Organization: Horizon Research, Inc.
Funding agency: National Science Foundation
Program: Discovery Research K-12 (DR K–12)
HRI Role: Research
Project Description
PHEds is an NSF RAPID study focused on how the pandemic has reshaped K–12 science teachers’ roles and experiences, with particular attention to the ways in which science teachers fulfilled a critical public health function. Specifically, the study is examining how often science teachers address COVID in their instruction, how their teaching about COVID has changed over time, and what factors are exerting the most influence on their COVID-related instruction. Additionally, the study presents an opportunity to gather important information about the impacts of the pandemic on science teachers themselves, including the manageability of workload, opportunities for professional growth/development, physical/mental wellness, and job satisfaction.
Research Purpose
- How does the pandemic continue to influence teachers’ science instruction (e.g., instructional time, instructional strategies) and how has that influence shifted?
- How has teaching about COVID evolved? What new topics (e.g., vaccines) have science teachers taken up in the context of COVID?
- What factors now exert the greatest influence on science teachers’ teaching about COVID, and how do those differ from the factors at play in the spring of 2020?
- What are the impacts of the pandemic on science teachers themselves, including manageability of workload, opportunities for professional growth/development, physical/mental wellness, and job satisfaction?
