Do you have a Carleton-related project which will advance teaching and learning at the university?
Then, you might be eligible for Carleton’s new FutureFunder project.
FutureFunder, created by the Department of University Advancement (DUA), uses a crowdfunding platform to promote these projects to would-be donors.
As Ryan Davies, the Director of Communications for DUA, points out: “This is different and better than other crowdfunding platforms because we can issue a tax receipt to contributors, and project managers get 100 per cent of the funds they raise.”
Several of the projects will directly impact graduate students such as Students on Ice, building a Solar House for the International Solar Decathlon, helping Sprott business students network and attend conferences, and purchasing a key piece of equipment for the Neuroscience of Imagery Cognition and Emotion Research (NICER) lab.
Grad students in the NICER lab are helping “children’s brains tune in and pay attention with music”.
As the FutureFunder website explains: “A child’s ability to self-regulate (i.e. demonstrate self-control) has been associated with school-readiness and academic achievement. Our research aims to use a supportive and safe social music program to assess the influence of participation on children’s ability to pay attention and control their impulses. We are looking to raise $10,000 to purchase an audiometer – a key piece of equipment that will help us conduct our research and help bridge the income-achievement gap in the city of Ottawa.”
The researchers are assessing children’s ability to control their impulses and selectively pay attention by having them complete a computer task where they are asked to press a button in response to one musical tone and to withhold their response to another tone. They then monitor the children’s electrical brain activity as they complete the task. Finally, they draw comparisons between children who have not received any formal music training and children in the OrKidstra music program, which helps children from under-served communities in the Ottawa region learn to play a musical instrument in orchestras, sing in choirs, and perform in other ensembles.
Master’s student Kylie Schibli says: “Our findings could impact public policy in both the educational setting and in terms of social welfare; they may propel interest and changes to public policy as the relationship between music education and children’s social health becomes more evidence-based. Practically, benefits of self-regulation have been demonstrated to increase children’s academic achievement, social competence and resilience. Self-regulation has also been shown to be a protective factor for youth in poverty leading to more adaptive responses to stressful situations.
More information about this project is available on the FutureFunder website.
Details about other projects are also available on the FutureFunder site.
Thursday, October 3, 2013 in Grad Student Research, News
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