Teaching Principles of an Action Potential Using Candy.

Abstract

Neurophysiology is crucial but often-intimidating subject for undergraduate students. To address the challenge of "neurophobia" educators have developed myriad techniques to inspire students and enhance their interest in the discipline. We therefore sought employ one such innovation to further engage our students, leveraging students' familiarity with food to make the abstract concept of the action potential accessible. Seventy-seven Foundation Year students undertook a 60-minute in-person didactic lecture and then a two-hour active learning class using Smarties and Play-Doh to make a detailed model of an action potential and its constituent phases. They were given a post-activity five-point Likert questionnaire with four open-ended questions, and responses were analyzed with a weighted average (χ̄ _w ). Broadly, students enjoyed the playfulness of the activity and agreed that they would like to repeat it. Respondents did not agree that the activity per se motivated them, but they agreed that the activity improved their knowledge of action potentials, felt the format was appropriate to check their knowledge, and felt that it helped identify weaknesses in their understanding. Students felt they were able to connect with their team during the activity, that they learned from their teammates during the activity, and teamwork as a positive was a repeated theme in the open answer questions. Using Smarties to teach action potentials is a fun and effective way to teach neurophysiology and further research is required to determine its impact on student attainment.