Tag Archives: cooperative extension


By Anna Zhu

My burning curiosity about risky decision making started in high school.  I witnessed some of my brightest friends make bad choices, slack off in school, and lose their way. I wondered, why do teens make these decisions that jeopardize their health, future, or lives, and how can we help them? I’m tackling these questions as part of an internship with Dr. Valerie Reyna, professor in the department of human development, College of Human Ecology.

One month into the internship, I taught a workshop on Reducing the Risk in Adolescence at the 4-H Career Explorations Conference, along with other members of Dr. Reyna’s lab. We gave the students a tour of our lab, offered advice on how to get involved in research and in college, and discussed the critical thinking and commitment involved in planning and carrying out a good research study.

The students in our workshop got to see social science research in action. We randomly assigned each student to one of two curricula being studied in Reyna’s lab – EatFit, a program promoting healthy eating and fitness or the Gist-Enhanced Reducing the Risk (RTRgist), a sexual health program based on Reyna’s research on adolescent memory and decision making. According to this research, when teens focus on details and statistics – a common feature of traditional health classes – they are more likely to make risky choices compared to when they focus on the overall meaning or “gist” of a situation.

As one of the EatFit teachers, I found the 4-H students incredibly enthusiastic about the hands-on activities. For example, students were shocked when we demonstrated exactly how many tablespoons of sugar are in a bottle of soda. The material we taught in both the RTRgist and Eatfit classes seemed to make a strong impression, but without further research, the results would be purely anecdotal. To test the effectiveness of the classes, the research team will conduct follow-up surveys with the students over the next 12 months and analyze results to identify changes in risky behaviors.

It’s exciting to look at the data analyses and realize that the work we do with teens can positively affect their behavior and lifestyle! I hope that one day health classes around the nation will benefit from the lessons we’re learning about how teens make decisions.

From this experience, I’ve already gained valuable skills in teaching, statistical analysis, and social science research – tools I expect to use in my career in public health. I’m excited to continue working with Dr. Reyna to increase my knowledge of risky decision making in adolescents.

Anna Zhu, ‘14, is a Human Biology, Health & Society major in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. This summer she is participating in an extension internship with Dr. Valerie Reyna sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension.

   
Reprinted from Cornell Chronicle, July 21, 2011

Hamilton

A new program called CITIZEN U, funded by a new five-year grant of $660,000, will support at-risk youth to become active citizens in their communities, graduate from high school and go on to college.

CITIZEN U (short for both "CITIZEN YOU" and "CITIZEN University") also aims to build the capacity of the partners to successfully conduct and sustain youth community action programs and make lasting contributions to high-need communities in Binghamton and Rochester.

The program, a joint effort of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and the College of Human Ecology funded by the Children, Youth and Families at Risk Program at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), is structured to mirror a university setting. Teens in the program will participate in weekly afterschool "seminars" taught by "visiting professors" from CCE, community agencies and business partners. They will choose "majors" and "enroll in courses" aligned with NIFA's priority areas on food security, climate change, sustainable energy and prevention of childhood obesity, among others. The program includes summer employment for the students to implement the projects they planned during the school year.

"CITIZEN U embodies the key principles of youth development, notably giving young people a voice in deciding what they do and enabling them to contribute to their communities," said Professor Steve Hamilton, associate director for youth development at the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. "This new project will help us learn how to put those principles into practice more widely."

"A broad-based community and university partnership is critical to the success of this innovative project," said June P. Mead, project director and evaluator at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Broome County. "We welcome all interested collaborators."

The program will be housed in the 4-H state office, newly located in the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research, and implemented in partnership with CCE offices in Broome and Monroe/Wayne counties.

Related Links:

New York State 4-H

 

Reyna Lab

Reyna Lab 2011

Students from Valerie Reyna’s Laboratory for Rational Decision Making have been working in collaboration with New Roots Charter School in Ithaca as well as Cooperative Extension offices in New York City and Broome County to offer innovative curricula to teens.

The goal of the project is to reduce adolescent risk taking by providing effective interventions in the areas of sexual health as well as nutrition and fitness, while also gathering research data to improve the interventions. By working with Cornell Cooperative Extension, the team is assessing how best to move this program beyond the laboratory team and into the community.

The project is proving rewarding, not only for the youth who are taking the classes, but for the Cornell students involved in the research and teaching.

“Teaching health education to teenagers has also helped cement my interest in pursuing adolescent medicine as a career,” said Claire Lyons, ’12. Graduate student Anna Kharmats added, “the students [at New Roots] inspired me to apply to the New York City Teaching fellowship program to which I have been accepted."

