MCB 61 Homework Assignment #3
Must be turned in to your Discussion Section GSI
during the week of April 13-17, 2009
For better or worse, performance on exams is a major part of your grade in this course. If an exam is well-designed and well-written, we believe that performance on such an exam is a reasonable way to assess one’s knowledge of a subject. The Professor and Graduate Student Instructors teaching MCB 61 put in many hours of work formulating and perfecting questions for the exams administered during the semester. We do the best we can to compose exam questions which are clearly-written, unambiguous, and test important concepts covered in class and in the readings. Nonetheless, it is a perennial complaint of some students that the exams could have done a better job in the testing of important information. Toward this end, we have created this homework assignment.
The purpose of this assignment is to bring you into the exam-writing process. It will provide an opportunity for you to review course material by thinking about it in a new way. It will also help you gain a deeper understanding of how difficult it is to write good exam questions. Some of you may even write questions that are good enough to actually use on an upcoming exam this semester.
Your assignment is to create multiple-choice and short-answer questions appropriate for use on MCB 61 exams. The format of the questions that you create should be like those of the MCB 61 midterm exam you have already taken this semester. Multiple-choice questions should have 5 answer options from which to select. Answer options like “a and b”, “a and c”, “all of the above”, and “none of the above” should NOT be used in the questions you compose for this assignment. Short-answer questions should be clearly answerable by one, or at most two, specific words.
Here are examples of a multiple-choice and a short-answer question that are clear, unambiguous, and test important concepts covered in our class this semester.
Which of the following ions can be found in greater concentration inside the axon versus outside?
a)sodium
b)potassium
c)magnesium
d)calcium
e)chloride
The function of the myelin sheath is:
a)to protect the neuron from being damaged
b)to insulate the neuron for high-speed conduction of the action potential
c)to wrap around axons to maintain their temperature
d)to form the lipid bilayer membrane of the neuron
e)to enhance the release of neurotransmitter from the axon terminal
What is the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the human brain?
(answer: glutamate)
If the therapeutic dose of a drug is 50 milligrams and the lethal dose is 5 grams, then the therapeutic index would be ______.
(answer: 100)
Your assignment is to write one multiple-choice question and one short-answer question for each of the three (3) subject areas listed below. That means you will write a total of six (6) questions, 3 of which are multiple-choice and 3 of which are short-answer. Be sure to clearly indicate the correct answer to your question on ONE of the copies (see below).
Turn in TWO (2) copies of this assignment. One copy should have written on it your name, SID number, discussion-section day and time, and the ANSWERS to your questions. The second copy should NOT have any identifying information on it. In addition, the second copy should NOT have the answers to the questions written on it.
As always, you must turn in your homework as a paper copy.
Emailed assignments will not be accepted.
Enjoy!
The subject areas for which you will write questions is determined as indicated below by the debate group you are in.
Debate Group #1, PRO: Subjects 1, 2, & 3
Debate Group #1, CON: Subjects 4, 5, & 6
Debate Group #2, PRO: Subjects 7, 8, & 9
Debate Group #2, CON: Subjects 10, 11, & 12
Debate Group #3, PRO: Subjects 13, 14, & 15
Debate Group #3, CON: Subjects 16, 17, & 18
Subject areas:
1:brain lesions
2:static brain-imaging methods
3:stem cells, neurogenesis, gliogenesis
4:dynamic brain-imaging methods
5:caffeine as a CNS stimulant
6:history of the cyclotron and its implications
7:lethal injection, death penalty
8:Sperry’s chemoaffinity hypothesis
9:dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, acetylcholine
10:cannabinoids, endocannbinoids, psychedelics
11:EPSP, IPSP, ionotropic receptors, metabotropic receptors
12:electromagnetic spectrum, visible light, UV, IR, polarization
13:seizures, epilepsy
14:PET scan
15:opium, opioids/opiates
16:CNS stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamine
17:chemotaxis, phototropism, echolocation
18:sedative-hypnotic drugs and GABA receptor
MCB 61 Homework Assignment on Exam Questions - 1