Course: Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Bennett
Module: Week 3 of 16 · Fall 2026 · in-person, two 75-minute sessions
Objective covered: Objective 3 — Describe the biological bases of behavior — neurons, neurotransmitters, and the structures and functions of the nervous system and brain.

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Module 3 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Welcome Announcement that drips out when the module opens. Dates below assume a Tuesday/Thursday session pattern with Week 3 meeting Tue Sep 15 and Thu Sep 17, and end-of-week work due Sunday Sep 20, 11:59 p.m. Adjust the day-of-week and times to match your section.

(A) Module 3 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Week 3: Biological Bases of Behavior

This is your home base for the week. Read it first, then work the checklist below from top to bottom. Everything you need is linked inside the module.

This week we open the hood. For two weeks we asked what psychology studies and how it studies it. Now we ask where behavior actually lives — and the answer is biology: billions of cells passing chemical messages, organized into a nervous system and a brain. Every feeling you've ever had and every move you've ever made started as an electrical pulse in a single nerve cell. The good news: it's far more learnable than it looks. We lead with plain pictures — a cell that receives, decides, and sends; a chemical that leaps a gap; a brain that divides its labor into named neighborhoods.

The week's big question

"If every thought, feeling, and movement is built from cells passing chemical messages, how does a brain made of biology produce a mind?"

By Friday you'll be able to trace a signal from one neuron to the next, say what the major brain chemicals do, lay out the nervous system from spinal cord to cortex, and explain why "we only use 10% of our brains" is a myth.

By the end of this week, you can…

Use this as a checklist. If you can do all four out loud, you're ready for the quiz.

• [ ] Label the neuron — dendrites (receive), soma, axon, myelin sheath (insulates & speeds), terminal buttons (release) — and trace a signal through it.
• [ ] Explain the neural impulse and the synapse — resting potential → threshold → the all-or-none action potential → refractory period; and how neurotransmitters cross the synaptic gap (neurons don't touch) and are cleared by reuptake.
• [ ] Match the major neurotransmitters to their roles — acetylcholine (muscle, memory), dopamine (reward/movement), serotonin (mood/sleep), GABA (calming), glutamate (excitatory), endorphins (pain relief) — using careful "associated with" language.
• [ ] Lay out the nervous system and the brain — CNS vs. PNS, somatic vs. autonomic, sympathetic (fight-or-flight) vs. parasympathetic (rest-and-digest); plus the medulla, cerebellum, amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, the four lobes, and neuroplasticity.

What's due this week, and when

Work these in order — each one gets you ready for the next.

Heads-up on the AI tutorial: you'll use a chatbot to draft and explain, and then you judge its work against what we cover in class. Chatbots routinely swap dopamine and serotonin — ask one "which neurotransmitter is most associated with Parkinson's / with reward and movement?" and watch whether it answers dopamine for both. Catching the model is the point.

Late policy reminder: 10% off per day late. If life happens, reach out before the deadline — I'd much rather hear from you early.

How to succeed this week

• Lead with the picture, not the jargon. A neuron is a cell that receives, decides, sends. A synapse is a gap chemicals jump. A lobe is a brain neighborhood with a job. The vocabulary lands after the picture clicks.
• Memorize two tiny hooks. "Dendrites receive, axon delivers, terminals release; myelin is the bubble wrap." And for the autonomic system: "Sympathetic = gas, parasympathetic = brake."
• Say the structures out loud. Point at a brain diagram and name each part and its job — medulla (heartbeat/breathing), cerebellum (balance), amygdala (fear), hippocampus (memory), the four lobes. Naming beats re-reading.
• Mind the careful wording. It's "serotonin is associated with mood," not "serotonin causes depression." One chemical rarely tells the whole story — and saying it carefully is part of thinking like a scientist.
• Treat the chatbot as a smart intern, not an oracle. It drafts; you check — especially on which chemical does what. That habit is the whole semester in miniature.

You don't need any biology background for this week — just a willingness to learn a handful of new names and picture how they fit together. Come to class ready to snap your fingers and trace the signal that made it happen. See you Tuesday.

(B) Welcome Announcement — Module 3

Release setting: post on the module's start day (offset = 0 days), i.e., Mon Sep 14, 2026 — not before. If your platform won't preserve the scheduled date on import, post this as a draft labeled "Release: Mon Sep 14."

Subject: Welcome to Week 3 — let's open the hood on the brain 🧠

Hi everyone, and welcome to Week 3!

Quick warm-up: snap your fingers, right now. That snap just took a round trip through billions of cells — a decision in your frontal lobe, an electrical pulse down a nerve fiber wrapped in fatty insulation, a burst of chemicals leaping a microscopic gap, and a muscle firing — all in under a tenth of a second. This week we learn how that happens.

This week — Biological Bases of Behavior — we tackle the big question: If every thought, feeling, and movement is built from cells passing chemical messages, how does a brain made of biology produce a mind? By Friday you'll trace a signal from one neuron to the next, say what the major brain chemicals do, lay out the nervous system, and know why "we only use 10% of our brains" is a myth.

Three things not to miss:
1. Lecture Tutorial 3 — work through the neuron, the action potential, the synapse, the neurotransmitters, the nervous system, and the brain with one approved chatbot (Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) and submit the share link. You'll catch the model's chemistry mix-ups, not just trust it. Due Sun Sep 20.
2. Quiz 3, Discussion 3, and Assignment 3 also close Sun Sep 20 — the discussion ("Nature, Nurture, and Your Brain") is a quick AI dialogue you summarize and post, so start early and leave time to reply to classmates.
3. Open the Start Here page first — it lays out everything in order with due dates.

One promise: there's a lot of new vocabulary this week, but we never lead with the jargon. Every term is a plain picture first — a cell that receives and sends, a chemical that jumps a gap, a brain divided into neighborhoods with jobs. Learn the pictures and the words follow.

Bring your curiosity (and your snapping fingers) to class on Tuesday.

See you soon,
Prof. Bennett