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Research into the connection between Wellness and Learning during COVID

The purpose of this study was to gauge learning and well-being before and during COVID-19 for a sample of students with mild/moderate disabilities, and determine what strategies and digitals tools can make a measurable difference in their learning and well-being. This study took place in a k-8 Waldorf-methods charter school in northern California.

ONE of my HERO's! Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization.
BELOW marks an important piece of my research paper and you can CLICK HERE to read my paper in its entirety.

Statement of the Problem
Essential to this study was evaluating whether students were learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, if they felt good about themselves, and the degree to which a vulnerable population such as students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP’s) were being served. The question of whether schools and teachers could support learning and well-being or students with mild/moderate disabilities became a common issue in classrooms across the nation and leads to a number of other questions about teacher preparation, social emotional stresses of shifting learning platforms, and changing pedagogy to support fragile students during pandemic teaching. These questions include:

How are teachers expected to deliver research-based content from their living rooms?
How will teachers know if learning is happening?
Should the student’s well-being be on the forefront of the teacher’s minds, or is learning the top priority?
How is progress being gauged if it is not always clear that the student did their own work?
How is student engagement encouraged when learning from a home environment?
How are accommodations implemented with fidelity for students with IEP’s?
How are digital tools incorporated into distance learning and are these tools effective?

The pandemic created what some refer to as insurmountable issues with regard to the educational system and one’s overall sense of well-being and this study attempts to shed some light on its effects on a certain population of students.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many school districts were forced to make some extremely difficult decisions in an attempt to save lives. Schools went from brick-and-mortar instruction to remote instruction with little planning time and limited resources. At the center of this change were students, many of whom already struggled with academics and the social-emotional aspects of being in classrooms with large amounts of people throughout the day. This study will examine the connection between learning and well-being in students, specifically students with mild/moderate disabilities during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study will cite works from seminal researchers such as Abraham Maslow, who introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs, Karl Weick, who researched sense-making in crisis situations, and Rosalind Murray-Harvey, who researched how relationships can affect a student’s academic achievement. In addition to the aforementioned seminal authors, this paper benefited from the multiple studies from more contemporary authors such as Han Zhang, whose research examines the COVID-19 impact on students with disabilities and health concerns and Dr. Shelly Reggiani, et al, who helped to construct and implement the Youthtruth Survey, which details polled information from students in regards to their own personal sense of learning and well-being during COVID.
CLICK HERE to read my literature review in its entirety.

Design Process

Support and Next Steps