With virus exposures in schools and changing education models due to COVID-19, a university instructor in Nanaimo is interested in examining effects of the pandemic on student learning and emotional well-being.
Marla Morden, a Vancouver Island University psychology professor and developmental psychologist, received $6,000 in B.C. Ministry of Health COVID-19 research grant money and wants to hear from families, particularly with kindergarten to Grade 4 students, about impacts of home-schooling, distance learning and classroom environments during the pandemic.
Morden and her team will be asking if distance-learning students experience more isolation from their peers, and if there will be related behavioural and mental health impacts. If another suspension of in-class instruction occurs, would that disruption cause mental health issues for those students and how long would that last, researchers wonder. Morden also hopes to hear about positive experiences and unexpected benefits of education models that families have selected.
乌鸦传媒淚 think we will see some behaviour and some mental health impacts for children because that乌鸦传媒檚 what studies and parents are telling us, but I乌鸦传媒檓 not sure how long-lasting it will be,乌鸦传媒� Morden said. 乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檓 hoping that we乌鸦传媒檒l see even as early as next fall, or the following year, that children who are resilient will be back to normal, but it乌鸦传媒檚 hard to say.乌鸦传媒�
Information will be gathered through 乌鸦传媒渟tandard psychological-type surveys,乌鸦传媒� such as ones to determine parents and caregivers乌鸦传媒� stress levels, and open-ended questions to both children and caregivers.
乌鸦传媒淲e乌鸦传媒檙e just giving them prompts and then we乌鸦传媒檙e asking them to share their experiences about going to school this year乌鸦传媒ξ谘淮綕 said Morden. 乌鸦传媒淲e might ask, 乌鸦传媒楬ow have your social relationships been? How have the teachers been? Have you found that there have been enough supports?乌鸦传媒� and then just letting them share their experiences in a more open-ended way.乌鸦传媒�
Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district has seen an increase of distance education enrolment in 2020-21, with K-9 registration recently halted due to demand. Denise Wood, teachers乌鸦传媒� union president, said while she hasn乌鸦传媒檛 heard from K-4 teachers about students expressing fears about coronavirus, that doesn乌鸦传媒檛 mean it乌鸦传媒檚 not happening.
乌鸦传媒淭here乌鸦传媒檚 high anxiety levels throughout the schools, at all levels,乌鸦传媒� said Wood.
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Students might not be explicitly expressing fears about the virus, but that doesn乌鸦传媒檛 mean they aren乌鸦传媒檛 concerned, added Susan Riordan, junior school principal at Aspengrove School, an independent school in Lantzville.
乌鸦传媒淭he age group I work with, they乌鸦传媒檙e not likely to come and say, 乌鸦传媒極h hi Mrs. Riordan, I乌鸦传媒檓 really worried about COVID-19,乌鸦传媒� but we might see anxious behaviours a little bit more乌鸦传媒ξ谘淮綕 said Riordan of her primary students. 乌鸦传媒淭hey乌鸦传媒檙e asking to wash their hands when they might not normally have been the type to do that. They might get upset if someone gets too close to them.乌鸦传媒�
Subjects will be tracked for five years, and while it may be hard to isolate the effects of the coronavirus, there could be other benefits to the research, Morden said.
乌鸦传媒淚t could help us to see if there乌鸦传媒檚 any difference between the behaviour of mental health of children who are home-schooled and who go to [bricks-and-mortar] school,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淲e could see that there乌鸦传媒檚 no difference there, so that would be really great, or we could see that one group has an advantage.乌鸦传媒�
Anyone wanting to take part in the research can e-mail Morden at marla.morden@viu.ca. She乌鸦传媒檚 hoping to get in contact with somewhere between 90 and 120 families.
乌鸦传媒淚 know a lot of families are really excited about this research and think it乌鸦传媒檚 really important, so I want them to be aware that it乌鸦传媒檚 happening,乌鸦传媒� she said.
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