For Teachers¶
Thank you for looking at this book for your students. This page explains what the book is, how other people can use it in class, and what to watch out for. You don't need to read every chapter before you start. Pick a plan below, open the first chapter, and try its MicroSim yourself for five minutes.
What the book is¶
From Neuron to Bedside is a free, open neuroscience textbook for high school students and future doctors. It has 16 chapters and two appendices. Each chapter has:
- a short real-world story to open it
- the core science, explained with an everyday picture first
- at least one MicroSim, a small interactive simulation that runs in the browser
- an At the Bedside case, a fictional patient that applies the chapter's science
- Common Misconceptions, 5 Brain Bee Practice questions, 12 exercises, and Key Takeaways
- a 10-question quiz on its own page
The book is written for students in grades 9 to 12 who have had about one year of biology. Chapters 1 to 4 build the foundation. After that, chapters can be taught in almost any order, and each one lists its prerequisites at the top. See the List of Chapters and the List of MicroSims.
License¶
The book is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0. In plain words:
- You may use it in your classroom for free, print it, and share it with students.
- You may change it (for example, cut a chapter down or translate it), as long as you share your version under the same license.
- Give credit: name the book, link to it, and say if you made changes.
- Don't sell it or use it for commercial purposes.
A credit line like this works: Adapted from "From Neuron to Bedside" by Aaryav Sharma, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. The How to Cite page has more formats.
Four ways to use it¶
All times below assume class periods of about 50 minutes. Adjust them to your schedule. Every chapter MicroSim page has a Lesson Plan with its own timing, so you can check the details before class.
Option 1: A 1 to 2 week nervous system mini-unit¶
This fits inside a biology or anatomy and physiology course. Days 1 to 5 make a one-week unit. Add days 6 to 8 if you have a second week.
| Day | Read | MicroSim | In class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ch 1: Neurons and Glia | Neuron Explorer | Label a neuron; remove myelin in the sim and connect it to the MS case |
| 2 | Ch 2: The Action Potential | Action Potential Simulator | Find threshold; test all-or-none; numb lip case |
| 3 | Ch 3: Synapses and Neurotransmitters | Synapse Simulator | Agonists vs antagonists; myasthenia gravis case |
| 4 | Ch 4: Neuroanatomy | Clickable Brain Atlas | Atlas quiz mode in pairs; Phineas Gage case |
| 5 | Ch 14: Injury, Stroke, and Epilepsy | Stroke Territory Map | BE-FAST and seizure first aid; case groups |
| 6 (optional) | Ch 7: Movement | Basal Ganglia Gas and Brake | Reflex arc model; Parkinson's case |
| 7 (optional) | Ch 11: Emotion and Stress | HPA Axis Feedback Loop | Negative feedback; read the safety notes below first |
| 8 (optional) | Ch 16: How Doctors Examine the Brain | Neuro Exam Decision Tree | Capstone: localize three fictional patients |
Option 2: A 4-week unit¶
This fits a health sciences, psychology, or anatomy course. Plan on about two chapters per week, with one day each week for review and a quiz.
| Week | Chapters | MicroSims | End-of-week check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1, 2, 3 | Neuron Explorer, Action Potential, Synapse | Quizzes for Chapters 1 to 3 |
| 2 | 4, 5, 7 | Brain Atlas, Visual Pathway, Basal Ganglia | Visual field "reverse round" from the Chapter 5 sim lesson plan |
| 3 | 9, 10, 11 | Aplysia Learning, Hypnogram, HPA Axis | Brain Bee Practice questions from Chapters 9 to 11 as an oral round |
| 4 | 14, 16 | Stroke Territories, Neuro Exam | Bedside case activity (see below), then selected mock exam questions from Appendix A |
If your course covers mental health or drug education, swap Chapter 15 into Week 4 and read the safety notes first.
Option 3: A semester elective¶
There are 16 chapters, so a semester elective can cover about one chapter per week, with two extra weeks for review and a final project. The table follows the book's order.
| Weeks | Chapters | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 1, 2, 3, 4 | Foundations: cells, signals, synapses, anatomy |
| 5 to 7 | 5, 6, 7 | Senses, pain, and movement |
| 8 to 12 | 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 | Development, memory, sleep, emotion, thinking |
| 13 to 15 | 13, 14, 15 | Brain disorders |
| 16 | 16 | Capstone: the neurological exam |
| 17 to 18 | Appendix A mock exam, Appendix B careers | Review, mock exam, and a final project |
A weekly rhythm that works for many electives:
- Day 1: hook story and the "intuition first" section, read together
- Day 2: core science, with a Brain Bee Practice warm-up
- Day 3: the MicroSim, using the lesson plan on its page
- Day 4: the Bedside case in small groups
- Day 5: exercises, then the chapter quiz
Final project ideas: build a new "Your turn" twist for any Bedside case, design a MicroSim on paper, or present one chapter's Common Misconceptions to a younger class.
