Week 1 — record real electrical signals from life around Woods Hole (animals and plants), all caught by the students. Week 2 — rebuild those neural circuits on SpikerBot. Week 3 — student teams run their own projects and present at the Science Stroll. Leads lean on Tim & Greg; one owner per session; 2:15 mentor huddle daily.
Bioelectricity in the Wild. Hands-on ephys on animals & plants the students catch. Grasshopper first-spikes → escape circuit → journal club + fiddler crab → plant spikes → your own muscles.
From Brains to Robots. Model Week-1 circuits on SpikerBot: neural circuits → lateral inhibition → the Limulus "horseshoe-crab eye" robot → behavior challenge → project pitches. (Greg leads the room; Alex on demos.)
Student Projects. Teams design, build, and run their own investigation, then present it to the public at the Woods Hole Science Stroll.
| Day | Session | Lead | Prep owner needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1Mon Jul 20 | First Spikes — Catch & Record Welcome + why bioelectricity. Head to the field to catch grasshoppers (easy, no tide), then the SpikerBox: hear your first action potential from the grasshopper leg. |
Tim | SpikerBoxes charged; nets/jars; leg-prep tools; Tim confirms grasshopper leg prep |
| Day 2Tue Jul 21 | The Escape Circuit Grasshopper leg: stimulus → response, threshold, adaptation, the startle/escape reflex. Students evoke and record their own spikes. End of class: hand out the journal-club paper to read overnight. |
Greg | Same rigs; printed paper. If the 2:30–4:15 window hits low tide, tack on a short fiddler-crab collecting walk for Day 3. |
| Day 3Wed Jul 22 | Journal Club + Fiddler Crab Neuroethology Manolo's day Opens with Manolo's 30-min journal-club discussion of the paper, then his crustacean nervous-system & behavior lab (claw-waving, circadian rhythm, neuromodulation) using the collected crabs. |
Manolo | Ask Manolo now: pick + circulate the paper by Day 2, design the crab lab. Crabs collected (see tide note). His window closes Jul 29. |
| Day 4Thu Jul 23 | Plants Have Spikes Too Tim's day Collect local plants around School St, then the Plant SpikerBox: action potentials in Venus flytrap / Mimosa and signaling in the vegetation they gathered. Bioelectricity isn't just animals. Eve: Grass Appreciation Dinner, 6 PM. |
Tim | Plant SpikerBoxes; flytrap/Mimosa on hand; confirm which local plants respond |
| Day 5Fri Jul 24 | Your Own Muscles (EMG) + Week-1 Wrap Human EMG SpikerBox: record your muscle spikes; compare human vs grasshopper vs crab vs plant signals. "Signals control movement" — the teaser for robots. Consolidate the week. |
Tim Greg | EMG SpikerBoxes + electrodes; week-1 recap |
| Day | Session | Lead | Prep owner needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 6Mon Jul 27 | Neural Circuits & Lateral Inhibition Greg frames the science thinking — what's a "model" of a neuron? The horseshoe-crab (Limulus) lateral eye — Hartline's Nobel work done right here at Woods Hole. Manolo adds the biology (his last days). |
Greg Manolo | Limulus visuals; horseshoe crab from Week-1 scout; tie back to the journal-club paper |
| Day 7Tue Jul 28 | Meet SpikerBot Greg runs the room; Alex gives a tight, scripted intro demo (neurons as building blocks). Students then program a simple sensor → neuron → motor reflex — the escape circuit from Day 2, now in silicon — with Greg & Tim circulating. |
Greg Alex · demo | SpikerBots charged + on v1.5; tablets/laptops; robot count vs students; Alex's demo hard-capped ~15 min |
| Day 8Wed Jul 29 | The Horseshoe-Crab Robot Program lateral inhibition on SpikerBot — edge detection / contrast enhancement, the Limulus eye in silicon. The payoff of Day 6. Greg leads; Alex's showpiece demo (capped). (Manolo's last day — he sees it land.) |
Greg Alex · demo | Lateral-inhibition SpikerBot demo tested in advance |
| Day 9Thu Jul 30 | Behavior Challenge Teams program SpikerBots for a behavior task (phototaxis / obstacle-avoidance) using neuron models. Greg & Tim run the challenge; Alex floats for deep-dive help. |
Greg Tim | Challenge arena / course; scoring rubric |
| Day 10Fri Jul 31 | Project Pitches & Team Formation Students pitch project ideas — animal ephys, plant ephys, or a SpikerBot — form teams, and get a mentor. Weekend to think before the Week-3 build. |
All Greg | Project menu + idea sheet; mentor assignments |
| Day | Session | Lead | Prep owner needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 11Mon Aug 3 | Project Work I — Question & Method Teams lock a testable question and design their setup with a mentor. Start collecting first data. |
Greg Tim Maribel/Luca | Bench space + gear per team; Maribel & Luca now on site to mentor |
| Day 12Tue Aug 4 | Project Work II — Data Run the experiment / build the robot. Iterate on protocol; troubleshoot with mentors. |
Tim Mentors | Spare electrodes/specimens/bots; data templates |
| Day 13Wed Aug 5 | Project Work III — Analysis & Stroll Build Analyze results; build the public-facing demo + poster for the Science Stroll. Frame the story for a general audience. |
Greg Mentors | Poster materials; demo props; Stroll station list |
| Day 14Thu Aug 6 | Showcase + Stroll Dry-Run final class day Teams present to the group and rehearse the public demo. Certificates / wrap. Confirm who's returning Sat for the Stroll. |
Greg Tim | Presentation order; certificates; Saturday headcount |
| ★ StrollSat Aug 8 | Woods Hole Science Stroll — 10 AM–3 PM Students present their projects to the public alongside BYB demos. Greg, Tim & Alex all on-site through Aug 8; Maribel too. |
All + students | Confirm slot/booth w/ Heather Rhodes; consumables (Grass covers); transport for returning students |