What is Project NEURON?

Project NEURON: Novel Education for Understanding Research on Neuroscience brings together scientists, science educators, schoolteachers, and students to develop and disseminate curriculum materials that connect cutting-edge science with national and state science standards.

A cornerstone of Project NEURON is teacher professional development focused on both content and pedagogical content knowledge development.

In order to do this, Project NEURON is currently developing and disseminating curriculum materials that integrate up-to-date science research and current science standards for use in secondary science classrooms. Materials are field tested by a dedicated group of high school teachers, to whom we provide support and professional development.

We have adapted and expanded these materials into a variety of additional projects that concentrate on outreach for younger grades, informal education, and educational games.

Our curriculum modules include:

• In-class materials connected to current state and national science curriculum standards using neuroscience research performed on the UIUC campus,
• Assessment instruments to evaluate student understanding of key concepts and practices.

Project NEURON professional development opportunities are provided for:

• Teachers, including summer professional development institutes (Neuroscience Teacher Institute; NTI) and sustained opportunities throughout the school year,
• Graduate students in the Neuroscience and the College of Education programs, including seminar courses on pedagogy, science of learning, and neuroscience content.

This project was supported by the National Center for Research Resources and the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives of the National Institutes of Health through Grant Number R25 RR024251-03. The opinions expressed are the authors and not the funding agency.