The Closing Down of Schools due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Consequences for Science Education

• Because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020 many countriesclosed down education on all levels. The students are supposed to conduct their studiesat home with digital support from their institutions. In science teaching, with laboratorywork, field studies and other types of practical work as important parts of the studies andalso the reflective parts, usually often in dialogue form, are suffering. At home the studentseems to lack ability for a deeper understanding, especially as teachers showed anincreased tendency to base their grading on written texts. This creates a general lowerdegree of understanding outside the classroom as texts easily may be copied withoutcontent knowledge. In the classroom the presence of, not only the teacher, but also otherstudents, stimulate or trigger the wish of deeper understanding. Thus, the teacher hasto behave otherwise when working in the digital word compared to in the classroom.Based on interviews with teachers and out our own experiences we here present somebasic problems of science teaching in a pandemic world and how they may be solved.Thus, some principles for the design and structure of homework tasks useful for teacherswill be presented. The suggestions presented will hopefully promote deeperunderstanding of learning processes and their environmental dependence.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

COVID-19

school close down

home studies

science education

science teaching

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)