PEN-810 Translation: Policy Service

Course Overview

The purpose of this course is to provide students with hands-on internship opportunities to evaluate the multiple ways that basic cognitive neuroscience and behavioral sciences research discoveries about children¿s development may be translated into principles that guide the creation of public policy and laws for the benefit of young children. Critical evaluation and analysis of the relationship between research and policy are key goals and key to success in this course. One important goal will be for students to engage in principled evaluation of the extent to which the target policy of focus in their placement site is (or is not) informed by basic science research (and what type of basic science research)? Another important goal will be to gain new knowledge about what information and tools are used among policymaking at large. What standards of evidence (and what standards for the evaluation of evidence) are typically used among policymakers in your placement area? By the end of this course (by the end of this policy internship placement), students will learn (i) what standards of evidence are already in existence and used among policymakers (especially involving the focus areas at one¿s internship site), and (ii) if research plays a role in your site¿s policy deliberations, which type of research? Students will further learn to evaluate creatively (iii) the extent to which research in neurosciences could have potentially advanced understanding and decisions at your particular placement site regarding its target policies.