Stanford Courses Reimagine Concussion Education
This winter quarter, students in three courses across Stanford University worked on projects to address the issue of concussions. Forty-eight undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines ranging from medicine, human biology, public health, education, engineering and computer science collectively poured more than a thousand hours into conducting primary and secondary research. Together, they worked to understand the deeply seeded psychological, political and structural barriers associated with symptoms disclosure and building comprehensive multi-sport concussion education.
The three classes included EDUC 135: Designing Research-Based Interventions to Solve Global Health Problems, taught by Dr. Piya Sorcar, which provides students insights into the process behind designing, developing, and scaling social ventures. Next, PEDS 229: Reducing Health Disparities and Closing the Achievement Gap through Health Integration in Schools, taught by Dr. Eunice Rodriguez, Dr. Ryan Padrez, and Dr. Piya Sorcar, which aimed to examine the important relationship between children’s health and their ability to learn in school as a way to reduce health disparities. Furthermore, the class examined pioneering efforts to identify and address manageable health barriers to learning by integrating health and education in school environments. And finally, MED 232: Global Health: Scaling Health Technology Innovations in Low Resource Settings, taught by Senior Dean Of Global Health Dr. Michele Barry and Dr. Anurag Mairal, which aimed to explore the implementation and impact of technological innovations in low resource settings. Each of the three classes partnered with TeachAids on dedicated projects toward the CrashCourse initiative addressing issues concerning concussion education in the United States.
“Having been involved in all three of these classes, it was inspiring to see the collective energy from passionate students all over campus coming together to solve concussion related issues. Our teams reached out to hundreds of experts and concussion sufferers across diverse backgrounds to understand their needs and gaps in learning. This experience has been truly impactful to all of us who have had the privilege to be part of this global effort.” — Shravya Gurrapu, Senior, Human Biology and Computer Science.
EXPANSION OF CRASHCOURSE INTO NEW DOMAINS
This year, the students in each course took a deep dive into exploring expansions of the CrashCourse interactive concussion curriculum to understand its impact on new target audiences. They studied and designed interventions for audiences ranging from youth coaches to college multi-sport athletes to military cadets and commanders in the US Armed Forces. Students were charged with understanding three main content areas, (1) Initial and Ongoing Symptoms Disclosure, (2) Cultural Adaptations of CrashCourse, and (3) Identifying and Scaling Necessary Resources.
In addition to building a body of research, students were asked to identify the most important, feasible, and high-level challenges that TeachAids would face if it expanded its work to a specific target area. In their presentations, students were tasked with building a research-based “Case for Support” and plan of action that TeachAids may consider moving forward.
PRESENTATIONS AT GOOGLE HEADQUARTERS
For the EDUC 135 course, a curated group of high profile experts from academia, healthcare, sports, technology, and the US Military gathered at Google’s headquarters (Mountain View) to serve as Judges for the evening. The two-hour event consisted of student presentations, followed by a series of impactful question and answer sessions. The evening served as an interactive “think tank” where many of the world’s top domain experts interfaced with bright young minds to best understand and change the conversation around concussions. See event pictures here.
Over the next few months, these collective research insights and recommendations from the three courses will be synthesized into TeachAids’ process of designing novel learning tools for diverse sports and users.
“Each team consisted of students with diverse academic and professional backgrounds. This dynamic allowed us to research multiple perspectives within the overall scope of this project. Our in-depth interviews with a myriad of stakeholders, including commanders, cadets, coaches and athletes enabled us to understand their challenges and hardships. Over the course of the quarter, we discovered many meaningful insights into how to tackle issues around cultural adaptations necessary to promote greater levels of symptoms disclosure. ” — Arturo Cantu-Chavez, Graduate Student, Management Science & Engineering.
We would like to thank Google for graciously sponsoring our event for another memorable year. Their dedication to enhancing our collective knowledge has been invaluable in supporting our entrepreneurial journey.
We would also like to express our deep gratitude towards the The Haas Center for Public Service for their generous grant which made our student activities possible. In particular we would like to give special thanks to Paitra Houts, Director of Community Engaged Learning in Education, whose team provided tireless support and leadership to ensure our final event was executed flawlessly.
Finally, we would like to recognize our esteemed judges, many of whom also serve as valued TeachAids Advisors, for their dedication towards promoting student learning and excellence in their fields.
“This amazing cohort of students, mentors, and inspirational leaders in the field of global health has inspired me to believe in the power of my own capabilities to one day leave my own mark.” — Karen Chen, Sophomore, Biology and International Relations.
2020 Judges included: Mr. Scott Anderson, Chief Customer Officer, SyncThink; Mr. Brian Bulcke, Former CFL Defensive Lineman; Dr. Laurie Chiang, Pediatrician, Menlo Medical Clinic; Lieutenant Colonel Warren Cook Junior, 2019-20 National Security Affairs Fellow, Stanford University; Ms. Jeannette Cox, Senior Finance and Accounting Manager, TeachAids; Dr. Dan Daneshvar, Neuroscientist specializing in CTE, Harvard Medical School; Mr. Jorge De Luna, Director of Community Engaged Learning – Health, Stanford University Haas Center for Public Service; Dr. Gerry Grant, Division Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine; Coach Jeremy Gunn, The Knowles Family Director of Men’s Soccer, Stanford University; Coach Kevin Hambly, Head Coach Women’s Volleyball, Stanford University; Mr. Dave Higaki, Executive Director and Tennis Director, East Palo Alto Tennis & Tutoring (EPATT); Mr. Lauri Kanerva, Research Management Lead, Facebook; Ms. Aparna Khare, Speech Scientist, Amazon; Ms. Esmeralda Madrigal, Program Director Polytrauma Network Site, VA Palo Alto Health Care System; Professor Anurag Mairal, Director of the Global Exchange Program, Stanford Biodesign; Dr. Gary Mukai, Director Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education, Stanford University; Colonel Ian Palmer, 2019-20 National Security Affairs Fellow, Stanford University Hoover Institution; Dr. George Rutherford, Salvatore Pablo Lucia Professor of Epidemiology, Preventative Medicine, Pediatrics and History, UCSF; Dr. Lee Sanders, Division Chief of General Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine; Professor Craig Stephens, Professor of Biology and Public Health, Santa Clara University; Coach Josh Sutcliffe, Director of Rugby, Stanford University; Dr. Jessica Weare, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, Silicon Valley Community Foundation; Dr. Jill Wentzell, Research Communities Manager VPO PGP Operations, Stanford University; Dr. Maya Yutis, Lead Neuropsychologist, Stanford Concussion and Sports Medicine Clinic.