Education Post Corona

What does screen-free remote learning look like?

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As school districts across nation make plans for the fall semester—with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic forcing varying degrees of reliance on remote learning—scores of education experts on Tuesday sounded the alarm over the very real threat to students posed by increased screen time.

The warning comes in a new statement (pdf) that cites risks to student privacy, the potential entrenchment of controversial educational technology (EdTech), and students' need for authentic and human engagement.

"With no end in sight to the pandemic, school leaders would do well to remember that remote learning does not have to equal online learning, and to emphasize offline approaches to support children's wellbeing and learning," said Faith Boninger, Ph.D. of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder's School of Education.

Boninger is one of 70 experts that signed onto the statement authored by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood's (CCFC) Children's Screen Time Action Network. The call is also backed by three dozen advocacy groups including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Badass Teachers Association, Boston Teachers Union, and ParentsTogether.

The groups say their message applies "whether school is in-person, remote, or some combination thereof" and suggest educators eye with suspicion claims from the companies that sell educational technology under the guise of personalized learning. As the joint statement explains:

Seizing an opportunity to capture a larger portion of the $10 trillion global education market, for-profit EdTech vendors are selling families and policymakers the false premise that EdTech products offer effective and budget-friendly ways to learn. In reality, the products are costly to purchase and maintain, and frequently crowd teachers and staff out of the budget. The products also ensnare students, whose data and brand loyalty are harvested, and who often become targets of relentless marketing efforts. These efforts include the insidious practice of upselling, through which students and their families are pushed to purchase premium versions, thereby exacerbating inequalities among students. Equally important, these programs reduce the roles played by creative, compassionate teachers in educating the whole child.

"Learning happens best in the context of human relationships and is lost when the balance is skewed toward online platforms," the groups argue.

This is a trend that I hope continues:

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"The phone is [ringing] off the hook and I can't even keep track," said Chris Green, a former classroom teacher who started the outdoor school eight years ago.

He and his team have added seven new programs this year, all of which have been filling up. They've also partnered with a local Montessori school to offer a full-time option, where around 30 kids, split into two groups, will spend half the day in a classroom and the other half outdoors.

"For me, it's always made sense to have kids outside," Green said. "And now it makes double the sense, because it has now shifted from an educational and developmental initiative, to a kind of preventative public health initiative."

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Indeed, the appeal of open-air activities during the COVID-19 pandemic is rooted in science. Dr. Linsey Marr of Virginia Tech studies how viruses spread through the air. She said COVID-19 transmission by air is happening — "there's really no question anymore."

When asked why there's a lower risk of transmission outside, she recommended picturing a smoker. Outside, she said, the exhaled smoke "rapidly disperses throughout the atmosphere and becomes very dilute." Indoors, on the other hand, it gets "trapped."

While masks, physical distancing and proper ventilation can go a long way to help curb the spread of the virus in schools, Dr. Marr said she would seize upon "any opportunity that there is to move an activity outdoors."

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is trying to increase those opportunities for its students, encouraging teachers to take classes outside whenever possible this year. But schools that don't have a forest on their property will need to think differently about using the space beyond their doors.

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Teachers and students will have to get used to "traveling around and using the community as classroom as well," he said. Ideas range from reading aloud to a class in the yard, to teaching about climate change in a nearby ravine, or learning about local history while walking around the neighbourhood.

Hawker-Budlovsky said there will be challenges, and admitted the plan has skeptics. But he's excited about the idea of getting kids outside more often.

I find it ironic that after decades of hysteria about how dangerous it was to have children outside, which has resulted in things like children spending more time in front of screens, now it might be covid hysteria that pushes them back outside where we realize the benefits of being there all the long.

Credit to these students who used the pandemic as a chance to expand their learning:

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Pupils have been using fruit juice to get false positive Covid-19 test results as schools warn parents to be 'vigilant'.

When droplets of orange juice or fizzy drinks like coca-cola are placed on a lateral flow test it can produce a positive result because the acidity of the drink destroys the antibody proteins in the test.

And although it does not work every time, viral videos on Tik Tok and Instagram have been encouraging children across the UK to try the trick to get out of going to school.

Pondering wrote:

Aristotleded24 wrote:

This is an interesting experiment:

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Q. Can you describe what you actually did in your lesson that day?

Well, I essentially put together packets of wires, batteries, a switch, lights and a multimeter for pairs of students to use to assemble a working circuit. We learned terms like “conductor” and “insulator” and some of the basic elements necessary for a circuit. Then students built circuits that allowed them to turn a light ‘off’ and ‘on’ with a switch. They also used the multimeter to measure the voltage of different batteries as well as the voltage across the light while in the circuit. Finally, we used whiteboards to record our voltages (I am notorious for requiring students to write the units for ALL measurements they make), and draw diagrams of the circuits they constructed.

We were able to accomplish more in 1 ½ hours in the park than we could in 2-3 weeks of remote learning. More importantly, students got to work together and manipulate tangible, 3-dimensional objects with their hands, using all their senses in a real world environment. There is no replacement for this kind of social and experiential learning, which was a big part of our messaging about this event.

One student’s mother participated as a learner along with her daughter as her circuit partner. This is actually how I think education should be conducted in school. I believe classrooms should be cross-generational based only on a person’s desire to learn, not on an age group or some Taylorist educational assembly-line model.

When the lesson was done, most of the students and family members stayed to enjoy pizza and play outside in the park. I loved playing Jenga with one of the families and the opportunity to better get to know them.

Our event in the park was by far the best educational experience of the year, and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

That's a great story but there is no way all or even half  the classes can be transformed into classes at the park followed by a picnic and games.

 

It's not so much a one-size-fits-all-everybody-play-at-the-park thing. It's more about generating ideas, and how to reimagine education to be more meaningful and impactful. This was one such experience. You can't generalize to everything, but what can you take from it and apply to other situations?