Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in Israel
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a situation, the “anthropopause”, of lockdowns and distancing among individuals to reduce the spread of the disease. One of the major problems to surface is the inequality of the educational process in schools. We present a study of high school students who conduct...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/11/716 |
| _version_ | 1797510556815458304 |
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| author | Reuven Yosef Sigal Talker Irit Sadeh |
| author_facet | Reuven Yosef Sigal Talker Irit Sadeh |
| author_sort | Reuven Yosef |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic has created a situation, the “anthropopause”, of lockdowns and distancing among individuals to reduce the spread of the disease. One of the major problems to surface is the inequality of the educational process in schools. We present a study of high school students who conduct a year-long research project with an academic. We hypothesized that the projects would not be impacted because of the individual manner of study involved. We analyzed the number of research proposals submitted in the years 2015–2021. We compared the data of the pre-epidemic period with the two pandemic years, 2020 and 2021. Our data show that in the years of the pandemic, significantly less research proposals were submitted, and the number of research proposals rejected was lower, but the total number of research proposals approved, or the number of theses submitted, was not significantly different. The research areas in which Israeli high school students conducted research were mostly in the laboratory (63.2%) and agriculture (27.5%), while ecology was relatively insignificant—whether in captivity (3.1%) or the field (5.1%). A new field that is fast becoming of interest is bioinformatics. Research in agriculture was significantly lower during the pandemic period, while there were no differences in the other subjects between the two periods. We conclude that the fewer research proposals submitted suggest that those that did not take the subject seriously enough did not begin the process. This resulted in a lower number of rejections and is substantiated by the fact that an equal number of students that submitted their final theses did not differ from the years before the pandemic. We are optimistic that the truly motivated students will continue to make the effort to be involved in biology science projects over and above their regular school curriculum and in spite of the COVID-19 restrictions and limitations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:33:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-068c5bacc9da47928579a65d63f21a39 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:33:04Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-068c5bacc9da47928579a65d63f21a392023-11-22T23:05:39ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022021-11-01111171610.3390/educsci11110716Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in IsraelReuven Yosef0Sigal Talker1Irit Sadeh2Eilat Campus, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Eilat 8810202, IsraelIsraeli Ministry of Education, Jerusalem 91911, IsraelIsraeli Ministry of Education, Jerusalem 91911, IsraelThe COVID-19 pandemic has created a situation, the “anthropopause”, of lockdowns and distancing among individuals to reduce the spread of the disease. One of the major problems to surface is the inequality of the educational process in schools. We present a study of high school students who conduct a year-long research project with an academic. We hypothesized that the projects would not be impacted because of the individual manner of study involved. We analyzed the number of research proposals submitted in the years 2015–2021. We compared the data of the pre-epidemic period with the two pandemic years, 2020 and 2021. Our data show that in the years of the pandemic, significantly less research proposals were submitted, and the number of research proposals rejected was lower, but the total number of research proposals approved, or the number of theses submitted, was not significantly different. The research areas in which Israeli high school students conducted research were mostly in the laboratory (63.2%) and agriculture (27.5%), while ecology was relatively insignificant—whether in captivity (3.1%) or the field (5.1%). A new field that is fast becoming of interest is bioinformatics. Research in agriculture was significantly lower during the pandemic period, while there were no differences in the other subjects between the two periods. We conclude that the fewer research proposals submitted suggest that those that did not take the subject seriously enough did not begin the process. This resulted in a lower number of rejections and is substantiated by the fact that an equal number of students that submitted their final theses did not differ from the years before the pandemic. We are optimistic that the truly motivated students will continue to make the effort to be involved in biology science projects over and above their regular school curriculum and in spite of the COVID-19 restrictions and limitations.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/11/716biologyscience projectshigh schoolCOVID-19motivation |
| spellingShingle | Reuven Yosef Sigal Talker Irit Sadeh Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in Israel Education Sciences biology science projects high school COVID-19 motivation |
| title | Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in Israel |
| title_full | Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in Israel |
| title_fullStr | Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in Israel |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in Israel |
| title_short | Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in Israel |
| title_sort | effect of covid 19 closures and distance learning on biology research projects of high school students in israel |
| topic | biology science projects high school COVID-19 motivation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/11/11/716 |
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