Students learn the decibel reading of various noises and why high-level readings damage hearing. Sound types and decibel readings are written on sheets of paper, and students arrange the sounds from the lowest to highest decibel levels. If available, a decibel meter can be used to measure sounds by students.

Students follow the steps of the engineering design process to create their own ear trumpet devices (used before modern-day hearing aids), including testing them with a set of reproducible sounds. They learn to recognize different pitches, and see how engineers must test designs and materials to achieve the best amplifying properties.

In this video we explore the organization of the nervous system, and its division into the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. Created by Matthew Barry Jensen.

As taught Semesters 1 and 2, 2011

This learning object explains the anatomical organisation of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. The learning object is used as part of the level 1 Biological Sciences module delivered by the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy.

Dr Andy Meal, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy

Systems Neuroscience Laboratory consists of a series of laboratories designed to give students experience with basic techniques for conducting systems neuroscience research. It includes sessions on anatomical, neurophysiological, and data acquisition and analysis techniques, and the ways these techniques are used to study nervous system function. Training is provided in the art of scientific writing with feedback designed to improve writing skills. Assignments include weekly preparation for lab sessions, two major research reports and a series of basic computer programming tutorials (MATLAB). The class involves the use of experimental animals. Enrollment is limited.

Students conduct an experiment to determine whether or not the sense of smell is important to being able to recognize foods by taste. They do this by attempting to identify several different foods that have similar textures. For some of the attempts, students hold their noses and close their eyes, while for others they only close their eyes. After they have conducted the experiment, they create bar graphs showing the number of correct and incorrect identifications for the two different experimental conditions tested.

In this activity, learners make a stroboscope--a spinning disk with slits around the edge that you look through. Brief but frequent glimpses of images seen through the slits lead to a surprising result, which teaches learners about vision and the human nervous system. The activity includes three short online videos: Introduction, Step-by-Step Instructions, and What's Going On. Also available: a concept map and a "Going Further" document that suggests variations on this activity.