Dive Brief:
- Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA, is studying student brain scans in an attempt to determine how study abroad impacts brain function.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the college scanned the brains of 30 freshmen last fall and will re-scan their brains when they are juniors and just after they graduate, tracking measures of empathy and nine categories of executive functioning.
- Experts in the field do not expect Westmont’s research to provide results that can be linked directly back to study abroad experiences, and are reportedly calling it a gimmick.
Dive Insight:
The Chronicle reports that 70% of Westmont students study abroad, a decision college leaders highly encourage. Spending $50,000 to scan the brains of students and trying to connect study abroad to intellectual growth may help convince more students to leave the U.S. during college, but the very strong denunciations by researchers are troubling. Of all places, an institution of higher learning should be modeling the very best of research practices for its students. The New York Times reported this week that the pressure to draw attention with splashy studies like this one is, arguably, corrupting science.