Social Sciences – Page 26 – UROP Spring Symposium 2021

Social Sciences

Programmable Tools for Teaching Data Literacy in Social Studies Classes

In the world of teaching social studies to k-12 students, one of the key learning objectives that teachers lack the proper resources to teach is data literacy. This study includes the key components that interviewed teachers wanted as part of their data literacy tool. An important takeaway from these interviews was that teachers believed that not many interactive or useful digital timeline tools existed for use in their classrooms. From the established criteria from the interviews, an interactive timeline allowing students to create event blocks that would then appear on a timeline would be the most useful tool for the team to create. First, three individual mockups were created from the criteria and then put together into a finalized mockup on Figma. From the Figma mockup, the best development tools needed to be decided to achieve the cleanest and most functional result. The working prototype was created by splitting up the development into a timeline and event block component which were then joined to create a final functional prototype that satisfies the initial design requirements. This study is part of a larger effort to incorporate useful programmable and interactive tools into classrooms across the country to aid with teaching and learning effectively.

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Programmable Tools for Teaching Data Literacy in Social Studies Classes

In a rapidly evolving world centered around connectivity and technology, data literacy and basic programming knowledge have turned into some of the most valuable skills children can learn in school. The problem is, however, learning data literacy and programming skills can be daunting even for college students and adults, and research needs to be done on ways to make learning these key skills easier for children. In order to introduce foundations of data literacy to students, one option is to combine data skills with other, more traditional, classes. This project is about creating a timeline tool for middle school students. We hope this tool will allow students to provide data on important historical events and generate a visualization of the data in the form of a timeline. While the project has not finished, we currently are hoping to create a tool that is both easy for teachers to teach and students to use, all while being helpful in advancing student’s knowledge of history and data literacy. In doing this, we hope that this will result in satisfied teachers who are comfortable combining non-data based subjects with data-based learning through this timeline tool and beyond. we hope to see an increased interest in programming and data among students as well as an increase in data literacy. In the end, we are aiming for an easy-to-use timeline creator that will empower students to learn about programming and gain basic data literacy.

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Family Caregiving of COVID-19 Patients: A Qualitative Study

Background: More than 130,000 people in the United States have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 associated illness (March 2020 – January 2021). After hospital discharge, close friends and relatives of COVID-19 patients are responsible for the bulk of non-professional caregiving. Although caregiving has been well-researched in other diseases, not much is known about non-professional caregiving for COVID-19 patients within the constraints imposed by a global pandemic. Objective: The objective of this study is to catalog patients’ and caregivers’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators to caregiving during COVID-19 illness, hospitalization, and recovery.

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Family Caregiving of COVID-19 Patients: A Qualitative Study

Background: More than 130,000 people in the United States have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 associated illness (March, 2020 – January, 2021). After hospital discharge, close friends and relatives of COVID-19 patients are responsible for the bulk of non-professional caregiving. Although caregiving has been well-researched in other diseases, not much is known about non-professional caregiving for COVID-19 patients within the constraints imposed by a global pandemic. Objective: The objective of this study is to catalog patients’ and caregivers’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators to caregiving during COVID-19 illness, hospitalization, and recovery. Methods: Trained interviewers conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 patient-caregiver dyads. All patient-caregiver dyads were aged 18 and over and resided within the United States. Caregivers were family or friends without medical training. Patients were hospitalized in an ICU for a COVID-19-related illness. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using the RADaR qualitative analysis technique. Results: Analysis is ongoing, but preliminary themes have emerged. Themes of caregiving barriers include the fluidity of care roles, knowledge deficit, financial challenges, and isolation. Themes of caregiving facilitators include technology, emotional support, and formal support. Conclusion: Unique but overlapping themes of facilitators and barriers to caregiving were identified among both caregivers and patients. The isolation caused by the pandemic has added a new dimension to both the caregiver and patient experience. Looking at other types of caregiving may help provide context to these findings. Implications: Identifying the current barriers and facilitators of COVID-19 caregiving can help us understand what is needed to improve the overall well-being of COVID-19 patients. This research is important because it can help reduce rehospitalization rates through the caregiving role and inform public health interventions to support caregivers and patients during pandemics.

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The effects of Covid-19 on essential workers’ mental health

The topic of my research is to examine symptoms of anxiety and depression in participants from The Study of Adolescent to Adult Neural Development (SAND) during Covid-19. My research question is has mental health deteriorated among SAND participants since the start of Covid-19, and if so for what groups (ex. groups that have previously exhibited symptoms for depression)? For my UROP research project, I compared the mean depression scores from the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI) for young adults and primary caregivers (PCGs) during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the UROP research project, I examined the depression scores of young adults and PCGs that are categorized as essential workers and comparing them to the depression scores of non-essential workers. In this context, an essential worker’s job is defined as first line work such as grocery store workers or nurses. The hypothesis I tested was whether among employed young adults and PCGs, young adults and PCGs who are essential workers will have worse symptoms for depression (which means a higher score on the BDI scale). This question aims to test whether this hypothesis is true in the context of the SAND study.

