A socioscientific issues approach to ninth-graders’ understanding of COVID-19 on health, wealth, and educational attainments

This study investigated the implementation of a curricular unit of instruction designed to immerse rising ninth-grade students socioscientific issues via data collection and analysis of the relationships between health, wealth, educational attainment, and the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on their communities. Twenty-six (n = 26) rising ninth-grade students (14–15 years old; 16 girls, 10 boys) participated in an early college high school program operated by the College Planning Center at a state university in the northeastern United States. The findings of this study demonstrate how ninth-graders enhanced their understanding of the relationships between COVID-19 and community health, wealth, and educational attainments. The students also identified from their research data that communities in Massachusetts that are more educated and with more financial resources were less impacted less by the virus.