Option 4: A Brain Bee club¶
A club can meet weekly and use the book as its study guide. The Club and Brain Bee Study Group Kit has a ready 10-session plan with roles and a mock Brain Bee. Students preparing for a competition should also follow the 4-week plan in Appendix A, Section A.3.
Standards connections¶
These are teacher-made connections
The table below shows where chapters connect to standards that many U.S. teachers use. These connections were made by the book's author to help with planning. The book is not aligned to, reviewed by, or endorsed by NGSS, Achieve, or the College Board. Check your own state or district standards.
NGSS high school life science¶
The wording below is quoted from the NGSS HS-LS1 page.
| Performance expectation | Chapters that connect | How it connects |
|---|---|---|
| HS-LS1-2: "Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms." | 1, 3, 4, 7 | Students can model the levels from ions and proteins, to neurons and glia, to nerves, to the brain and spinal cord. The NGSS clarification statement mentions movement in response to neural stimuli, which matches the path from motor neuron to the neuromuscular junction to muscle (Chapters 3 and 7). The Neuron Explorer and Clickable Brain Atlas can serve as starting models. |
| HS-LS1-3: "Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis." | 11, with 2 as a contrast | Section 11.7 shows cortisol's negative feedback in the HPA axis. In the HPA Axis Feedback Loop, students can change one variable at a time (feedback strength, repeated stress) and record what cortisol does, which is a simple simulated investigation. Chapter 2's threshold is a positive feedback loop, a useful comparison. The NGSS clarification statement lists heart rate response to exercise as one example investigation, which links to the fight-or-flight response in Section 11.6. |
AP Psychology, Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behavior¶
The current AP Psychology course framework has five units. The topic names below come from the College Board's AP Psychology Course at a Glance and course page.
| Unit 1 topic | Chapters that connect |
|---|---|
| 1.1 Interaction of Heredity and Environment | 8: The Developing and Teenage Brain (Section 8.13, nature and nurture) |
| 1.2 Overview of the Nervous System | 1: Neurons and Glia (CNS and PNS), 4: Neuroanatomy (Section 4.12, autonomic nervous system) |
| 1.3 The Neuron and Neural Firing | 1, 2, 3 (neurotransmitters, agonists and antagonists), 15 (reward pathway, tolerance) |
| 1.4 The Brain | 4, 9 (plasticity), 12 (lateralization and split-brain studies), 16 (brain imaging) |
| 1.5 Sleep | 10: Sleep and Brain States |
| 1.6 Sensation | 5: Vision, 6: Hearing, Touch, Taste, Smell, and Pain |
The book goes deeper into biology and medicine than AP Psychology requires, so treat it as enrichment, not as an exam prep book.
Using the MicroSims in class¶
Every MicroSim runs in a web browser with no login and no install. Each of the 16 chapter MicroSim pages has the same parts: the sim, a fullscreen button, How to Use steps, a learning objective, an Iframe Embed Code, and a Lesson Plan with timing, an activity, and assessment questions with answers.
Embedding. Copy the embed code from the sim's page (for example, the Visual Pathway Lesion Simulator) and paste it into your course page or learning management system, if it accepts iframes. The sim then runs inside your page.
Projector demos. Open the sim with the fullscreen button. Ask the class to call out what to change next. Narrate one change at a time, and pause before each result so students can commit to a guess.
Predict, observe, explain. This routine works with every sim:
- Predict. Students write what they think will happen and why, before touching anything. A sticky note or a one-line entry in a notebook is enough.
- Observe. Run the sim and record what actually happens.
- Explain. Students explain any mismatch in one or two sentences using the chapter's terms.
Built-in "predict first" options. Two sims can hide the answer for you:
- The Visual Pathway Lesion Simulator has a Hide result checkbox. Students sketch the visual field loss for each eye, then uncheck the box to compare.
- The Stroke Territory Map has a Predict first checkbox that hides the body until students uncheck it.
For the other sims, ask students to cover the result area or turn away while a partner sets up the change.
Pairs work better than solo. One student controls the sim while the other predicts and records, then they switch.
Quizzes as exit tickets, Brain Bee Practice as warm-ups¶
Quizzes. Each chapter has a 10-question multiple-choice quiz on its own page, for example the Chapter 1 quiz. Each answer opens in a "Show Answer" box with an explanation. For an exit ticket, pick two or three questions and project them in the last five minutes. Because answers are on the same page, copy the questions into your own form or paper handout if you want students to answer without peeking (the license allows this with credit). The explanations are useful for going over answers the next day.
