Portraits of the Brain
Mary Ellen Alu
University Communications
Post-baccalaureate student Viola Yu '21, left, and Sarrah Hussain '21 created hundreds of watercolors, cresyl stainings, digital art and ink drawings, as well as animations for use in the online chapters
How do you create an illustration of the brain that is visually appealing as well as effective in teaching students about neuroanatomy, the study of the brain's organization?
Sarrah Hussain ’21 and post-baccalaureate student Viola Yu '21 were put to the task this past summer as they created medical illustrations for online, open-access textbook chapters conceived by Jennifer Swann, professor of biological sciences at Lehigh. Swann collaborated with visiting art, architecture and design assistant professor Deirdre Murphy in mentoring the students, who were awarded fellowships from the Lehigh Humanities Lab to work on what became known as the brain visualization project.
“When you're doing a textbook, you really need illustrations to help people understand what the work is that you're referring to,” said Swann. “[It’s] that picture-is-a-thousand words kind of thing, where, if I describe the phenomenon to you, you get bored halfway through this three-paragraph description, but if I show you the picture, you’re with me, and then you can ask me questions.”
Professor Jennifer Swann conceived the online, open-access textbook chapters. The student illustrators, who worked with sheep brains to better understand and conceptualize the brain, created hundreds of watercolors, cresyl stainings, digital art and ink drawings as well as animations for use in the online chapters. “They really learned how to synthesize the fine art, visual language with the scientific language to then make really compelling images and animations,” Murphy said.
The illustrated textbook chapters have their origins in a course that Swann teaches on the brain and behavior. Concerned in part by the high costs of textbooks, Swann was interested in creating chapter materials that would be available for use through an open-access network. More significantly, Swann said the textbook chapters were a teaching and learning technique, in which a core group of students extensively researched and wrote the chapters as they explored their areas of interest in neuroanatomy.
“I believe that students learn what they're interested in learning,” Swann said. “If you force something on them, they will fight with it. But if you capture their interest, they lead you. That's always my goal. I have kind of a selfish goal in classes, which is, I want to learn as much as the students do, and so, to generate classes where I know a little bit of the material and I'm going to actually challenge myself to learn the rest of it along with the class. It's so much more fun that way, because we're all learning together. And when I can add my expertise, I do.”
The book chapters explore “Circadian Rhythms,” “Parenting” and “Neuroanatomy of Dreams: Physiological Pathways and Psychological Understanding.”
Click here to read more about this fascinating project.
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