Author: Rebecca Smart

Cover letter

The material for my class includes history of drug laws, cultural impact of drugs (and how it has changed over time) as well as very biological based descriptions of how drugs work on the brain and how that then affects behavior. I use a wide range of assessments, including exams, papers and in-class activities. These in-class activities are the teaching artifacts I am seeking to revise, to try and achieve more interaction from the students.

In previous versions of the activity assignment for each Module, students mostly did the assignment on their own time, and we only had a limited class discussion for some of the activities.

To revise these assignments, I will make all of them more interactive and include peer review as part of the assignment. The type of interaction and review will vary by module assignment.

Revision

Module 1 Activity:

The past version of this involved the students individually completing the worksheets/questions and then discussing them briefly in class. As is typical, only a few students did most of the discussing.

For the new version, I will create a google doc with the assignment, and put students into groups and have them complete the worksheet/ questions in class.

Following the group work, each group will present their completed worksheets, and then we will discuss any differences between each groups worksheet results.

Another option I am considering is converting the first three parts of this activity into some type of in class game, but I would first have to figure out how to do that!

Module 1 Worksheet

Part 1

Match the following Functions and Structures:

Structures                                           Functions

A) Receptors                                       1) Contains the cell’s machinery to keep it alive

B) Dendrites                                        2) Long wire-like component that transmits the electrical signal

C) Cell body                                        3) A protein with a specific size and shape. Neurotransmitters and drugs bind to it

D) Axon                                               4) The part of the neuron from which neurotransmitters are released

E) Axon terminal                                 5) Branches that come off the cell body and contain most receptors

Part 2

Arrange the following statements in the correct order for neurotransmission (Make a list of the

number of each statement in the order of the steps in neurotransmission)

1) Neurotransmitter is released into the synapse

2) Calcium enters the axon terminal and causes the vesicles fuse with the presynaptic membrane

3) Neurotransmitter binds to receptors on postsynaptic cell

4) The action potential opens up voltage-gated calcium channels in the axon terminal

5) An action potential travels down the axon into the axon terminal

6) Neurotransmitter is synthesized and stored in vesicles in the axon terminal

7) The neurotransmitter is removed from the postsynaptic receptor

8) When a neurotransmitter binds to a postsynaptic receptor it causes a postsynaptic ion channel

to open or close, producing a change in the postsynaptic cell

Part 3

Match the following brain areas with their functions

Brain Area                                                       Functions

A) Frontal lobe                                                1) Control of hormones, ANS, sleep, pleasure, hunger, sex

B) Parietal lobe                                               2) “Addiction center”

C) Temporal lobe                                            3) Calming, “business as usual”

D) Occipital lobe                                             4) Vision

E) Basal ganglia                                              5) Basic vegetative processes

F) Cerebellum                                                 6) Fight or flight

G) Hippocampus                                             7) Sense of touch

H) Hypothalamus                                            8) Sleep and smoothing out respiration

I) Nucleus accumbens                                    9) Hearing, memory

J) Medulla                                                       10) Balance, posture, coordination

K) Pons                                                           11) Reasoning, judgments, decision making

L) Sympathetic nervous system                     12) Fine tuning movements

M) Parasympathetic nervous system             13) Memory   

Part 4

Select two routes of administration of drugs and list pros and cons (at least two each).

Part 5

Name two ways a drug can be an agonist and an antagonist

Module 2 Activity

This assignment asked students to watch an assigned episode of “The Business of Drugs” and then each group (the assigned episode) had a brief discussion of the key points (in break out rooms) which was then presented to the class.

In revising this assignment, I will include a google doc for the students to include their thoughts on their assigned episodes during their breakout room session.

During the class discussion of the episodes, students from other groups will add questions about the episode presentations in the google doc, which will be part of the discussion.

Module 3 Activity

The previous version of this assignment was already pretty interactive (breakout rooms to discuss the myths and listening to songs chosen by students).

In revising this assignment, for part 1, I will include use of a google doc for the myths and I will ask them to come up with as many myths as they can (again, in groups), and then have the other groups decide which myth is true and which myth is false.

