Thursday, November 21, 2024 11/21/2024

Brain Healthy: Engaging Students in Citizen Science Brain Health and Wellness Investigations to Promote Data Science Literacy

Award Number: R25GM146286
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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PROJECT SUMMARY Brain Healthy builds upon the success of BrainWaves, a prior NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA)-supported program, which has been successfully implemented in 25 public New York City schools, reaching over 600 students. Our new proposed program, Brain Healthy, is responsive to one of the new areas of high SEPA programmatic interest: providing students with access to research-generated data to prepare students for data science careers. Brain Healthy will be designed by a multidisciplinary team across the University of Connecticut and New York University in partnership with public school teachers in Connecticut and New York City that primarily serve students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). It will be implemented as a month-long unit within a 9th/10th grade core biology course. Students in the program will first participate in a large-scale “citizen science” research project by taking a comprehensive survey (partially developed by students themselves) about their health and lifestyle practices. Students will also measure their heart rate with fitness trackers and complete a computerized cognitive (Stroop) task and mood survey. They will learn about brain plasticity and how positive (e.g., physical exercise) and negative (e.g., stress) life experiences impact our brain. With support from near-peer mentors (NPMs), students will then design data-driven investigations utilizing the entire de-identified citizen science database collected across all the participating schools, exploring questions, such as how sleep quality relates to mood and how fitness level associates with ability to focus. The Brain Healthy platform will guide students through these investigations by providing scaffolding in critical steps of the process. The program will culminate in a school-wide science fair, where students will share their findings with the wider school community. The program will be accompanied by professional development (PD) courses for teachers and NPMs prior to school implementation with additional just-in-time support. The main educational research questions are how does participation in a “citizen science” brain health and wellness program impact: 1) Students’ conceptual understanding of data analysis and brain plasticity, and their attitudes toward STEM; 2) Teachers’ self-efficacy in facilitating data-driven student investigations; 3) NPMs’ mentoring ability and intent to persist in STEM. Three cohorts of 10 teachers will be recruited, each participating for three years, with the first year occurring prior to the Brain Healthy PD course (serving as a well-matched comparison). Across the 5- year project, ~1500 students are expected to participate in Brain Healthy. Project evaluation will utilize pre- and post-program surveys, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $265,963 )
2024	2024	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE	140 COMMONWEALTH AVE	CHESTNUT HILL	MA	02467	MIDDLESEX	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	001	3	9/13/2024	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$265,963
2024	2023	UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT	438 WHITNEY RD EXTENSION UNIT 1133	STORRS	CT	06269	CAPITOL	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	2	9/13/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $265,963

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $267,726 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT	438 WHITNEY RD EXTENSION UNIT 1133	STORRS	CT	06269	CAPITOL	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	2	8/28/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$267,726
														Subtotal = $267,726

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $271,119 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT	438 WHITNEY RD EXTENSION UNIT 1133	STORRS	CT	06269	CAPITOL	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	1	8/3/2022	NEW	$271,119
														Subtotal = $271,119

Grand Total All Awards = $804,808

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Brain Healthy: Engaging Students in Citizen Science Brain Health and Wellness Investigations to Promote Data Science Literacy

Award Number: R25GM146286

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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