RAPID: Impact of COVID-19 Disruptions on Education and Child Well-being

新冠肺炎在整整一学年的时间里中断了许多学校的面授教育。此外，儿童错过了参加课外非传统教育举措的机会，这对弱势学生和家庭的影响放大了。该项目评估新冠肺炎之前和之后的学校花园，作为支持低收入少数群体社区在资源不足的学校的复原力的地点。研究人员之前的研究表明，学校花园会产生积极的社会和学术成果。本项目使用准实验研究设计来评估7至14岁儿童的情绪、行为、认知和人际幸福感。复原力测量包括评估儿童的目的感、真实性、沉着、自力更生和毅力。这些数据与从学校花园项目中获得的复原力测量进行了比较，这些项目在新冠肺炎出现之前已经实施了几年。该项目通过强调自然在儿童社会与空间关系中的积极中介作用，推动了地理科学中现有的社会空间理论。横跨社会科学的大量研究文献表明，韧性是学术成功和富有成效和满足感的生活的基础。通过羞耻、困惑和愤怒驱使行为出轨，从而导致儿童问题和成年人生活受损，贫穷往往会侵蚀韧性。学校花园提供的环境支持孩子认识到自己独特的能力并积极应对生活事件的能力。这项研究提供了关于环境破坏总体上对儿童福祉的影响的新数据。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

COVID-19 disrupted in-person education for many schools for an entire academic year. In addition, children missed opportunities to participate in non-traditional education initiatives outside of the classroom, an impact amplified for vulnerable students and families. This project evaluates school gardens pre- and post-COVID-19 as sites for supporting resilience of low-income minority communities at under-resourced schools. Previous research by the investigators has shown that school gardens produce positive social and academic outcomes. This project uses a quasi-experimental research design using to evaluate the emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal well-being of children aged seven to fourteen. Resilience measures include assessing a child’s sense of purpose, authenticity, equanimity, self-reliance, and perseverance. These data are compared to resilience measures acquired from school garden programs that were in place for several years prior to pre-COVID-19. This project advances existing socio-spatial theory in geographical science by highlighting the positive, mediating effects of nature in the relationship between society and space for children.A vast research literature spanning the social sciences illustrates that resilience is foundational to academic success and a productive and satisfying life. Resilience is often eroded by poverty through the shame, confusion, and anger that drive acting-out behaviors that can lead to troubled children and compromised adult lives. School gardens offer environments that support resilience in a child’s ability to recognize their unique capacity and respond to life events positively. This study contributes new data on the impact that environmental disruptions in general have on child well-being.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.