Our first classroom pilot of MindHive happened at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and needless to say, was not the pilot we had planned! Instead, it became an opportunity for students to use science to address their curiosities about how living under lockdown was affecting their mental well-being.
You can read the full article at Academia.edu, ResearchGate, or directly from AERA Open.
Matuk, C., Martin, R., Vasudevan, V., Burgas, K., Chaloner, K., Davidesco, I., Sadhukha, S., Shevchenko, Y., Bumbacher, E. & Dikker, S. (2021). Students learning about science by investigating an unfolding pandemic. AERA Open, 7(1), 1-19. DOI: 10.1177/23328584211054850
Abstract
We explored the COVID-19 pandemic as a context for learning about the role of science in a global health crisis. In spring 2020, at the beginning of the first pandemic-related lockdown, we worked with a high school teacher to design and implement a unit on human brain and behavior science. The unit guided her 17 students in creating studies that explored personally relevant questions about the pandemic to contribute to a citizen science platform. Pre-/postsurveys, student artifacts, and student and teacher interviews showed increases in students’ fascination with science—a driver of engagement and career preference—and sense of agency as citizen scientists. Students approached science as a tool for addressing their pandemic-related concerns but were hampered by the challenges of remote schooling. These findings highlight both the opportunities of learning from a global crisis, and the need to consider how that crisis is still affecting learners.
