This research adds to the growing body of literature pertaining to the extent and consequences of fully online
learning to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students in senior high school. It delved deep into the experiences of students to construct a vivid description of how STEM students viewed their experiences in a fully online learning setup during the Covid-19 pandemic.  For example, there was a consensus that students did not like a fully online learning setup, particularly for STEM courses. They experienced overall difficulty in terms of amount of classwork, peer communication and learning retention of STEM-specific subjects due to limitations in the setup. Online learning adversely affected the students’ well-being and took a heavy toll on their mental health because of isolation. Similarly, online learning reaffirmed the importance of social interactions with interactions with friends, teachers and classmates being integral to student motivation. Online learning was also viewed with dissatisfaction toward institutional support. The lack of school events and prevalence of academic dishonesty were highlighted. By utilizing the findings of this research, stakeholders such as teachers and school administrators can make necessary adjustments to their online/distance learning setup not only during a pandemic and take into account the perspective of students.

Read the full paper: https://www.ijopr.com/article/stem-students-conceptions-of-online-learning-during-covid-19-pandemic-a-phenomenographic-study-12459