling pathways in the brain, as well as the various relationships between each of them. Also, it has always been interesting to me to gain more information about myself on a metacognitive level. Issues such as the mind-body problem that I had discussed in my psychology course, The Human Mind, have often brought about issues of whether or not the mind is simply a manifestation of the brain, or if they are separate entities. This question is still not answered for me, and I’m not sure it ever will be. Although there is likely a biological or chemical answer for complex cognitive abilities such as reasoning, logic, emotion, learning, and memory, it is difficult for me to believe that there is nothing more than the physical brain or body. Although, this course did make me lean about more towards physicalist monism (the mind supervenes on the brain).

Encourage responsible participation in the world

I experienced this most through participation in the PEAK project. My group focused on Alzheimer’s, specifically on support towards caregivers for people with dementia. Although I had learned about Alzheimer’s on a biological and chemical level, I had never truly immersed myself in the personal and real-life struggles of those caring for people living with dementia. This gave us the tremendous opportunity to facilitate discussion in a caregiver support group and gain insight as to how the disease affected them and their loved ones. Also, this project gave me the opportunity to use knowledge I had learned in class and attempt to relate it to the discussion at hand. Although there were quite a few questions I was still unable to answer during the support group, we had members of the Alzheimer’s Association, as well as doctor of geriatrics, to guide and teach us through the sessions. Through this, we were able to responsibly participate in the real world.

I had no idea that this class would be so different from other science classes when I decided to sign up. I knew that we would study the brain, and I knew that we would study how the brain reacts with the rest of the body, but during the course of this class I have learned about so much more than just the chemistry of the brain. This class was unique among any science class I have ever taken, and even unique among classes I’ve taken in general. This class was designed to engage outside of a traditional method, and that required a whole different set of skills that school often doesn’t test. For this I will always be thankful, and it makes me realize how Concordia itself desires to teach its students to interact with the world.

Concordia’s Goals in Neurochem and Beyond:

Concordia has many goals in its educational curriculum, but five of them were highlighted when considering the benefits of a liberal arts education. Below I will describe how this class fit into the categories for me.

1. Instills a love for learning.

This one seems rather straightforward, but I’m glad that this class reached the goal for me. I had a very challenging semester for a lot of reasons, but the challenge also made me consider if I really liked what I was doing. Neurochem was often a refuge, where there wasn’t much learning except what you read yourself and were able to share with others. Instead of learning from a textbook, we learned directly from good research sources and then did our own research. This approach was unique and refreshing, especially coming back from virtual lectures in all of my classes.

2. Develop foundational and transferable skills

Foundational skills are something that many are expected to have, but classes like this really challenge a person to analyze and develop said skills. For example, we do all sorts of research in labs, but not much of reading other peoples’ research. We have class discussion, but it’s not often that we teach classmates something that we have learned, which is really effective in helping everyone involved learn. We performed group projects, but we never worked with professional organizations to put together such huge events as we did during our PEAK projects. These skills will follow us for the rest of our lives, and neurochem did an excellent job of expanding upon their usage and relevance in our lives.

3. Develop understanding of various perspectives

Part of the challenge of teaching science is that everyone has different beliefs about it, especially outside of the traditional black and white of science. In this class we had group discussions where various topics came up such as: legalization of marijuana, assisted suicide, ethical work in science, and withholding opioids in some cases. Not only are these issues controversial, but there are arguments for both sides that can and do coexist while still being correct. As someone who has researched these issues, I had a lot to say, but I also learned a lot from how other people understood these issues based both on science and their lens of the world.

4. Have a strong self-understanding

Like I said earlier, this was a challenging semester outside of neurochem. Concordia strives to achieve cultural, ethical, physical, and spiritual self-understanding, and neurochem definitely touched on ethical and physical life. I’ve already talked about ethics, but the way physical well being impacts the brain is very notable. For example, exercise is a really good way to prevent long term brain diseases as well as improving quality of sleep when done appropriately. Information like that has rekindled my drive to improve my physical health as I deal with the continuing challenges in my life.

