"My dog's sitting on the couch, and I say, 'You want to go out?' and she jumps up. You can see the feeling – all the activity," Buz Morison tells his College-Level Neuroscience students on a recent winter morning. He is building toward a larger point about decision-making, but first, he wants them to sit with something counterintuitive. "A decision is an emotional reflex. It's not a cognitive choice."
A hand shoots up. "But wait – if it's not cognitive, then..." The student stops, rethinking. "Then what are we actually doing when we think we're choosing?" "That's the question,” Buz Replies.
This is what inquiry-based learning looks like at Proctor – not passive note-taking and stand-and-deliver lectures, but genuine intellectual wrestling with educators providing feedback and prompting in real time. In an age when students can access content any time and anywhere, the teacher's role shifts – cognitive coaching and sparking student curiosity become much more important than content delivery. Students must also learn to sit with uncertainty rather than rushing past it, to embrace productive struggle rather than offloading cognitive work. It is in moments of friction that the deepest learning occurs and can be applied across different contexts.
Walk into Buz's classroom on any given day, and you will find students grappling with difficult questions. On this particular morning, students debated whether empathy is a calculation or a feeling, explored how evolution has shaped our capacity for connection, and examined what happens in the brain when we care about what others think of us. The conversation moved from the science of mirror neurons to questions of morality, from cell biology to what it means to be human
The course centers on one of science's most compelling unanswered questions: how a living brain gives rise to a conscious mind. Students explore the biological mechanisms behind thought, emotion, and behavior – drawing from biology, physics, and computational science alongside psychology and philosophy. Ask Buz about his goals, however, and he does not mention content. Instead, he talks about "mind-blowing 'aha' moments" and inspiration.
"Traditional school asks students to follow directions, jump through hoops, regurgitate back what they're told," Buz explains. "That's not thinking for yourself." His response might seem counterintuitive. Rather than doing more as an educator, he steps back – creating space for students to find their own way.
"Take a group of eight-year-olds who want to build a go kart," he says. "You could show them how. Or you could just say, go out in the garage and do it – and they will. They'll figure out the wheels, the steering. I think we get too hung up on the idea that we can teach them how to think. You let them be free to think, and they will discover. And it will be a lot more meaningful."
What distinguishes College-Level courses – and what animates Buz's approach – is a reorientation of priorities away from covering content and toward genuine inquiry, away from breadth and toward depth. At Proctor, students seeking academic challenge have multiple pathways: Honors courses in 9th and 10th grades, Advanced Placement courses, and College-Level electives that match and often exceed AP rigor. The prerequisites for College-Level Neuroscience are Biology, two terms of Chemistry with grades averaging above 85, and a Department Head recommendation. Students with diverse academic backgrounds, however, find success in the course, including those currently or previously enrolled in Learning Skills.
For many teachers, College-Level courses offer something AP cannot – the freedom to teach the way they believe students actually learn best. The College Board's framework requires comprehensive coverage of content, leaving little room for slower, more deliberate exploration.
"We have kids who deserve that level of exciting academics," Buz says. "If they're not discovering stuff that's fascinating, if they're not having their brains twisted and challenged – then they're not growing the way I want them to grow."
For Buz, teaching is not about transmitting skills but unlocking abilities already present within students. His method keeps them on the edge of their seats with questions, never letting them settle into passive intake. "If you're in the mindset that there's content being presented and it's your job to write it down and memorize it, you've shortchanged yourself," Buz emphasizes.
Later that morning in Neuroscience class, the conversation shifted to cooperation and self-image. "You look in the mirror, and you look like heck – your hair's a mess," Buz says, getting laughs. "And you think, 'I'm not going out of the house this way.' Why? Why would you care?" Students call out answers: social acceptance, fear of judgment, wanting to belong. "Exactly. You value what other people think of you. And thank goodness you do – otherwise you'd be a total jerk. How could you have altruism without that?" “The same wiring that makes you worry about judgment is what makes genuine kindness possible."
"I didn't really think about the grades being a necessity – or on your transcript, on your resume, or whatever. It just felt like I wanted to be better.
I learned that I'm actually really enjoying fighting for learning this concept. It feels good to get it."
~ Yourself (Dillo) Radwan ’25 on College-Level courses at Proctor.
"I want [my students], a year from now, reading in the New York Times about some new neural prosthetic, to really understand it," Buz says. "When they're talking about dopamine or circuits or memory, I want them to have a sense of how neurons work, the basic paradigms – so they can bring it with them through all different scenarios." What students take with them is not content in the traditional sense – not a list of terms or a set of facts to recall. Rather, it is the ability to encounter something new and have the confidence to make sense of it: to ask the right questions, to see how pieces connect, and to become comfortable with complexity. And perhaps most important of all, the recognition that they have the ability and skillset to do so.
Read More About The Honors Option at Proctor: College-Level, AP, and Honors Courses
- Academics
- Honors Option