Undergraduate and Graduate
STEM Students' Experiences
During COVID-19
PROCEEDINGS OF A VIRTUAL
WORKSHOP SERIES
Kerry Brenner, Maria Lund Dahlberg, and Joe Alper, Rapporteurs
Board on Science Education
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
Board on Higher Education and Workforce
Policy and Global Affairs
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu
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This activity was supported by contracts between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation, Award No. DUE-2029539. Additional support was provided by the National Academy of Sciences’ W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fund. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-15091-0
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-15091-4
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/26024
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Copyright 2021 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021).
Undergraduate and Graduate STEM Students’ Experiences During COVID-19: Proceedings of a Virtual Workshop Series. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26024.
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PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR A VIRTUAL WORKSHOP ON THE IMPACTS ON STEM UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENT EXPERIENCES OF HIGHER EDUCATION’S RESPONSE TO COVID-19: RESILIENCE AND INNOVATION*
TASHA R. INNISS (Chair), Spelman College
ALFRED BRYANT, Campbell University
JIM JULIUS, MiraCosta College
HIRONAO OKAHANA, Council of Graduate Schools
JUAN RAMÍREZ-LUGO, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
VIJI SATHY, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
HEATHER THIRY, University of Colorado Boulder
Project Staff
KERRY BRENNER, Senior Program Officer, Board on Science Education
MARIA LUND DAHLBERG, Senior Program Officer, Board on Higher Education and Workforce
LAYNE SCHERER, Senior Program Officer, Board on Higher Education and Workforce
THOMAS RUDIN, Director, Board on Higher Education and the Workforce (until November 30, 2020)
HEIDI SCHWEINGRUBER, Director, Board on Science Education
JOE ALPER, Consulting Writer
*The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s planning committees are solely responsible for organizing the workshop, identifying topics, and choosing speakers. The responsibility for the published proceedings of a workshop rests with the workshop rapporteurs and the institution.
BOARD ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE
KUMBLE R. SUBBASWAMY (Chair), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
JAIME CURTIS-FISK, The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, MI
MARIELENA DESANCTIS, Broward College, Fort Lauderdale, FL
JOAN FERRINI-MUNDY, University of Maine, Orono
GABRIELA GONZALEZ (NAS), Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
TASHA R. INNISS, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA
DOUGLAS S. MASSEY (NAS), Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
RICHARD K. MILLER (NAE), Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA
KATE STOLL, MIT Washington Office, Washington, DC
MEGHNA TARE, University of Texas at Arlington
MARY WOOLLEY (NAM), Research! America, Arlington, VA
Staff
THOMAS RUDIN, Director (until November 30, 2020)
BOARD ON SCIENCE EDUCATION
SUSAN R. SINGER (Chair), Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, Rollins College
MEGAN BANG, Learning Sciences, Northwestern University
VICKI L. CHANDLER, Provost, Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute
SUNITA V. COOKE, Superintendent and President, MiraCosta College
RUSH HOLT, Former Chief Executive Officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science
CATHY MANDUCA, Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College
JOHN MATHER (NAS), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
TONYA MATTHEWS, STEM Learning Innovation, Wayne State University
WILLIAM PENUEL, School of Education, University of Colorado Boulder
STEPHEN L. PRUITT, President, Southern Regional Education Board
K. RENAE PULLEN, K–6 Science Curriculum Instructional Specialist, Caddo Parish Schools, Louisiana
K. ANN RENNINGER, Social Theory and Social Action, Swarthmore College
MARCY H. TOWNS, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University
Staff
HEIDI SCHWEINGRUBER, Director
Reviewers
This Proceedings of a Virtual Workshop Series was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published proceedings as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this proceedings: Erin L. Dolan, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, University of Georgia, and Alessandra Zimmerman, Executive Director, Proposal Analytics, Inc.
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were neither asked to endorse the content of the proceedings nor allowed to see the final draft before its release. The review of this proceedings was overseen by Vicki Chandler, Provost, Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute. She was responsible for ensuring that an independent examination of this proceedings was carried out in accordance with standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the rapporteurs and the National Academies.
Acknowledgments
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Science Education and Board on Higher Education and Workforce and wish to express their sincere gratitude to the planning committee chair Tasha R. Inniss for her valuable contributions to the development and orchestration of this workshop. We also wish to thank all the members of the planning committee, who collaborated to ensure that the workshop would have informative presentations and rich discussions. Finally, we want to thank the speakers and moderators, who generously shared their expertise and their time with workshop participants.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
| ASU | Arizona State University |
| HBCU | historically Black colleges and universities |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| PR2ISM | Pedagogy and Research on Race, Identity, Social Justice, and Meaning Program at the University of Washington |
| PTSD | post-traumatic stress disorder |
| SES | socioeconomic status |
| STEM | science, technology, engineering, and mathematics |
Contents
SESSION 1–ONLINE LEARNING AND STEM PROGRESSION (September 22, 2020)
Effects of Higher Education’s Response to COVID-19 on Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Student-Centered Online Learning
Supporting Student Progress in STEM Learning
SESSION 2–RESEARCH AND MENTORING (September 24, 2020)
Breakout Groups to Allow Deeper Discussion on Modalities of Research
Reflections on the Potential Paradigm Shift in Student Research
SESSION 3–SOCIALIZATION AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT (October 1, 2020)
Extracurricular Support Systems
SESSION 4–LEADERSHIP AND DECISION MAKING (October 6, 2020)
How Higher Education Decision-Making Processes Can Consider the Needs and Voices of All Stakeholders
Helping Students Continue to Progress in STEM Education
Finding Opportunities for Improving the Future of STEM Learning
B Biographical Sketches of Planning Committee Members and Speakers
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