5. Encourage responsible participation in world affairs

This is something that neurochem did really well by having us blog, as the goal was to teach us how to spread science to a population that has never studied science before. We first learned the information as scientists would, discussed and learned from each other as fellow scientists, and then were tasked with taking what we learned and making it applicable to everyone who reads it. This means explaining things well, using good visuals, and managing the science well for the audience while still retaining the integrity of my research. It is always an interesting challenge, and one that I’ve considered in the past, so I was very glad to get to work more on it this semester.

Neurochem Specific Goals:

Within the context of neurochem there were some separate goals regarding learning and engagement in the class. Below are the list as well as how I feel the class addressed them:

1. How did I learn this semester?

This is an important question due to how much learning had to change and adapt in the past years! I would say learning for me mostly occurred when I was talking with other classmates either in group discussions or when learning directly from the wiki using the online system. This allowed me to take the information from the article and expand it into how it impacts the world more than just inside a lab. This is something we are seeing many people struggle with regarding COVID-19, so it’s nice to do this style of learning while also continuing to do research based learning.

2. How does this class relate to my future goals?

I am currently on the premed track, and it’s very interesting to consider how this class influenced my future. For example, learning how to read a research article is critical to medicine as much of what we do may be considered experimental and require a good understanding of scientific literature. Being able to explain complex scientific information to everyone is an important skill for a physician, the blogging is excellent training for that. And the PEAK project was an excellent test of team work skills, which I believe are critical to working in healthcare.

3. What does a liberal arts education mean to me?

Doctors should know more than just science. They need so many different things in my opinion: math, the history of the world because it impacts their care, business in case they ever want to run their own practice, how to work with other people, how to research, how to admit when they don’t know something, how to enjoy hobbies outside of work, etc. When I think of a liberal arts education, I think of the science I’ve learned, but I also think of all the other learning and opportunities I’ve had at Concordia

4. What would I put on a resume from this class?

Definitely the ability to explain science to everyone aspect. Collaboration and group work would also look good. Finally, the ability to adapt and overcome, not just in this class, but throughout the semester.

5. Describe solving a problem using multiple perspectives

The PEAK project is an excellent example of this. We had 6 different people with 6 different backgrounds in classes, working together to put together a major project. We had to deal with losing a member, getting tabled, and then all sorts of variables with the final project. Part of the reason we got tabled was because everyone had a slightly different idea about how the project was going to work, but being able to adapt to the later challenges came when we started working together and using all of the skills and resources available to us.

In conclusion, it has been a crazy semester, but neurochem has been one of the highlights!

Neurochemistry

Neurochemistry has been by far the most engaging class I have taken at Concordia. We were challenged to address complicated diseases affecting the central nervous system. Instead of a traditional lecture-based classroom we were motivated to learn at our own pace and given the option to really control the path of the course. Rooted in the complex biochemical basis of many different cellular signaling pathways we connected our knowledge all the way to past and current social issues which separate the country today. By creating a strong foundation for our conversations, we were able to engage in constructive dialogue on complex topics and then repeat the process again the next week.

Concordia is a liberal arts school with the goal of graduating students who have ambitions to be responsibly engaged in the world. Neurochem is a perfect embodiment of this mission. I used knowledge gained in chemistry courses to connect with the biology of cellular signaling. Expanding upon the science we are able to connect to the social dilemmas we learn about in other courses. Using communication taught in intro courses a responsible conversation is at hand.

Real World Example

A perfect example of a discussion in our class that relates is around obesity. Perhaps in uneducated response is simply “It is their fault; people need to eat better and work out more.” However, we are learning that in most cases of obesity there has been a disruption in our brain signaling and how people feel hunger is different than their healthy counterpart. We also need to dive into the social constructs of society that force the lower class and less fortunate to eat unhealthy food and find a solution. We need to weigh the mental health benefits of positive body image with the messages of healthy living and exercise, as mental and physical health are correlational. Then we need to look outside the United States and see how obesity affects other nations and cultures. An issue that can seem so simple can be very complex and diverse.

That is the advantage of a liberal arts education, becoming a well-rounded individual prepared to face some of life’s most difficult tasks. As our planet’s problems become more complex and more important it is necessary to be educated in different fields to create a deeper understanding.

Connecting to my future, this class and many others will allow for a well-rounded approach to problems in my personal and professional life. This course and others at Concordia have taught me to face problems with a multifaceted approach. First understanding the science, then the social innuendos, and finally looking at things from all perspectives is a well-rounded way to make decisions.