A biological psychology teaching taxonomy

Coming off a back-to-back stint of teaching Sensation and Perception, I have developed several heuristics to aid my pedagogy. One of the most powerful is a taxonomy I have developed for biological psychology instruction.

I start by outlining a conceptual understanding of the material, providing an overview and context. The students should understand the big-picture and how the topic applies to other topics and their personal lives. For example, the retina of the eye is one type of sense organ that transduces environmental energy into neural signal. The retina processes light rapidly and with great acuity.

After a conceptual overview, I outline the structure. Being able to identify and label structure elements builds a visual scaffold for latter learning. Continuing with the visual system example, the retina is a complex structure with several layers each with specific shaped cells.

Structure seamless leads into function, how the particular system works. This is where I spend the majority of my teaching time. I hope to leave the students with a deep appreciation and understanding of how  biological systems function. In the retina, the fovea of the retina has greater acuity (function) due to cone density (structure).

If time allows, I will go into the details. Often times, professors move to this level to quickly. This is where things are most interesting but also the easiest place to lose students. An example of detail in the retina is the enzyme cascade in the photoreceptors which changes neurotransmitter release. If a student does not have an overall understanding of the structure and function of eye, then the role of rhodopsin will lack "stickiness."

The last layer is the numbers. In undergraduate classes, I rarely emphasize numbers. Some students maybe able to memorize them for an exam. A majority of the numbers from a class will not be remembered in the long-term. Stories and concepts will endure. For example most humans have 3 different cones, each one has peak sensitivity at a specific electromagnetic wavelength. It is far easier to remember there are Short, Medium, and Long cones than remembering 564–580 nm, 534–545 nm, and 420–440 nm cones.

This taxonomic gives general framework to teach any biological psychology concept. It is also a fractal pattern, from nervous system level down to individual cells or from introductory to advanced topics.