By Adelle MacDowell
In a recent survey of LUHS students, several pieces of data were assessed to help create a picture of how students are dealing with Distance Learning day to day. 131 students responded to the survey, and here’s what the data they provided says.
The majority—102 out of 131—seem to be waking up before 10 a.m., with 37 of those getting up between 7 and 8 a.m., and 12 before 7 a.m. However, 3 of the 129 students who took the survey say that they get up after 2 p.m.
58 survey respondents are going to bed between 12 and 2 a.m., and 47 between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. “I do random things until very late at night,” one student writes. Those students going to bed later than 10 account for 105 of the 131 respondents, but there are a couple outliers—two students even report going to bed before 8 p.m.
There is very little consensus on how much time is spent on schoolwork. The data is distributed pretty evenly, and there are students at both ends of the spectrum—21 say they spend less than an hour on schoolwork per day, and 14 say they spend 6+ hours doing assignments. “I do work in the order of what I’d be doing if I’m in school, and I tend to work late,” an anonymous student says.
Students overall are stressed about the current situation. 42 report being “very stressed.” 45 are “pretty stressed,” and 36 are “a little stressed.” Only 8 of the students aren’t stressed at all, according to survey responses. Liam Dearborn writes that he’s “stressed out over work and too many Zoom calls.” He says he has “4 Zoom calls at once and no time to do work.”
While ability to take the survey, of course, indicates at least some WiFi access, the majority of respondents—72—reported that lack of WiFi hasn’t negatively impacted their learning. Another 23 are unsure if they’ve been negatively impacted, and 36 say that they have been.
55 students say that they’re not at all motivated to do schoolwork with this new way of learning. 65 say that they’re motivated by their grades. “I try to do work, then get really tired, and drink more coffee, then I can’t do it,” writes one student in regards to their motivation.
With so much free time, it can be easy to become attached to a device, and the data shows that 39 students are spending 6+ hours daily on a device outside of doing schoolwork. One student’s daily routine is to “wake up, do work, take a quick break on video games, do more work, eat lunch, do more work, then play video games till dinner, then play video games after dinner till I go to bed.”
Another way to spend extra time, though, is outdoors, and 19 students report spending more than three hours a day outdoors. Three students responded to the question of what their day looks like by saying they’re “outside all the time.” 103 are spending at least half an hour outdoors, falling somewhere in that 30 minute – 3+ hour range. “I take a bike ride if it’s nice,” writes Hayden Cheever, and Dayna Snow writes that her outdoor time consists of “getting the garden ready to be planted in, the pool and the lawn ready for summer.”
Blue & Gold 