...but can be a challenge sometimes. This semester I teach a course in neurobiology for third term bioinformatics bachelor students. This means getting students with no prior knowledge in anatomy or physiology to record successfully (extracellularly!) from neurons, evaluate the traces on the computer and write a detailed paper on every experimental day. It is a challenge both for me to motivate the students if the preparation is not working or I have to tell them that they flunked their paper, but of course the sheer enormity of new material is a challenge in itself for the students. So far, none of the students really excel, but they do a pretty good job of assimilating the knowledge, building an understanding of how neurons and network work and improving their papers to keep up with my raising expectations. They all work hard and that's what counts most.
It's fun to interact with them and see the sparkle in their eyes when insight and understanding sets in