Abstract
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic affected formal and informal education programs in the USA. The pandemic had a devastating impact on programs that required a dedicated physical space and in-person laboratory research. The distinguishing feature of New Hampshire Academy of Science (NHAS) programs is the participation of secondary school students in STEM research projects that emulate university-level research. Moving to a remote format presented various challenges. In this case study, we describe and discuss our experiences transforming a summer STEM research program for secondary school students from on-site and in-person to a remote platform, providing details of the planning phase, the logistics of maintaining the quality of the students' research, and the results of internal and external evaluations. Of the 33 students who participated, 32 completed all central elements of the program, and 25 went further and submitted summary papers and presented their research at the remote annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. External evaluation found that students saw their work as similar to that of professional scientists, and perceived themselves to have gained proficiency in the use of scientific techniques and instrumentation. Students expressed they missed elements of in-person lab work including social interactions.
Highlights
The New Hampshire Academy of Science (NHAS) is engaged in STEM Outreach throughout Northern New England
The challenges that were associated with the remote format ranged from the selection of meaningful research projects suitable for the kitchen table to the logistics of preparing for and running the student-driven research
Some of the research platforms, such as molecular biology and water quality, required students to be involved in the logistical management of their consumable items as resupplies were needed as the students progressed through their research
Summary
The New Hampshire Academy of Science (NHAS) is engaged in STEM Outreach throughout Northern New England. Our flagship Applied Scientific Research 3-week summer program allows students to experience all components of university-level research and the scientific process from formulating a hypothesis to presenting their research. The students are offered an optional two weeks at the end of the summer to complete or extend their research. Motivated by the support and requests of families in our local community, we decided to offer the summer programs in a remote format rather than canceling them, despite their fundamental reliance on lab access and intensive mentor-student interaction. We offer an account of this inadvertent experiment as a case study. The results were both encouraging and sobering with implications for remote STEM outreach beyond the conditions imposed by the public health restrictions of the pandemic
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