Crawdad: A CD-ROM Lab Manual for Neurophysiology

Robert A. Wyttenbach, Bruce R. Johnson, and Ronald R. Hoy, Cornell University

1999
CD-ROM

About This Title

Crawdad is a groundbreaking neurophysiology laboratory guide on CD-ROM. More than just a traditional lab manual on disk, Crawdad engages the student with sight and sound, teaching through video demonstration.

The exercises are both inexpensive and straightforward for students, and have been successfully used and refined for over 15 years at Cornell and other institutions. They use simple invertebrate preparations (primarily crayfish, but also snails and an alga), rather than classical vertebrate preparations (such as frogs, turtles, and rats) to illustrate fundamental processes of all nervous systems. The crayfish neuromuscular junction, for instance, is an excellent model for human central nervous system synapses. The use of invertebrates alleviates to some extent the problem of obtaining animal care protocols. Moreover, crayfish are "farmed" in aquaculture, thus attenuating the ecological impact issues that arise from using frogs. Rather than simply guiding students through an understanding of important neurobiology concepts, each lab also allows discovery-based learning through additional student-designed experiments.

Crawdad features a self-contained interface (no internet browser, etc., required), hypertext links, and optional video subtitles and voice-overs. The Student CD-ROM contains instructions and videos for each lab; questions; suggestions for further exploration; tips for dissecting (e.g., lighting, posture, and correct use of tools) and recording (e.g., noise reduction, electrode handling, and troubleshooting); and calculators for all equations used. An accompanying printed manual includes all of the CD-ROM's text and figures. The Instructor's Package (available only to qualified instructors)incorporates the Student CD-ROM in its entirety, with added instructions for lab setup, troubleshooting suggestions, answers to questions, and pdf files of all color figures, from which overhead transparencies can be printed. A World Wide Web site (www.crawdad.cornell.edu) allows instructors to share their tips and experiences, submit student projects, and interact directly via e-mail.

About the Author(s)

Robert A. Wyttenbach is a Research Associate in Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, where he earned his Ph.D. His research at Cornell applies a psychophysical approach to hearing in crickets, including habituation, categorical perception, and sound localization. Both as a graduate student and as a postdoc, he has been active in developing and refining invertebrate neurophysiology labs and in producing software for use in the teaching lab.

Bruce R. Johnson is a Senior Research Associate and Lecturer in Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, where he teaches an undergraduate lecture/laboratory course entitled Principles of Neurophysiology. He earned his Ph.D. at Boston University/Marine Biological Laboratory. His research interests address the cellular and synaptic mechanisms of motor network organization in the rat spinal cord and lobster stomatogastric ganglia, and their control by neuromodulators.

Ronald R. Hoy is a Professor in Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. He earned his Ph.D. in Biology at Stanford University in 1969 with Donald Kennedy, who pioneered the use of crayfish as a model system for studying neuronal integration. His experience with crayfish in the Kennedy lab convinced him that he had found an ideal animal for teaching neurophysiology in laboratories, which he has utilized at every opportunity for the past three decades. Hoy wrote the NSF grant that supported the Crawdad Workshops for college faculty, on which the CD-ROM is based, and, along with Wyttenbach and Johnson, taught in the three NSF workshops. His research interests are in the areas of bioacoustics and animal communication, neuroethology, and evolutionary neurobiology.

The authors wish to acknowledge Dan Harris-Warrick, an undergraduate at Carleton College, for his invaluable assistance as a video editor.

Labs

1. Passive Membrane Properties and Electrophysiology

2. Crayfish Motor Nerve Recording

3. Crayfish Motor Nerve Anatomy

4. Crayfish Muscle Resting Potential

5. Snail Brain Action Potentials

6. Ionic Basis of Action Potentials

7. Plant Action Potential

8. Synaptic Connectivity

9. Synaptic Plasticity

10. Crayfish Stretch Receptor

Appendices

Equations
Dissecting Tips
Recording Tips
Suction Electrode
Animal Care

System Requirements

For PC/Windows: Pentium CPU, running Windows 95/98/NT4, 32 MB RAM, 4X or better CD-ROM drive, 13-inch monitor capable of 16-bit color. QuickTime 4.0 is required (installer provided).

For Macintosh: PowerPC CPU, System 7.6 or higher, 32 MB RAM, 4X or better CD-ROM drive, 13-inch monitor capable of 16-bit color. QuickTime 4.0 is required (installer provided).

Media and Supplements

Crawdad is also available for simultaneous use on multiple machines. For more information, download the site license agreement and the site license fee schedule. Orders for site licenses must include a signed site license agreement, and may be faxed to: Marie Scavotto at 413-549-1118. Questions may be directed to scavotto@sinauer.com.

NOTE: The Instructor's Package is only available for purchase by qualified instructors. Please contact Customer Service at custserv@sinauer.com to order the Instructor's Package.

Pricing and Options

Titles	Product Code	Price (USD)
Crawdad: A CD-ROM Lab Manual for Neurophysiology	0-87893-947-4	$33.95	Purchase	Request Exam Copy
Crawdad: A CD-ROM Lab Manual for Neurophysiology (Instructor's Package)	0-87893-948-2	$53.95		Request Exam Copy
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