Read more in this newsletter the students created about their activities at New Roots.

See a poster the students created about the Reducing the Risk intervention and work with Cornell Cooperative Extension.

 
New York families will soon have more access to evidence-based programs that prevent substance abuse among middle school students and their families.

The PROSPER partnerships - which stands for PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience  - are a model for implementing substance abuse prevention programming based on real evidence. The program links Cooperative Extension, public schools, and local communities to choose proven programs that serve the needs of individual communities.

Last month, New York was chosen as one of five states in that will continue the process of forming a PROSPER Partnership, with Cornell serving as the university partner. Read more

 
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the employment of the first county agent in New York state, which launched what would become Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), the New York Farm Bureau and CCE joined forces March 21 in a ceremony in Binghamton, where both institutions were born.

Now, 100 years later, CCE operates in 35 counties across the state and is known for its agriculture programming and its work on energy and the environment, nutrition and health, and family and community development. Read more.

By Karene Booker

Helena HermanHuman development major Helena Herman '11, spent this past summer examining the links between extension systems and translational research initiatives in the US. Under the guidance of Elaine Wethington, Associate Professor of Human Development and Co-Director of the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center, Herman researched existing translational research and community-based participatory research initiatives throughout the country and looked at their relationships to cooperative extension.

“I was interested in understanding how community engagement might influence the effectiveness and efficiency of translational research,” says Herman.

In keeping with her boundless enthusiasm for the topic, the goals of her project were ambitious. She set out to assess and compare all current translational research initiatives in the country; to examine any collaborative partnerships between translational research initiatives and state extension systems; to understand factors contributing to such collaboration; and to predict the potential for partnerships among non-collaborating initiatives and their respective state extension systems.

As part of the project, she undertook an extensive literature review of translational research and community based participatory research (CBPR), looking at factors important for bringing translational research to communities. She summarized major contributions and conclusions from over 100 articles. She also noted definitions of community-based participatory research and translational research throughout in order to extrapolate key words for each nuanced definition of community-based participatory research and translational research.

“Given the wide spectrum of definitions used for translational research and CBPR, a more unified taxonomy would be extremely useful,” commented Herman.

She synthesized her findings in a paper outlining CBPR methodology and highlighting the contributions of CBPR to research translation. But, she didn’t’ stop there! She went on to catalog all Cooperative Extension offices and translational research initiatives in the country. It turns out that there are one hundred thirty five centers committed to translational research in the US, including both federally- and non- federally- funded initiatives. 

“This census provides an overview of what is currently being done in the field of translational research. It has proven useful to researchers in the College as they consider strategies for strengthening Cornell’s role in bringing translational research to communities in New York,” says Herman.

She found only twelve translational research initiatives (representing 10 states) maintain some sort of collaborative partnership with a state extension system and only two states demonstrated more seamlessly integrated extension and translational initiatives (Kentucky and New Mexico).

Herman created a poster detailing her findings and analyses and presented it at a reception at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Leadership Conference in October 2010. She is currently pursuing an independent study, under Elaine Wethington, to further explore the role of cooperative extension in translational research.

By Karene Booker

Reyna

This summer a high energy team of Extension Educators and student researchers touched the lives of nearly 100 high school students in New York City and Ithaca.

The project integrates laboratory and field research conducted by Dr. Valerie Reyna, Professor of Human Development and Outreach Extension Leader, Cornell University with extension programming. It is not only Dr. Reyna’s research, but also her vision for engaging community partners in it that drives the project. The research examines factors associated with adolescent risky decision making. The translation of the research into programming aims to promote adolescent health.  Collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension and community agencies is bringing this project to young people in New York City, Ithaca, and this fall to Broome County.

With greater freedom and independence, adolescents face new risks. We know poor choices can have long-lasting consequences for individuals, families, and society.  The project offers two interventions, which serve as control groups for each other. One, Gist-Enhanced Reducing the Risk (RTR+) is targeted at reducing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and the other, EatFit, is targeted at promoting healthy eating and fitness. The project combines empirical research with practical knowledge gained through implementation of the two curricula to inform and facilitate future replications of the programs.

The RTR+ project arm has already proven effective at promoting sexual health. Continued research and enhancement of the program will strengthen the intervention and add to scientific knowledge. Although supported by the research literature, the obesity reduction curriculum is less highly researched. There is a dearth of research on interventions to reduce obesity in adolescents even though obesity is a major health problem in America. The healthy lifestyles and obesity reduction arm of the research is thus groundbreaking and will serve as a basis for future work. Both curricula incorporate hands-on skill building and experiential activities.

