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

> **NIH NIH R25** · BOSTON COLLEGE · 2024 · $265,963

## Abstract

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.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11166124
- **Project number:** 7R25GM146286-03
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Ido Davidesco
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $265,963
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2022-08-05 → 2027-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11166124

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11166124, Brain Healthy: Engaging Students in Citizen Science Brain Health and Wellness Investigations to Promote Data Science Literacy (7R25GM146286-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11166124. Licensed CC0.

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