By Maggie Bushman/ Communications Intern
Our team prides ourselves on completing credible research in the field of social media and adolescent health. However, we also jump at any chance to help students learn and apply the research process.
Summer 2018 will be the fourth year of our Summer Research Scholars program. This program was created to give students the opportunity to gain hands on research experience in high school. Now that our team has moved to Madison, Wisconsin, Summer Research Scholars will take place for the first time in the midwest. The program was initially founded in 2015 in Seattle, Washington. SMAHRT works hard to run a beneficial program for all of those involved. Students in the Madison area are only eligible to apply, which makes the program impactful in a specific area. Early at the beginning of the school year an opportunity arose to spread the underlying idea of Summer Research Scholars across the country.
In August 2017, our P.I., Dr. Megan Moreno, was approached by two students from Maryland and D.C. These high school students were conducting a project for one of their classes and needed an expert in the field. Luckily, they both chose us.
Two of our SMHARTies, Aubrey Gower and Marina Jenkins, stepped up to become mentors to these students. Their role was to review, edit and offer suggestions throughout the project. The first step that the mentors took was to set up a time to get to know each student and answer any questions that they had. The projects were different for each student, but the overall goal was to help students to properly apply the research process.
We wanted this mentorship to be beneficial to both parties. When asked what they wanted the students to get out of this experience, both Marina and Aubrey expressed that they wanted the students to properly apply what they had learned about the research process.
“It was interesting to see how people learn the research process and adapt it to different students”, said Aubrey. She noted that her own student was different than the others she had worked with in that their initial research question was broad. Other students typically started with a very narrow research question. Aubrey found it very valuable to be able to witness her student narrow down their research question and connect their ideas in their paper.
Mentors were also able to learn valuable skills. “It is important that I can explain in detail the research process”, said Marina. She found this experience to be influential to her own career. Regarding the entire experience, Marina felt that, “It is good for students to get advice from a researcher point of view because there are necessary ways of conducting these processes in an actual research career”..
We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to mentor these students on how to apply the research process. Our mentors, Aubrey and Marina, benefited from their experience and we hope that the students were able to end the school year with at least a little knowledge of the research process.
In June, one of the students will be posting their project on our Features page. You should come back to check it out!