Here’s a look at the team members and what they are doing.

The NYC Cooperative Extension team is ably led by Family and Youth Development Program Leader, Jackie Davis Manigaulte. Extension Educators Michele Luc and Eduardo Gonzalez Jr. recruited community partners, recruited students, completed consents from parents and students for the research, taught the curricula, administered surveys, and much more. The Cooperative Extension team was joined for the summer in NYC by graduate student Chrissie Chick and undergrad Claire Lyons. The students assisted with the research and co-facilitated the curricula with the NYC staff at the four partner sites: Central Queens Y; Groundwork, Inc.; Child Center NY; and NYC Mission Society.

 

Jackie Davis-Manigaulte“CUCE-NYC’s Family & Youth Development program area is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Reyna and her staff to pilot new and modified evidence-based educational resources on topics of such importance to the health and well-being of adolescents in New York City and throughout the state and country,” said Jackie.

Michele Luc"The RTR+ curriculum provided the participants with so many opportunities go beyond the traditional messages they've received in typical sex education classes by teaching them how to put refusal skills into action, said Michele. "As one student at the Forest Hills site put it: 'I wish we learned this stuff earlier because no one ever teaches us how to say no effectively and mean it.'"

Eduardo Gonzalez Jr."We worked with diverse populations of youth in East New York, Harlem, Jamaica and Forest Hills neighborhoods," added Eduardo."In each of the sites, project participants spoke favorably of their overall experiences and highlighted how the hands-on activities made the sessions both informative and engaging."

 

Christina ChickThe team was quick to troubleshoot and find solutions to the challenges encountered in this first replication at multiple sites throughout New York City," said Chrissie. "It's been a pleasure working with and learning from Eduardo and Michele. Their dedication is striking."

Claire Lyons

“Through my involvement on this project, I have observed the synergy of theory, research, and extension efforts in the community,” said Claire.  “It has helped me see how all of the individuals and groups involved in a community-research partnership can work together to achieve a mutual goal.”

Seth PardoHuman Development graduate student Seth Pardo is laboratory manager and project supervisor. He works closely with Dr. Reyna and the research team to develop additional enhancements to curricula based on evidence gathered on the nearly 900 youth in Reyna’s earlier National Institutes of Health funded study of the curriculum. He also implements the project in Ithaca, recruiting partner sites and participants, training personnel, delivering the curriculum, and analyzing data.

“Over the past 2 years on this project, I have learned a great deal about how judgment and decision making change over the life course,” noted Seth. “Adolescents are at a crucial juncture in their behavioral and cognitive development; this evidence-based intervention can  have an incredibly positive influence on their future.”

Gabrielle Tan

“I learned a lot about people and teaching and got a lot of practice perfecting such skills as perseverance, proactive behavior and teamwork” added undergraduate student Gabrielle Tan who assisted Seth with the Ithaca implementation.

Travis GetzkePartner sites in Ithaca included Ithaca High School and TST-BOCES. The two courses were taught to students enrolled in the regional summer school health education class. Travis Getzke and Nikki Fish, experienced Health Educators for TST-BOCES Summer School and enthusiastic accomplices, helped teach the curriculum. This coming school year, Travis will be teaching RTRgist and the EatFit curriculum for the TST BOCES Community School.

Nikki Fish“I loved the EatFit curriculum!” said Nikki who taught that component of the project.  “It was goal oriented, incorporated both nutrition and fitness, and involved the students in a lot of hands on activities. During class, I overheard one of my students comment to another student about half way through the curriculum: 'This was the best Health class ever.' When I asked her why, she responded: 'because in our regular Health class we never got the chance to do any activities like this!'"

Behind the scenes but still essential to the project, many dedicated staff handle human resources, finances, technology issues, and administration. Chief among them is Extension Support Specialist Karene Booker who adds her own brand of project management glue to keep the fast-paced operation on track.

The project has been beneficial to everyone involved. The theory and research behind the intervention allows communities to provide their youth with a highly effective intervention to reduce risk taking and improve health. By participating in the research project, youth gain the benefits of the intervention and also provide valuable information that can enhance both scientific knowledge and future interventions targeted to protect youth. Simultaneously, the project is a learning ground for the next generation of researchers and practitioners.

Thanks to all of the people and partner organizations who are making this initiative possible through their daily efforts and ongoing commitment to improving the health of young people.

For more information, please visit our website.

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) curriculum which 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 scores on 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.

