Syllabus

BCSC 251: Syllabus

Fall 2025

Time & Location

Tuesday & Thursday 9:40-10:55am
Wilmot 116

Instructor: Jennifer Marsella
Office hours: Thursdays 1:15-1:45pm (Zoom) or by appointment

Graduate TA: Tracy Preko
Office hours: Mondays 5:30-6:30pm (Zoom) or by appointment

Undergraduate TA: Laura Houle
Office hours: Mondays 3-4pm or by appointment

Undergraduate TA: Annette (Huyn Ah) Lee
Office hours: TBD or by appointment

Course Description

This course introduces the field of sleep science and medicine, in which we examine sleep from the level of cellular functioning up to sleep at the society level. Topics addressed include the neurochemistry of sleep, circadian biology, the history of sleep, normal sleep physiology, sleep across the lifespan, diagnostic sleep testing, sleep deprivation, sleep disorders, sex differences in sleep, the effect of sleep disruption on society, and dreams. Students will develop analytical skills by critically reading and discussing primary literature about various sleep topics.

Prerequisite: NSCI 201/BCSC 240. Third- and fourth-year students only.
Credit hours: 4

Course Objectives

Students who complete this course successfully will be able to:

  1. Recognize the underlying neurophysiologic mechanisms of normal sleep and wakefulness.
  2. Describe the different stages of sleep, circadian rhythmicity, and how sleep changes across the lifespan.
  3. Discuss common sleep disorders, their evaluations/testing, and their treatments.
  4. Explain the benefits of sleep and the consequences of inadequate or disordered sleep.
  5. Illustrate the impact of sleep on society through discussion of current news articles.
  6. Implement tools to assess sleep in yourself and others.
  7. Critically and systematically analyze the primary sleep literature.
  8. Formulate a presentation on a sleep topic of your interest.
  9. Design a sleep outreach project to promote sleep health in the community.
  10. Assess the presentations of your peers and provide constructive feedback.

Required Texts & Readings

There is no required textbook. All required readings are journal articles that will be electronically-available and posted on Blackboard. It is expected that students will complete the required readings (for class and for journal club) before class.

Other Recommended Reading

If you are interested in supplemental reading:

Sleep Science, 1st edition. Hawley Montgomery-Downs. ISBN: 978-0190923259. This is available at UR Library Course Reserves (online).

Course Work

Course learning activities provide opportunities for interaction with classmates and the professor and support active learning. The course learning activities are specifically designed to help students achieve the course learning objectives. Activities include:

  1. Class Discussions
  2. Quizzes
  3. Journal Clubs
  4. Discussion Boards
  5. Papers
  6. Presentations
  7. Peer Feedback

This course follows the College credit hour policy for four-credit courses. This course meets twice weekly for in-class instruction (of 75 minutes each) for a total of 3 academic hours per week. The course also includes independent out-of-class assignments for an average of one academic hour of per week. In this course, students with complete independent and group discussion activities using readings and other course materials. These activities include student-led discussions on Blackboard, including the Sleep in the Media section, reading academic papers for journal club, and preparation for presentations. Additionally, the students are assumed to complete 8 hours of supplementary work per week for this course.

Major Assignments

  1. Journal Club: This will be an opportunity to read the primary literature for various sleep topics and learn how to systematically and critically evaluate scientific research papers. Please use the Journal Club worksheet when you are presenting. We will review this at our first Journal Club (no student presenter, but all expected to fill out the Journal Club worksheet). At all subsequent Journal Clubs, students will each present one paper on the date assigned. All students are expected to read every paper prior to class and complete the 3-question primer unless presenting. Papers will be added the week prior to Journal Club.
  2. Sleep Diary Reflection Paper: A 1-2 page reflection paper (about 400-500 words) based upon your completed sleep diary. In this reflection paper:
    • Summarize your sleep diary/graph findings: what did you observe, what patterns do you notice, was there variability throughout the week, what interfered or helped your sleep?
    • Calculate your sleep efficiency and interpret this: what does this suggest about your sleep?
    • Take the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (on Blackboard), interpret your score on this scale in relation to what you found from graphing your sleep diaries, does it make sense? Why or why not?
    • Discuss your feelings about tracking your sleep. Were there any surprises? How does this compare to your thoughts about your sleep prior to tracking with these sleep diaries?
    • Discuss changes you would recommend to yourself to possibly improve your sleep quality and duration. How would you expect these changes to affect your sleep patterns/quality and why?
  3. Sleep Questionnaire Paper: A 3-4 page paper (about 1000 words) evaluating your chosen participant based upon at least 5 sleep questionnaires. In this Sleep Questionnaire paper:
    • Give a brief summary of your participant and aspects of their sleep you want to evaluate and/or potential sleep concerns you want to further explore
    • Explain your reasoning for choosing the 5 questionnaires that you did to help with your evaluation
    • Report the results of the 5 questionnaires
    • Interpret the results of the 5 questionnaires and how they fit together to form an assessment of the participant's sleep
    • Give your final assessment of your participant based upon the questionnaires, and include what next steps you would recommend, including further testing, treatment, or counseling (e.g. what advice you would give them)
  4. Quizzes: There are eight brief quizzes about course content on Blackboard. You may use class materials to help you answer the questions. This is an individual quiz, which should not be taken with others.
  5. Final Sleep Topic Presentation: Each student will give a mini-lecture on their chosen sleep topic with the opportunity to answer questions at the end of the presentation. This presentation should include:
    • Learning objectives for the talk
    • Reason for pursuing this topic
    • Background on the topic and the specific question(s) you are addressing
    • Underlying neurologic mechanisms
    • Relevant findings from the literature (expand beyond the three articles from the literature review)
    • A cohesive presentation of the key points
    • References
  6. Final Sleep Outreach Project Paper: A 4-5 page grant proposal for a community sleep health award. This paper will outline in detail (who, what, when, where, why, how) a proposed community-level sleep project/initiative. Think: something within sleep you are passionate about that can affect the larger community outside of college campuses, as well as the population on which you are most looking to make an impact. Be sure to include how you plan to implement this project, the literature that supports it, what you expect the impact to be, and possible barriers you may encounter.

