The Crawdad Project: Crustaceans as Model Systems for Teaching Principles of Neuroscience

The characteristics that make crustaceans useful model systems in neurobiology research also make them ideal for teaching principles of neuronal excitability and synaptic communication in the student laboratory. We briefly describe the contents of our CD-ROM lab manual for undergraduate students, highlighting the crustacean preparations that form its core. The CD-ROM format allows detailed procedural videos to supplement traditional text descriptions in lab manuals. The entire series of Crawdad exercises could be used for a semester course in neurophysiology. In our experience, most of the exercises can also stand alone and supplement the teaching of nervous system physiology in a wide variety of educational environments.