Neuroscience

This course is hard, but it is worth it. Clarissa is a fantastic professor and her knowledge in the field seems bottomless. When I describe this class to other people, I say it was the hardest class I have taken at Middlebury with the hardest exams I've ever taken, but that it always seemed fair. If I want to be a neuroscience major, I should be required to know everything on those exams. What was going to be on the exams was very clear every time, it just required a lot of studying and review, and I am the better for it.

This course is hard, but it is worth it. Clarissa is a fantastic professor and her knowledge in the field seems bottomless. When I describe this class to other people, I say it was the hardest class I have taken at Middlebury with the hardest exams I've ever taken, but that it always seemed fair. If I want to be a neuroscience major, …Read more

Class content was super engaging. Midterm paper and exam were assigned during midterms - the paper was quite difficult, lengthy, and complex. Wasn't super accommodating with student concerns. Concepts were interesting to learn about as a neuroscience major. I did enjoy delving intensely into a primary literature paper, but they were also pretty dense. Overall, the content was interesting, the professor wasn't the best at understanding accommodations, but I have learned a lot.

Class content was super engaging. Midterm paper and exam were assigned during midterms - the paper was quite difficult, lengthy, and complex. Wasn't super accommodating with student concerns. Concepts were interesting to learn about as a neuroscience major. I did enjoy delving intensely into a primary literature paper, but they were …Read more

This is a rather challenging but rewarding neuroscience course. It’s structured around textbook pre-readings, scientific articles, and occasional supplemental materials, in addition to the neuro anatomy coloring book as homework. Lectures move quickly but are well-organized; Parker prints her lecture slides with space for notes, which some students like. The neuroanatomy coloring book was surprisingly helpful for memorizing structures. Exams are genuinely difficult (a mix of multiple choice, short answer, and longer written questions), and the final in particular was long and demanding... expect to study consistently. I definitely depended on flashcards for this class much more than in other courses, and I remember these decks being really thick. That said, the course really does solidify your understanding of brain systems and behavior. I left feeling like I’d actually retained the material instead of just cramming for tests. Compared to other neuroscience classes, this one leans more traditional in format, but it fits the subject well. (I had Prof. Cave for NSCI 251 and his teaching style and exams feel much more open ended; I understood the bigger picture of concepts in his class but felt like I was lacking a good understanding of finer details.) I probably spent 4–6 hours a week outside this class on readings, labs, and flashcards. The mouse behavioral labs are really cool, and it's great to have an introduction to mouse handling and animal modeling in a course. In addition, the human brain lab is so neat---it's so crazy to walk into your class and do a lab with real human brains---and so is the sheep brain dissection lab. If you like structured learning and don’t mind putting in the work, this class will leave you with a strong foundation in behavioral neuroscience, and I think Parker's teaching is a really effective style for the content in the course.

This is a rather challenging but rewarding neuroscience course. It’s structured around textbook pre-readings, scientific articles, and occasional supplemental materials, in addition to the neuro anatomy coloring book as homework. Lectures move quickly but are well-organized; Parker prints her lecture slides with space for notes, whic …Read more