Brain Research Apprenticeships in New York at Columbia

Educational Activities Clinical Trial

— BRAINYAC  

Official title:

Brain Research Apprenticeships in New York at Columbia (BRAINYAC)

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04728022
• Other study ID #: AAAT4760
• Secondary ID: 1R25NS115551-01
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: December 30, 2020
• Est. completion date: January 30, 2025

Study information

• Verified date: January 2021
• Source: Columbia University
• Contact: Paula L Croxson, PhD
• Phone: 212-854-3575
• Email: pc2854[@]columbia.edu
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The objective of the BRAINYAC program is to prepare high school students for, and deliver, the experience of working in a neuroscience research laboratory over a summer. Our program goals are to prepare local students from Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx with the skills necessary to enter a working research laboratory over a period of 8 months, and support them in learning key laboratory skills and communicating them to an audience.Our hypothesis is that students' self-reports of scientific effectiveness and science identity will improve over the course of the 8-month long program. Self-reported efficacy measures predict academic performance in science, so an improvement in these self-report measures may indicate a higher likelihood to succeed in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies or careers. Likewise, science identity has a positive impact on a student's likelihood of entering a science career, particularly in populations that are under-represented in science.Over a 4-year period we will track students' self-reports of (1) scientific efficacy, including their level of confidence in scientific writing, oral presentation, library and literature search, conducting research and general academic skills, and (2) science identity. We will adopt a mixed-methods approach combining survey data with focus groups and interviews to present a full picture of these changes. We also propose to track students after they leave the program, to measure whether the changes in scientific self-efficacy translate into STEM studies at the level of higher education or career choices. We will also obtain data from scientific mentors in the program to inform us whether we are adequately supporting them in providing the students with training.

Description:

This study will utilize a mixed methodological approach integrating quantitative and qualitative data elements. It will employ a one-group, pretest-posttest research design, in order to allow us to determine the effect of participation in the BRAINYAC program (i.e., the intervention) on participating students' STEM development (i.e., efficacy and identity). The study will also include retrospective individual and focus group interviews in order to obtain a fuller understanding of the concepts under study (e.g., scientific identity, readiness to pursue science, etc.) from the students' point of reference. To the extent possible, the study will incorporate a longitudinal analysis in order to examine how program participation affects students' academic and career decisions in their final high school and postsecondary years through retrospective surveys of alumni participants. In addition to assessing program impact, the research design will include an evaluation component to examine program implementation. Through an examination of program documentation (e.g., student attendance, descriptions of activities) and retrospective surveys of participants (i.e., students and mentors) this component will determine the extent to which the program was implemented as proposed. It will provide valuable information connecting program elements to observed outcomes and can be used to make modifications to the research and/or program designs, as needed.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 80
• Est. completion date: January 30, 2025
• Est. primary completion date: January 30, 2025
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 15 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• All students and mentors in the program will be invited to enroll

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Educational Activities

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Education program
Mentored high school summer research program

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Columbia University	New York	New York

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Columbia University	National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Self-report of scientific effectiveness	Change in Likert score	8 months
Primary	Self-report of scientific identity	Change in Likert score	8 months
Primary	Likelihood of studying science in college or going on to a science career	Change in Likert score	4 years

External Links

•   Program web page