βWave: an EEG-based self-awareness curriculum

At the junction between social emotional learning (SEL) and neuroscience research, there is a dynamic interplay where electroencephalography (EEG) Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology can allow users to gain an understanding of their mental states. Students are often told to concentrate and pay attention, but they are not actively shown what is internally occurring when they lose focus. We present a curriculum that addresses this issue and that could be important for students' self-awareness. Self-awareness, a subcategory of SEL, can be used as a tool to unpack neuroscience topics for middle schoolers, who often deal with short attention spans. The objective of our design is to help students understand and reflect on how concentration affects brainwaves and how it can strengthen their neural connections. By enabling them to experience and visualize this mental state, middle schoolers can become self-aware of how their cognitive functions change throughout this critical stage of development.