Discussion Board Participation

In preparation for the Final Sleep Topic Presentation, there will be a discussion section in which we will share ideas and ask questions to improve these presentations, as well as to better understand sleep topics and readings under study. Your MINIMUM participation is five posts for the first discussion board prompt (one initial post and at least four responses to classmates' posts) and three posts for the second discussion board prompt (one initial post and at least two responses to classmates' posts). I anticipate that you will be compelled to respond much more frequently than this. In addition, your postings to the discussion should be contributed over the duration of the module, not within the same brief session, to receive the maximum score.

  1. Discussion Board for Sleep Topic Final Presentation:
    1. The first post is an initial sleep topic idea based on course readings, lectures, activities, and interest. Classmates will respond with suggestions and other feedback.
    2. The second post is a literature review on at least three primary literature sources for their topic. Classmates will reply to this post with feedback on appropriateness of chosen studies to support the topic, recommendations for additional areas to include evidence, and other thoughts.
  2. Sleep in the Media: Each student will post one current news article, podcast, etc. related to sleep on their assigned week over the course of the semester, along with a brief description of why they chose the media item, their thoughts, etc. Classmates will review these posts and respond weekly to one of the four posts per week, except for the week they are assigned to post (total of one submission and seven responses), with how the submission fits in with what we are learning in class, anything interesting to note, etc.

Peer Feedback

Class members will provide feedback for six class members’ Sleep Topic Final Presentations.

Class Participation

Students are expected to attend all class sessions as this includes interactive discussion. If there is a conflict, please speak to the course instructor in advance to make alternate arrangements. Each absence from class will result in a one-point deduction from the Participation grade. All class interactions are expected to be respectful and supportive of an inclusive learning environment. Class members are also encouraged to ask questions in the class discussion board (“Ask a Question”) and respond to each other with meaningful replies to maximize their Participation score.

Questionnaires

There will be a questionnaire prior to the course start and at the end of the course. This includes questions on course content as well as course organization. This is graded for completion, not for accuracy. Please take this questionnaire individually and do not look up answers to questions. The pre-course questionnaire will help me to get to know you better. The post-course questionnaire will help improve the course for future years. This is anonymous and reviewed after grades are submitted.

Course Grading

Grading Policy

Assignments will be graded out of a certain number of points, which are equivalent to the percentage weight of the assignment. For example, the Sleep Questionnaire Paper is worth 10% of the total grade and will be graded out of 10 points. Major assignments will have an accompanying rubric for grading.

Students should expect to receive feedback/grades on their assignments within 3 weeks after the due date. If there are questions about grading, please reach out within one week of the grade posting. Beyond that time, the grade will not be re-assessed and remain as is. If there is a request to re-assess grading, the new grade will replace the initial one (higher or lower).

Activity: Percentage (%)

  • Questionnaires
    • Pre-Course: 2
    • Post-Course: 2
  • Quizzes (total of 8): 8
  • Journal Club:
    • Intro Journal Club Worksheet: 1
    • Journal Club – Primary Presenter: 2
    • Journal Club 3-Question Primer: 11
  • Discussion Board
    • Sleep in the Media: 1
    • Peer Feedback to Sleep in the Media x7: 7
    • Sleep Topic Proposal: 1
    • Peer Feedback to Sleep Topic Proposal: 2
    • Sleep Topic Literature Review: 5
    • Peer Feedback to Sleep Topic Literature Review: 2
  • Papers
    • Sleep Diary Reflection: 5
    • Sleep Questionnaire: 10
    • Final Sleep Outreach Project: 15
  • Presentations
    • Sleep Topic Final: 20
  • Peer Feedback on Final Presentations: 6

Total: 100

Final Letter Grades:

  • A 93-100%
  • A- 90-<93%
  • B+ 87-<90%
  • B 83-<87%
  • B- 80-<83%
  • C+ 77-<80%
  • C 73-<77%
  • C- 70-<73%
  • D 65-<70%
  • E <65%