Brain Bee Practice. Each chapter has five short-answer questions in the style of an oral round, with answers in a collapsible box. They make good warm-ups:
- Read one question aloud. Students write a one-word or one-phrase answer on a mini whiteboard or scrap paper.
- Reveal together, then ask one student to explain the reasoning.
- Mix in a question from an earlier chapter every few days. Spaced, mixed review helps memory, as Appendix A, Section A.4 explains.
Bedside cases as small-group diagnosis activities¶
Every chapter's At the Bedside case is a fictional teaching patient (except the historical cases of Phineas Gage and Patient H.M.). Each case follows the same pattern: Meet the patient, What the doctor checks, Where is the problem, Diagnosis, Why it happens, Treatment today, and a "Your turn: diagnose a variation" question. Appendix A, Section A.5 lists all 16 cases with links.
Facilitation guide (about 25 minutes)¶
- Set up (2 min). Groups of three or four. Give each group only the "Meet the patient" box, on paper or on screen. Assign roles: a reader, a recorder, a skeptic who asks "what else could it be?", and a reporter.
- Clues (5 min). Groups list every symptom and when it started. Is it sudden, over days, or over months? One side or both?
- Where (5 min). Groups decide where in the nervous system the problem is, before naming any disease. This is the "where before what" rule from Chapter 16.
- What and which test (5 min). Groups name their best guess and one test they would order to check it.
- Reveal (5 min). Show the rest of the case. Groups compare their reasoning with the book's.
- Twist (3 min). Read the "Your turn" question aloud. Each group answers in one sentence.
Tips for facilitators.
- Grade the reasoning, not the final label. A group that localizes correctly but names the wrong disease did the hard part.
- Remind students that the cases are fictional and are not medical advice. Ask students not to "diagnose" classmates or family members.
- Some cases involve car crashes, overdose, or serious illness. Preview the case before class and see the safety notes below.
Accessibility notes¶
- Devices. The book is a website. It works in a browser on phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and laptops. MicroSims resize to fit the screen, and the fullscreen button or turning a phone sideways gives more room.
- Network. The MicroSims load the p5.js library from cdn.jsdelivr.net. If a sim shows a blank area on school devices, ask your IT team whether that site is blocked.
- Screen readers. Each MicroSim includes a short text description of what it shows, added with the p5.js
describe()function, so screen readers can announce it. This description is a summary. It does not read out every change as a student moves a slider, so pair students who use screen readers with a partner, or use the chapter text and the sim's "About This MicroSim" section alongside it. - Keyboard. Most sims use standard menus, sliders, buttons, and checkboxes. Some actions also work by clicking on the drawing; in several sims a menu offers the same choice.
- Printing. Printable PDFs will be available on the Downloads page.
Safety and sensitivity notes¶
Most of the book is ordinary science, but two chapters deal with topics that can be personal for students.
- Chapter 11: Emotion, Stress, and the Body covers chronic stress and post-traumatic stress disorder. Its Bedside case is about a young adult with PTSD after a car crash.
- Chapter 15: Psychiatric Disorders, Developmental Disorders, and Addiction covers depression (including suicidal thoughts as a symptom), anxiety, schizophrenia, autism, ADHD, vaping, and addiction. Its Bedside case is an opioid overdose.
Before teaching these chapters:
- Tell students ahead of time what the chapter covers, and offer a way to step out or choose another task without explaining why.
- Follow your school's counseling and reporting protocols. Let your school counselor know the dates you will teach these chapters.
- Share crisis resources. In the U.S., anyone can call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or chat at 988lifeline.org. For substance use or mental health treatment referrals, SAMHSA's National Helpline is 1-800-662-4357.
- Keep the discussion about the science and the fictional cases. Don't ask students to share personal or family experiences.
- Use person-first or identity-first language as the chapter does, and avoid jokes about mental illness or drug use.
Other chapters also touch on serious illness, such as dementia (Chapter 13) and stroke and seizures (Chapter 14). A short heads-up before those cases is a kind habit.
Tell us how it went, or report an error¶
If you use the book with students, the author would love to hear how it went: what worked, what confused students, and what you changed. Please don't include student names or other personal information.
Open an issue on GitHub to share classroom feedback or to report a factual error, a broken link, or a sim that doesn't work. You can also see the Contact page.
Fine print¶
- Not medical advice. The Bedside cases are fictional teaching cases. Nothing in this book is medical advice. Anyone with symptoms should talk to a doctor.
- Not affiliated. This book is independent. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the International Brain Bee, any local or national Brain Bee, or the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). Check thebrainbee.org and your local Brain Bee chapter for official rules and study materials.