{"id":162724,"date":"2020-07-16T15:21:34","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T19:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?post_type=school-college-post&p=162724"},"modified":"2020-07-16T15:21:34","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T19:21:34","slug":"nsf-funds-study-covid-19-effects-underrepresented-stem-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2020\/07\/nsf-funds-study-covid-19-effects-underrepresented-stem-students\/","title":{"rendered":"NSF funds study of COVID-19 effects on underrepresented STEM students"},"content":{"rendered":"

The COVID pandemic has affected college students worldwide, particularly <\/span>those from<\/span> low<\/span>er<\/span> socio<\/span>\u2013<\/span>economic backgrounds.<\/span> This<\/span> issue<\/span> is such a high priority that the<\/span> National Science Foundation has provided grants for research projects relating to effects of COVID-19 on education.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerned <\/span>that<\/span> STEM<\/span> (s<\/span>cience, technology, engineering and mathematics)<\/span> students<\/span> might fall through the cracks during this time, Professor <\/span>Sherry Pagoto<\/span><\/a> and co-PI Assistant Professor <\/span>Molly Waring<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> both in the Department of Allied Health Sciences (AHS), have joined <\/span>Penn State Professor of Mathematics Nate Brown<\/a><\/span> for a collaborative project funded <\/span>through<\/span> NSF<\/span> to investigate the impact <\/span>of COVID-19 as it relates to<\/span> at-risk undergraduate<\/span> STEM students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The pandemic<\/span> could create another leak in the STEM pipeline as it pertains to un<\/span>derrepresented <\/span>students,\u201d <\/span>Pagoto <\/span>explains. <\/span>\u201cWhen we talk about the STEM pipeline, we already know that women and <\/span>minority <\/span>students <\/span>are underrepresented <\/span>in STEM fields.<\/span> There are leaks in th<\/span>is<\/span> pipeline from high school to college and beyond.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>When<\/span> students were abruptly<\/span> displaced off-campus and went to online learning<\/span>,<\/span> we realized that <\/span>some <\/span>students may be more impacted in terms of their academic performance<\/span>, p<\/span>articularly <\/span>in <\/span>STEM <\/span>courses such as math and <\/span>courses <\/span>with lab work.<\/span> What\u2019s irreplaceable about the campus is that it is a learning environment and it\u2019s important for students during their undergraduate years to be in a place where they can focus and immerse themselves.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some <\/span>students may have had to return to a home where they might not receive the academic support they need or have the technology necessary to complete their work.<\/span> This is especially true for first-generation students.<\/span> They may lack a quiet area to study<\/span> or<\/span> broadband access<\/span>,<\/span> may have to share a computer<\/span> or <\/span>have had <\/span>to enter the workforce<\/span> upon returning home<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The research team is <\/span>working to discover additional stresses put on students while living at home. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>We were interested to find out if traditional gender roles created a situation where female students were <\/span>responsible for childcare, eldercare or domestic responsibilities<\/span>,<\/span> which puts more on their plate<\/span>,\u201d Pagoto notes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the f<\/span>irst phase, <\/span>they are<\/span> assembling student focus groups. Brown is a member of <\/span>the <\/span>Math Alliance<\/span><\/a>, a group that includes more than 700 faculty mentors and 900 student participants<\/span> across the nation<\/span>. \u201cWe asked Math Alliance faculty to contact students and had a huge response, from over <\/span>1100<\/span> students,\u201d says <\/span>Pagot<\/span>o<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team will <\/span>first conduct focus groups with eighty<\/span> students across the country, <\/span>then<\/span> use that information to develop a <\/span>survey <\/span>to distribute to <\/span>1000 <\/span>more <\/span>students<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure we are asking the right questions,\u201d says Pagoto. \u201cWe don\u2019t pretend to know all of the things that have gone well or wrong.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cW<\/span>e want to find out <\/span>how the students have dealt with the pandemic, what struggles they faced and what made it difficult with class work,\u201d <\/span>she e<\/span>xplains. \u201cWe want to look at this as a multi-level exploration including academics, home environment, community, as well as issues such as food insecurity, depression, stress and anxiety.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team will focus not only on <\/span>UConn and Penn State<\/span>, <\/span>but<\/span> a cross-<\/span>section of<\/span> schools <\/span>that include<\/span> those <\/span>that are <\/span>historically black and Hispanic<\/span> serving<\/span>, as well as private and state schools<\/span>. Says Pagoto, <\/span>\u201c<\/span>We want to determine which<\/span> students are suffering disproportionately in terms of this pandemic. We also know that <\/span>racial and ethnic <\/span>minorities have been heavier hit by COVID<\/span>\u2013<\/span>19,<\/span> so ou<\/span>r<\/span> students <\/span>from these backgrounds <\/span>will more likely have family members impacted, and obviously that will disrupt <\/span>their<\/span> education.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team expects to have the results by fall semester\u2019s end and will make recommendations to a network of <\/span>STEM <\/span>faculty.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>We want<\/span> to be able to descr<\/span>i<\/span>be the landscape of the problem and <\/span>find solutions <\/span>on how we might preserve this cohort of underrepresented students in the STEM pipeline<\/span>,\u201d Pagot<\/span>o<\/span> says. \u201c<\/span>We don\u2019t want to lose them. We are hearing that some might<\/span> drop classes,<\/span> take a gap year or <\/span>leave<\/span> school entirely. We want to determine what we need to do to keep the<\/span>se<\/span> students on track academically. If <\/span>they fell behind <\/span>last<\/span> semeste<\/span>r<\/span>,<\/span> it may affect the<\/span>ir performance<\/span> next <\/span>semester<\/span>. Once <\/span>a student <\/span>falls behind<\/span> it can snowball. W<\/span>e<\/span> want to head it off at the pas<\/span>s.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The study will also help elucidate the<\/span> challenges <\/span>invo<\/span>l<\/span>ved in<\/span> online learning. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Some students may thrive<\/span>,<\/span> but for <\/span>others it might not be a good fit<\/span>,\u201d Pagot<\/span>o<\/span> says. \u201c<\/span>It might inform us <\/span>on who is most and<\/span> least like<\/span>ly<\/span> to benefit from <\/span>distance learning in the future.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This research is supported by National Science Foundation award #2028344.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Naturally@UConn.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COVID pandemic has affected college students worldwide, particularly those from lower socio\u2013economic backgrounds. This issue is such a high priority that the National Science Foundation has provided grants for research projects relating to effects of COVID-19 on education.\u00a0 Concerned that STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students might fall through the cracks during this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":162725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1871],"class_list":["post-162724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 13:53:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/162725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162724"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=162724"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=162724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}