SCC-CIVIC-PG Track B: Building PreK-12 School Resilience in the Face of COVID-19

PreK-12学校重新开放，进行面对面教学，并采取一系列缓解策略，限制病毒的传播，包括与同一小团体的学生聚集在一起，座位之间的间隔，交错安排，在走廊上创建单向路线，以及关闭公共使用的共享空间。然而，每个地区和学校都有其独特的品质和不同的社区公共卫生条件，因此要考虑到其教室/校园环境、学生人数和社区公共卫生条件，自行决定如何实施建议的措施。因此，该项目的愿景是通过赋予学区预测、监测和评估其缓解战略以限制传播的有效性的能力，建立幼儿园至12年级学校面对Covid-19的抵御能力。该项目特别关注教育环境中的物理距离（例如，学校建筑、交通巴士），将其作为限制传播的关键策略，其长期目标是创建和验证技术和社会工具，帮助学区和学校预测、监测和加强学生在教育环境中的物理距离行为，与德克萨斯州的大学站独立学区（CSISD）合作。为了实现其长期目标，该计划资助将通过以下方式发展必要的研究人员，研究基础设施和基础工作：(1)创建一个基于代理的试点模拟模型来预测学生的身体距离行为；(2)调查影响学生预防行为的因素；(3)协调社区会议和焦点访谈，以了解社区在设计使能技术/工具方面的需求。最终，该项目的成功完成将使教育行政人员和设施管理人员根据其教育设施和学生人数设计最佳运营措施。此外，项目成果将为设计和实施行为干预措施提供指导，以提高学生对保持身体距离做法的认识和遵守。这对于降低COVID-19传播风险和确保学校持续安全运营至关重要。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

PreK-12 schools reopen for in-person instruction with a set of mitigation strategies that limits transmission of the virus, including cohorting with the same small group of students, spacing between seats, staggered scheduling, creating one way routes in hallways, and closure of communal use shared spaces. However, each district and school, which has unique qualities and varying public health conditions in communities, is left on its own regarding how to implement recommended measures considering its classroom/campus settings, student population, and public health conditions in communities. The vision of this project is thus to build PreK-12 schools’ resilience in the face of Covid-19, by empowering school districts to predict, monitor, and evaluate the effectiveness of their mitigation strategies to limit transmission. In particular, this project focuses on physical distancing within the educational environment (e.g., school buildings, transportation buses) as a key strategy for limiting transmission, and its long term goal is to create and validate technological and social tools that help districts and schools to predict, monitor, and enhance physical distancing behaviors of students within the education environment, in collaboration with College Station Independent School District (CSISD) in Texas. In order to achieve its long term goal, this planning grant will develop the necessary research personnel, research infrastructure, and foundational work, by (1) creating a pilot agent-based simulation model to predict students’ physical distancing behaviors; (2) conducting a survey to examine factors influencing students’ preventive behaviors; and (3) coordinating community meetings and focus interviews to build an understanding of communities’ needs in designing enabling technologies/tools. Ultimately, the successful completion of this project will immediately benefit educational administrators and facility managers in designing optimal operation measures considering their educational facilities and student populations. In addition, the project outcomes will provide guidance in designing and implementing behavioral interventions to enhance students’ awareness and compliance to physical distancing practices. This will be critical in reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission and ensuring continuous and safe school operations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.