Student: Evan Braho
Concentration: Neuroscience
Faculty mentor: Monica Linden
Lab: Badre lab
Teaching and advising experience: I led four discussion sections of introductory neuroscience courses and advised first-year students on planning their paths to medical school as a Meiklejohn Peer Advisor.
Science education research: Throughout my time at Brown, I’ve developed a passion for science education. As a teaching assistant for The Brain: An Introduction to Neuroscience, I helped students to understand complex concepts and bridge gaps in understanding, walking them through practice problems and explaining content with a conceptual focus, rather than relying on rote memorization. Also, because this course is predominantly taken by first-year students, I began to incorporate general college education advice into my teaching sections. After noticing that first-year students were increasingly relying on AI to help them study, I developed a series of AI prompts aimed to assist students in critically evaluating their learning. By developing these AI prompts, my goal is to encourage students to view their learning with a metacognitive lens, inspiring future growth. My results from piloting these prompts were presented by Monica Linden at the Future of Undergraduate Science Education annual meeting in Claremont, CA.
Why I ❤️ the Open Curriculum: During my time at Brown, I used the open curriculum to bridge numerous other fields, namely student education and advising through courses like Teaching Neuroscience and Practical Introduction to Peer Advising. These courses spurred my interest in science communication and education, and led to my consideration of how neuroscience knowledge could play a role in enhancing these fields.
What’s next? I plan on applying to medical school so I can practice as a physician. After becoming a doctor, I would love to get involved in medical education, whether in universities with medical students, in hospitals with residents or even with the general public. When I do so, I want to use what I have learned to help blend technology with metacognitive techniques, inspiring others to reflect on how and what they have learned, and how they can use this information to better their education in the future.