Teaching Opportunities through Vanderbilt's Neuroscience Graduate Program

A critical component of every neuroscience graduate student's training is the Teaching Apprenticeship, which provides experience preparing and giving lectures and reveals the responsibilities and duties of a course director. Opportunities are made for every student to assist in one of the required or elective courses. A Teaching Apprentice (TA) does not simply serve as an "extra pair of hands" for course-related activities such as photocopying. Rather, experiences are designed to challenge the organizational and creative energies of the TA and to provide first-hand experience of the demands and rewards of teaching.

Teaching opportunities outside the traditional university classroom setting are also provided for neuroscience graduate trainees. These include, but are not limited to, public education and community outreach activities that form Vanderbilt's nationally-recognized Brainstorm/Brain Awareness celebration each March.

The goal of Brain Awareness is teaching the lay public how the brain works and the importance of research to understanding, treating and ultimately curing brain-related disfunction. As members of Vanderbilt's neuroscience community, neuroscience graduate students can help attain this public education goal, with opportunities that include: describing the "whys and hows" of your research and serving as docent for families attending programs at public venues such as at Nashville's Adventure Science Center.