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MyVoice- Examining the Relationship between Youth Health and spending time in Nature

Purpose: Both physical and mental health issues among youth have been on the rise, yet there still is a challenge in how to combat this growing problem that is damaging the overall health of the younger generation. Methods: In order to get youth’s perspectives, the MyVoice team fielded a series of 4 open ended text message questions designed to gauge the opinions of the youth (ages 14-24) on the impact of nature on their health. Once the data was collected, it was coded and frequency of codes were summarized. Results: From this, it was found that 51.6% of youth stated that being in nature helped them feel at peace or more calm (“I always feel calm when I am in nature”) while 22.1% stated that it improved their mental state by calming their anxieties or stress (“It reduces my anxiety”); however, the data also showed that over 20% of youth claimed that they were unable to spend as much time in nature due to other engagements that limited their ability to go into nature as much as they would have liked (“My busy schedule doesn’t allow me.”) Overall, the youth polled agreed that being in nature improved both their physical and mental health. Conclusion: Using this information, policy makers can help youth spend more time in nature by promoting accessible and safe outside areas for recreation.

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Examining Links between Critical Motivation and Academic Self-Efficacy: Implications for Adolescent Development

Critical Consciousness and its three components: critical reflection, critical motivation, and critical action are overlooked assets that can positively contribute to the education and development of children. Previous studies suggest that focus on developing critical consciousness in educational settings increases the levels of critical reflection, critical motivation, and critical action in adolescents, which in turn leads to higher academic achievement, greater social involvement, and more successful career development (Diemer, Rapa, Voight, McWhirter, 2016). This study examines the levels of critical consciousness, particularly the subcomponent critical motivation, in BIPOC and low SES adolescents in a few cities in the Eastern United States, and its relationship to their self-efficacy. Critical motivation refers to one’s belief in their ability to address injustice around them. We hypothesize that higher levels of critical motivation will be associated with higher levels of academic self-efficacy. Paper surveys were administered in the fall of 2018. Correlational analyses indicate that critical motivation is positively associated with academic self-efficacy, which corresponds to our hypothesis. These findings suggest that cultivating critical motivation in students is a way to increase their confidence, which allows for a more open and successful life.

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Promote breast and Cervical Cancer Screening in Asian American Women of Metro Detroit, MI

Breast and cervical cancer is one of the most common diseases among Asian American women; thus, it is extremely important for women to be vigilant about breast cancer prevention, by being well aware of the habits they must exercise such as regularly attending screenings and consulting healthcare providers. However, Asian American women are statistically less likely to receive mammograms and pap smears than non-Asian Americans. Bangladesh-American immigrant women specifically tend to have high breast cancer rates, as there is a lack of awareness for breast cancer screenings and little motivation to pursue screenings and treatment in Bangladesh, and these patterns translate after immigration, causing Bangladesh-American women to continue to have these mentalities. Additionally, due to a lack of English proficiency, Bangladesh American women are less susceptible to adapting to new mentalities and more fearful of taking action. The purpose of this project is to better understand the practices of breast and cervical cancer screenings in Bangladesh American women in the Detroit metropolitan area, and the role that bilingual community health workers play in facilitating Bangladesh Americans in the enrollment of the Michigan Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Navigation Program (BC3NP).

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Trends In General Cannabis Legalization Attitudes

In the past three decades, more and more states in the United States have legalized or decriminalized the recreational or medicinal use of cannabis. President Biden, who once supported the War on Drugs implemented in the 1970’s, now supports the decriminalization and moderate rescheduling of marijuana. As with many other issues, Americans stand somewhat divided on the issue; however, over the years more and more people have begun supporting the legalization of marijuana. This research seeks to look at the trends in attitudes toward cannabis legalization and inform the audience of where Americans stand on the issue. Literature reviews were conducted that look at the trends in attitudes toward cannabis legalization. A majority of the literature found used surveys, polls, and interviews with a variety of people of different age, race, religion, political affiliation, and education level. From the literature review conducted there has shown to be a general increase in the percentage of Americans who favor the general legalization of marijuana. This support has increased from about 12% in 1969 to about 68% in 2020. There was a plateau in support at 28% in 1977; however, support did not exceed 30% until 2000. Over the past two decades, support has increased rapidly, with the majority of Americans supporting the general legalization of cannabis by 2013. Although support for cannabis legalization continues to increase, it remains illegal at the Federal level and its Schedule I status hinders research on its efficacy for treating health issues.

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Trends In General Cannabis Legalization Attitudes

In the past three decades, more and more states in the United States have legalized or decriminalized the recreational or medicinal use of cannabis. President Biden, who once supported the War on Drugs implemented in the 1970’s, now supports the decriminalization and moderate rescheduling of marijuana. As with many other issues, Americans stand somewhat divided on the issue; however, over the years more and more people have begun supporting the legalization of marijuana. This research seeks to look at the trends in attitudes toward cannabis legalization and inform the audience of where Americans stand on the issue. Literature reviews were conducted that look at the trends in attitudes toward cannabis legalization. A majority of the literature found used surveys, polls, and interviews with a variety of people of different age, race, religion, political affiliation, and education level. From the literature review conducted there has shown to be a general increase in the percentage of Americans who favor the general legalization of marijuana. This support has increased from about 12% in 1969 to about 68% in 2020. There was a plateau in support at 28% in 1977; however, support did not exceed 30% until 2000. Over the past two decades, support has increased rapidly, with the majority of Americans supporting the general legalization of cannabis by 2013. Although support for cannabis legalization continues to increase, it remains illegal at the Federal level and its Schedule I status hinders research on its efficacy for treating health issues.

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