For part 2, I will have the groups each select on song, and then will ask the other groups to make the judgements about the song

Part 1

Choose from any drug from Module 2 or 3 and name 2 myths (common belief, rumor, etc) about the drug you chose, one of which is true and one of which is false. Submit a one paragraph on your findings (references are fine but not required).

Part 2

Find a song about any drug from Module 2 or 3; write a paragraph about the song, specifically thinking about some of the following questions: What perspective is the song writer expressing; one of a drug user or of someone who has been affected by a drug user? What message about the drug is the song writer expressing? Is it positive or negative?

Module 4 Activity

The previous version just asks for individual submissions.

In revising this, I will again divide the class into groups, and assign each group a drug prevention campaign to analyze (again utilizing a google doc). Each group will present their campaign and other groups will add questions to the google doc.

Part 1

Select an anti-drug/drug prevention program, such as a media campaign, or a school program like DARE, and describe the program (ie is it primary/secondary/tertiary, universal/selective/indicated). Include a description of the aspects of the program that define what type of program it is.

In creating these assignments, I was really thinking about how to avoid the typical problem of having only a few students speaking all the time. By using google docs, students who may not feel comfortable speaking can provide input non-verbally (all students will be required to provide comments in the google docs for each assignment). Additionally, by having other the groups review the work, there will be (hopefully!) more interaction and discussion of the assignments by the students.

The learning objectives of these assignments (especially the last three) is to go beyond the text material and see how our information and understanding of everything about drugs comes from a wide range of sources and not all of them are just empirical facts. I hope also to demonstrate in the discussions that there are many different opinions and understanding about drugs, drug usage and drug users.

In my course (Drugs, Brain, and Society), the material is divided into Modules and for each module, I assign an “Activity”; some are done in the classroom and others are done outside of the classroom.

These assignments can vary from filling out a worksheet on the brain, to watching a relevant TV series and commenting on it. When the assignment is done in class, I put the students into groups/breakout rooms and then try to have discussions on all of the activities, but the responses are limited.

I would like update these assignments to use more interactive modes to try and get engagement from all the students, not just the usual 5-6 that always speak.

Activity 1

Choose from any drug from Module 2 or 3 and name 2 myths (common belief, rumor, etc) about the drug you chose, one of which is true and one of which is false. Submit a one paragraph on your findings (references are fine but not required).

Activity 2

Find a song about any drug from Module 2 or 3; write a paragraph about the song, specifically thinking about some of the following questions: What perspective is the song writer expressing; one of a user or of someone who has been affected by a user? What message about the drug is the song writer expressing? Is it positive or negative?

My name is Rebecca Smart. I have been teaching at CUNY on and off since starting as a graduate student at the Grad Center in 1994 (I taught at Hunter College). I am currently an adjunct at BMCC and Baruch teaching psychology. At BMCC, I mostly teach Introduction to Psychology, but have also taught almost every psychology class you can name. My favorites are Intro, Development and the course I am currently teaching at Baruch: Drugs, Brain and Society.

This course covers both paharmacology (what drugs are and how they work in the brain and on the body), as well as the social issues associated with addiction and the war on drugs, and also the cultural impact of drugs.

The learning goals for this class, as listed in my syllabus are:

• To demonstrate how drugs interact with the nervous system to produce their effects, the different classes/types of drugs and the specific drugs in each class.
• To criticallyevaluate the methodology of past and current studies on drug action as well as drug dependence, with respect to the strengths and weaknesses of the studies. Specifically, we will evaluate empirical papers in the area of drug use/dependence research, and distinguish among different research designs typically employed in the area of study. Additionally, we will interpret and synthesize findings from primary research in discussion of current studies.
• To analyze the impact of individual characteristics, developmental environment and societal attitude towards drug use/ dependence.
• To apply this understanding to critically evaluate the changing influence of attitude towards drug use/dependence on treatment of the user, at an individual and societal level in written and oral form.

I am interested in developing more interactive assignments/discussions for this class. Despite my best efforts to change how I present the material (using videos, memes, class activities etc), I still have only a few (and the same) students actually talking in class throughout the semester.