Claire Lyons, an undergraduate student in the Department of Human Development, was one of sixteen students who participated in the CCE Summer Internship Program which seeks to engage undergraduate students in outreach. Claire worked in Dr. Valarie Reyna's lab on the Reducing the Risk in Adolescence project. Her account follows.
My CCE summer internship provided me with an incredible learning experience. My big assignment for the summer was creating a complete up-to-date manual for the RTR+ sexual health curriculum. It was an exciting and fascinating project.
The RTR+ curriculum is a version of the standard RTR (Reducing the Risk) curriculumwhich is enhanced to emphasize the gist of risk and protection rather than precise, numeric facts.Evaluations of the RTR+ curriculum show that individuals in that intervention have better scoreson a large number of measures of knowledge and risk taking.
My job this summer was to get the RTR+ curriculum ready to be taught again, and bygroups outside of our lab. This project involved updating facts, adding elements to furtherenhance the curriculum, and compiling information into a comprehensive manual. I also helpedcreate a video version of the manual. I learned so much through the process, about adolescentrisk taking, Dr. Reyna's fuzzy-trace theory, and sex education programs. I also learned abouthow effective outreach interventions are developed and evaluated. I am continuing to work in Dr.Reyna's lab and am excited for the curriculum to be taught again and evaluated.
For Further Information
List of Other CCE 2009 Summer Internships
Laboratory for Rational Decision Making
Resources on Risky Decision Making in Adolescents