The students at Auburn Correctional Facility in upstate New York have much different backgrounds. They are not seasoned scholars. They are convicted felons, many of whom have never taken a biology class at any level. As such, when we signed up to teach Introduction to Neuroscience in Auburn, we initially set modest goals for these students. We expected that we would have to teach a rudimentary version of the demanding Cornell course.

We could not have been more wrong. This is the story of two neuroscience classes—one from Auburn and one from Cornell—and how the biggest differences between them had to do with how they approached the material, not how well they understood it.

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One of the first things we noticed when we started the neuroscience class at Auburn was that the students at Auburn aren’t distracted. They don’t have phones or laptops. Interruptions barely register. Faced with a commotion, Auburn students, seated in too-low chairs around a cluster of tables, might look up, glance around, but then they dive back into the discussion. The classroom becomes a shared creation of students and instructors that requires a total investment of effort. Time is what the students have; opportunity is what they need.

When asked why they want to study neuroscience, it is instantly clear that for many college students, the purpose of a class is at least partially a means to an end—a requirement to check off the list for graduation; a prerequisite for upper-level courses; another A to put on a medical-school application. But when the inmates are asked why they decided to study neuroscience, many of them state more noble, academic reasons: They want to learn and apply the knowledge they gain to develop a deeper appreciation for phenomena they experience in everyday life. “I come here because I’m thirsty,” Bedi (Babi) said. “I want to learn.”

Unsurprisingly, compared with college kids, Auburn students are older, more diverse, and come to class with a wealth of real-world experience. And their backgrounds drive how they think about the material in novel and unique ways that are informed by, and apply to, their own lives. “Will studying neuroscience help me understand what goes on around me,” asked O’Malley on the first day of class at Auburn, “like how my thoughts follow from each other, or how I can make my arm move, or even, whether we are really conscious?”

To be clear, many Cornell students are also interested in the course material for its own sake. And they bring their own lived experiences and perspectives as well. But their intellectual curiosity is often tempered by pressures connected to larger goals. “On campus, students can postpone the relevancy and gratification for years, until medical school or graduate school,” says Rob Scott, the director of CPEP. “But students in prison can’t assume these opportunities will come, so the curriculum has to be immediately relevant and help the students understand the world they see around them.”