What the students wanted to know about COVID-19.

This study investigated the implementation of a curricular unit of instruction designed to immerse rising ninth-grade students socioscientific issues via data collection and analysis of the relationships between health, wealth, educational attainment, and the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on their communities. Twenty-six (n = 26) rising ninth-grade students (14–15 years old; 16 girls, 10 boys) participated in an early college high school program operated by the College Planning Center at a state university in the northeastern United States. The findings of this study demonstrate how ninth-graders enhanced their understanding of the relationships between COVID-19 and community health, wealth, and educational attainments. The students also identified from their research data that communities in Massachusetts that are more educated and with more financial resources were less impacted less by the virus.

本研究探究了一门教学课程单元的实施情况。该课程单元旨在通过数据收集与关联分析，引导即将升入九年级的学生（准九年级学生）深入参与社会科学议题，探究健康、财富、受教育程度与新冠疫情（COVID-19）大流行对其所在社区的影响之间的内在关联。本研究共纳入26名准九年级学生（样本量n=26，年龄14至15岁，其中女生16名、男生10名），他们均参与了美国东北部某州立大学学院规划中心运营的早期大学高中项目。研究结果显示，九年级学生加深了对新冠疫情与社区健康、财富及受教育程度之间关联的理解。此外，学生们通过研究数据发现，马萨诸塞州内受教育程度更高、经济资源更充裕的社区，受新冠病毒的影响更小。