| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | May 1, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 1, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 2028344 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Bonnie Green
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | May 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | April 30, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $127,748.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $127,748.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
201 OLD MAIN UNIVERSITY PARK PA US 16802-1503 (814)865-1372 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
University Park PA US 16802-7000 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | IUSE |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic presents unprecedented challenges to undergraduate education. Although the disruption affects the entire academic community, the impacts are not equal. For example, students with low socioeconomic status, first generation students, and women may be affected more strongly by the disruptions than other students. Thus, based on students? demographics, the pandemic may be more likely or less likely to exacerbate existing or create new differential impacts on students. This study seeks to investigate this likely unequal impact among a large sample of students enrolled in calculus courses in spring 2020. A survey will gather student voices by probing how this disaster has affected students in STEM career pathways. The survey needs to be conducted immediately to gather the information from the students as they experience the disruption in their collegiate education.
The goal of this study is to conduct a timely mixed-methods study to collect data from a representative sample of undergraduate STEM students from varied backgrounds. The data will include the student voice about their experiences including: 1) the transition away from campus; 2) the challenges experienced; 3) the degree to which challenges affected attendance, academic performance, withdrawal rates, and college dropout rates; and 4) factors that facilitated success or failure among among all students, including underresourced and underrepresented students. After gathering data via the survey, the project team will facilitate 15 focus groups of about six students, balanced by socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity, and gender. Using a socioecological framework, the project team will analyze factors across multiple levels, ranging from the individual to public policy, and use the survey and focus group data to develop a quantitative survey. This work represents novel STEM-education research in an urgent and unique context. The findings may immediately inform interventions to address the needs of current undergraduate STEM students in the US. Formal reports and recommendations that arise will be published and disseminated in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. In the longer term, results may inform evidence-based recommendations regarding distance versus on-campus learning for students, including students from underresourced and underrepresented backgrounds. This RAPID award is made by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program in the Division of Undergraduate Education (Education and Human Resources Directorate), using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted higher education in unprecedented ways, such as forced campus closures and emergency remote learning. Some students faced disproportionate stressors from these new living arrangements, inadequate access to technology, subpar instruction, mental and physical health challenges (e.g., isolation due to lockdowns, serious illness or death of family and friends due to COVID-19), and other societal events in 2020 such as the killing of George Floyd and subsequent #BlackLivesMatter protests. As such, we took a socioecological perspective and sought to document differential impacts of these stressors on undergraduate STEM students. Specifically, we conducted a mixed-methods study which first utilized focus groups to learn about student experiences, then used these qualitative data to develop a large-scale national survey to collect and analyze quantitative data. We hypothesized disproportionate negative impacts would be associated with students’ gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES), so our study was designed to compare across these identities and their intersections.
The overarching conclusions of our study are two-fold: STEM education is impacted by major socioecological events and these impacts are not neutral with respect to student identities. This challenges the widespread view that success in STEM is based solely on talent, interest and other student-level characteristics. It’s more complicated than that and STEM educators must adopt a holistic view of education if we are to attract and harness the full talent-pool in the United States.
To support our conclusions, we present a couple representative results. We asked students how emergency remote learning impacted students’ confidence to succeed and sense of belonging in STEM. Low SES, underrepresented women were most likely to report decreased confidence and belonging. Surprisingly, over 1/3 of low SES, underrepresented men reported increases in their confidence and belonging, which requires more research to interpret but may reflect the chilly, unwelcoming climate in many STEM classrooms and the relief these students feel when not in said climate. As another example, we asked students about the impacts of campus closures and the resulting living arrangements that often required students to move home. Using a validated measure, we found that LGBTQ+ students reported more stress from these housing disruptions than heterosexual students. This suggests many LGBTQ+ STEM students may have unsupportive home environments, underscoring the need for more welcoming and inclusive STEM environments to support these students.
Last Modified: 05/06/2022
Modified by: Nathanial P Brown
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