Valerie Reyna is PI on a new three-year federal formula funds project called Reducing Risk Taking in Adolescence Using Gist-Based Curricula. Reyna’s research team will partner with Cornell University Cooperative Extension in New York City to refine and test interventions to reduce unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and the incidence of obesity among youth in New York State. Three interdependent lines of research form the basis for the project: research on human judgment and decision making, on adolescent risky decision making, and on sexual risk interventions for youth.  Most recently, Reyna and colleagues completed a 5- year grant funded by from the National Institutes of Health to implement fuzzy-trace theory’s principles of representation and retrieval in a randomized trial with high school students designed to reduce premature pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.  This research will directly inform the current project.
The project will further refine and test the Gist-Enhanced Reducing the Risk (RTR+) curriculum, a successful sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy prevention curriculum based on Dr. Reyna’s research on adolescent decision making. A recent randomized control trial has shown the RTR+ curriculum to be effective.  The purpose of this study is to further increase the magnitude and duration of these effects and develop a teaching guide to facilitate implementation in New York State.

The project will also develop and test a “gist-enhanced” healthy lifestyles curriculum by applying Dr. Reyna’s research to another critical risk domain – obesity.  The thrust of this effort will be to enhance an existing evidence-based healthy lifestyles curriculum to incorporate new ways of “framing” healthy lifestyle decisions for youth.  Research indicates this will increase the effectiveness of interventions.  Data will be collected in preparation for a larger funding proposal. Finally, through an online professional development presentation, the project will seek to share the research and lessons learned with extension educators and others.

Through this research-community partnership, the project will combine empirical research from Reyna’s work, with practical knowledge gained through implementation of the two curricula, and use this knowledge to inform and facilitate future replications of the programs in New York and elsewhere.

For Further Information
Risky Decision Making in Adolescents
Laboratory for Rational Decision Making

Human Development Outreach & Extension

Human Development Today e-News

Jeffrey Valla

As part of the annual 4-H Cornell Cooperative Extension Career Explorations program for teens on July 1-3, Professor Wendy Williams and Human Development Graduate Student Jeff Valla hosted a group of twenty-five 4-H youth who participated in the “Thinking Like A Scientist” (TLAS) extension education program. 2008 was the 8th consecutive year that TLAS was offered as part of the summer Career Explorations program. Over three days, these 4-H students were exposed to a wide array of current research and ideas in psychology. In addition to “thinking like scientists,” these students were exposed to hands-on activities in which they learned about how to properly design and perform psychological research like “real” scientists.

TLAS is an NSF-funded extension program led by Williams that aims to teach youth about the scientific method, scientific research, and what it is like to be a practicing scientist, in addition to teaching everyday critical thinking skills. The broader goal of TLAS is to foster an early interest in science in young people from groups traditionally underrepresented in science careers—such as youth of color and those from disadvantaged backgrounds—by providing exposure to engaging science-related experiences.

TLAS takes a dynamic, novel approach to teaching the scientific method TLAS uses concepts and research carefully chosen to be more intrinsically engaging and familiar to junior high and high school youth than topics typically covered in schools. Topics include E.S.P., Depression, Violent Videogames, and other material relevant to teenagers. TLAS students learn about correlation versus causation, controlled experiments, and the implications of research for public policy and society at large. Thus, students are learning the scientific method in contexts they already know about and can relate to.

This year’s program, taught by Valla (himself a N.Y.S. 4-H success story), and assisted by undergraduate student Jessica Zulawski, also included hands-on activities in which students designed their own experiments to test the effects of violent videogames on aggression and whether or not ESP exists, coupled with in-depth discussions of how different policy groups would react to the findings of their studies. Participants were even given a firsthand look at actual research going on here in the department—they had a chance to play Human Development professor Matthew Belmonte’s new “Astropolis” videogame, a work-in-progress prototype that uses a “space invader”-style interface for autism testing and therapy. The program concluded with the annual trip to the must-see Cornell Brain Collection display in Uris Hall, to the excitement of many students and slight dismay of those with weaker stomachs.

Participants finished the program with a more dynamic understanding of the scientific method, an understanding of how the scientific method can be used in everyday critical thinking, a better understanding of the fact that “real” scientists aren’t just people in white lab coats mixing chemicals, and an understanding of how psychologists actually go about designing, implementing, and revising experiments to answer important questions. While we hope that some of these students will one day decide to pursue science careers themselves, even those who do not will be more scientifically literate and more aware of how science affects their world.

For Further Information

Thinking Like a Scientist Online Resources