Brain Research Apprenticeships in New York at Columbia
Recruiting now · Not applicable
Conditions studied: Educational Activities
In brief
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.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT04728022
- Run by
- Columbia University
- People needed
- 180
- Starts
- 2020-12-30
- Expected to finish
- 2026-08-01
- Last updated by the study team
- 2026-02-20
Who can join
Age: 15 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.
You may qualify if…
- All students and mentors in the program will be invited to enroll
You may not qualify if…
- None
Where it is running
- Zuckerman Institute, Columbia University — New York, New York, United States (enrolling)
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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