# Instructor Insights

Instructor Insights pages are part of the OCW Educator initiative, which seeks to enhance the value of OCW for educators.

## Course Overview

This page focuses on the course 7.343 Biological Bases of Learning and Memory as it was taught by Postdoctoral Associate Lauren Makuch and Research Scientist Jai Subramanian in Spring 2014.

This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. In these pass/fail seminars, students draw upon primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive, small-group setting. This particular seminar focuses on the biological basis of learning and memory.

## Course Outcomes

### Course Goals for Students

This course is designed to encourage critical thinking skills in future scientists. Students learn how to read research articles and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the experiments presented.

## Curriculum Information

### Prerequisites

- 7.03 Genetics
- 7.05 General Biochemistry
- 7.06 Cell Biology
- 7.28 Molecular Biology
- 7.29J Cellular Neurobiology

### Offered

Seminars are offered each semester and are topic-based. This particular topic is not offered every semester.

## Student Information

### Ideal Class Size

Class size is limited to 8, to enable a high degree of personal contact with the instructor.

## How Student Time Was Spent

During an average week, students were expected to spend 6 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:

## Seminar Meeting

2 hours per week

- Met once per week for 2 hours per session; 14 sessions total.
- Class time was spent discussing the assigned readings for the week.
- The final 15 minutes of each class consisted of an introduction to the next week’s topic.

## Out of Class

4 hours per week

- Reading assignments consisted of two journal articles per week.
- One written assignment was completed on an assigned topic.
- Students delivered an oral presentation in the final class session.

## Semester Breakdown

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No classes throughout MIT
Seminar session
Written assignment due date
No class session scheduled
Field trip
Oral presentations