When the worsening COVID-19 pandemic prompted colleges to shut their campuses and shift to remote learning in spring 2020, concerns arose that many underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines would be demotivated and drop out in even greater numbers.
However, a study of 182 undergraduate students in a biology course at one university found little evidence to support that belief. Instead, across all demographic groups, the impact varied: Some students were more motivated, some were less so, and some saw no changes in their level of interest in the subject matter, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found.
“There’s resilience and a lack of resilience across all groups,” said educational psychology professor Jennifer Cromley, the first author of the study, which was co-written by graduate student Andrea Kunze.
Published in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, the findings are a caution against making stereotypical assumptions about individuals’ commitment and persistence based on their demographic characteristics such as socioeconomic status or being a first-generation student, according to the researchers.
“We shouldn’t assume that they’re going to be resilient or not resilient. We should check in with them and see how they’re doing. Stereotyping people as downtrodden or resilient doesn’t reflect the realities of the situation,” Prof Cromley said.
The students were participants in an introductory biology course that was traditionally taught with in-person lectures but changed to online instruction during the final eight weeks of the Spring 2020 Semester. When face-to-face instruction was suspended to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus, most students moved back home.
Get updated to the news on
http://educationjagat.com/EPaper.aspx