Project PI Announces Second Year of the Afterschool Brain Boost Program
Project Principal Investigator Michael E. Martinez has announced the start of the second year of the afterschool Brain Boost program.
Last year project researchers completed the pilot program at two schools in the Irvine Unified School District. The principal of one of the schools, Scott Bowman of Rancho Middle School, reported that response to the pilot program has been overwhelmingly positive. "Brain Boost really took off at Rancho! Over 70 students and their parents are very excited about the program and what it offers the participants. The activities are interesting and challenging at the same time."
This year researchers are implementing the official research design with a treatment and a control group. During winter quarter, Brain Boost is continuing at Rancho Middle School in Irvine, and in the spring the program will be functioning at both Rancho Middle School and University Park Elementary.
In explaining program goals, Professor Martinez commented,
The primary aim of Brain Boost is the rather unusual goal of enhancing human intelligence. Through activities in the afterschool programs, Brain Boost builds three components of intelligence: working memory, inductive reasoning, and vocabulary reasoning. The program also aims to boost motivation by teaching students that intelligence is malleable rather than fixed.
