tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/k-12-online-learning-83733/articlesK-12 online learning – The Conversation2023-01-09T13:22:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1967732023-01-09T13:22:29Z2023-01-09T13:22:29ZRussia’s war in Ukraine threatens students daily and forces teachers to improvise<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503077/original/file-20230104-18-50ezwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C29%2C5000%2C3293&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the remains of her classroom, 16-year-old Khrystyna Ignatova visits her desk in the Chernihiv School #21, in Chernihiv, Ukraine.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/RussiaUkraineWarBombedOutSchoolPhotoGallery/37d128ec4a664d61b9da94b928de1df5/photo">AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Svitlana Popova’s students didn’t realize she was leading their online math class while outside the charred remains of her home in Ukraine until they saw a news video <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/after-school-was-destroyed-ukrainian-teacher-conducts-online-lessons-outside-her-ruined-home/32063262.html">about it on social media</a>.</p>
<p>Her students were in their own difficult circumstances, too – seeking refuge away from their homes, some in other countries.</p>
<p>Popova is a mathematics teacher in the town of Borodyanka, in the Kyiv region of Ukraine. Her school was seized as a headquarters by Russian military forces and heavily damaged before their retreat. After her classroom transitioned to online instruction, Russian tanks fired on her house and burned it down. Yet this dedicated teacher continued to lead virtual lessons from a small umbrella-covered table in the yard.</p>
<p>Ordinary Ukrainians have been hailed for their heroism since Russia’s full-scale invasion. “There are no small matters in a great war,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy affirmed in an emotional <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/novorichne-privitannya-prezidenta-ukrayini-volodimira-zelens-80197">New Year’s address</a>. “Each of us is a fighter,” Zelenskyy stated. “Each of us is the basis of defense.” </p>
<p>Listing the tools of war – ship’s helms, steering wheels, weapons, scalpels – Zelenskyy ended with an unexpected inclusion: the teacher’s pointer. This passing remark highlights an often hidden front in Ukraine’s defensive struggle – the fight by countless teachers and parents to keep more than <a href="https://data.unicef.org/how-many/how-many-children-under-18-are-there-in-ukraine/">8 million children</a> educated, even as their worlds have been thrown into upheaval.</p>
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<h2>Educational efforts</h2>
<p>Like Ukraine’s stunning resistance itself, local educators are rising to the occasion despite enormous challenges. Viral videos show teachers continuing to instruct their small pupils in <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-shelter-school-children-bombs-russia/32006135.html">bomb shelters</a> during active bombardments, or conducting lessons inside a <a href="https://westobserver.com/news/europe/blackout-in-ukraine-how-the-indomitable-people-get-out-of-the-way-during-a-blackout-they-spin-mincemeat-and-dry-their-hair-in-stores/">post office</a> after schools lose electricity. Gas stations and grocery stores, powered by generators long after homes and schools lose power, are being <a href="https://tsn.ua/en/ato/blackout-in-ukraine-how-does-unbreakable-nation-survive-without-power-people-grind-meat-and-dry-hair-at-stores-2217976.html">transformed</a> into hubs for filming virtual lessons.</p>
<p>One Kyiv teacher spent hours <a href="https://apostrophe.ua/ua/news/kyiv/2022-12-21/nesokrushimyiy-pedagog-set-porazila-uchitelnitsa-kotoraya-vela-onlayn-urok-pod-otkryityim-nebom-na-obestochennyih-ulitsah-kieva/286605">crouching on a snowy sidewalk</a> outside a store, determined to finish sharing the day’s homework assignment despite rolling blackouts. Other teachers now bring their <a href="https://suspilne.media/218802-na-uroki-z-ukritta-ak-vcitelka-z-harkova-navcae-ditej-pid-cas-vijni/">pets</a> for online lessons, lifting spirits and providing psychological support. Many teachers, like Popova, comfort their students despite their own traumatic losses.</p>
<h2>Long-term displacement</h2>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=w-3ou1AAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">anthropologist working in Ukraine</a> since 2015, I have long observed the effects of armed conflict on Ukrainian children. After Russia first <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12086">invaded</a> in 2014, regular <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/urkaine-bomb-scares-russia/31672638.html">bomb threats</a> to schools have been attributed by Ukrainians to Russian governmental efforts to sow fear. </p>
<p>Between that first invasion and the second in February 2022, armed conflict with Russia internally displaced <a href="https://www.unian.info/war/10416549-donbas-war-death-toll-rises-up-to-nearly-13-000-un.html">1.5 million</a> Ukrainians and damaged <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/5be942fdef.html">740 schools</a>. I have analyzed the impact of this <a href="https://www.kristinahook.com/research">warfare</a> on children for <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429397745-4">trauma healing</a> since Russia’s invasion began nine years ago. Still, these earlier challenges pale in comparison with what the Ukrainian educational system faces today.</p>
<p>Russia’s nationwide offensive against Ukraine in early 2022 led to the largest refugee flows in Europe since World War II. In the weeks following the invasion, nearly 16 million Ukrainians were driven from their homes to seek refuge <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2022/5/628a389e4/unhcr-ukraine-other-conflicts-push-forcibly-displaced-total-100-million.html">abroad</a> and <a href="https://www.iom.int/news/needs-growing-over-8-million-internally-displaced-ukraine">elsewhere in Ukraine</a>. Many of these were women and children, exacting a heavy toll on Ukraine’s female-majority teaching corps, as well as their students. </p>
<p>With large numbers of Ukraine’s young people at least temporarily resettled in primarily European countries, some teachers <a href="https://suspilne.media/218802-na-uroki-z-ukritta-ak-vcitelka-z-harkova-navcae-ditej-pid-cas-vijni/">reported</a> a surge in their students’ motivation linked to the structure of returning to their online Ukrainian schooling. “The children missed it (school) … because most of them were on the road for a long time. It was very emotionally draining, and when they returned to school, it was something they were used to,” one teacher <a href="https://suspilne.media/218802-na-uroki-z-ukritta-ak-vcitelka-z-harkova-navcae-ditej-pid-cas-vijni/">told a Ukrainian reporter</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A Ukrainian teacher conducts class online.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Teaching online, again</h2>
<p>Teachers around the world developed remote-teaching skills during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that war had driven their classes apart again, Ukrainian teachers adapted those skills to teach students across Europe and the world.</p>
<p>Some private online schools like <a href="https://optima.school/">Optima</a> made their materials available free of charge. This step allowed Ukrainian students to study at home if they could not otherwise access schooling because of the war. It also provided a way for Ukrainian refugee children to retain access to school materials in their native language. Still, new obstacles emerged.</p>
<p>Many countries that took in Ukrainian refugees required the children to attend local schools, even if they didn’t speak the local language. Some children thrived, like the young Ukrainians who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-63987153">stunned</a> their Welsh hosts by learning the local language in less than 12 weeks. Yet for many children, these host country efforts at integration created new problems. In my ongoing ethnographic research, Ukrainian parents described how these attendance requirements left their children frustrated. “The children just sit there not understanding anything all day,” one parent told me.</p>
<p>Parents told me that after their children finished these long days in a foreign school, many would begin their day’s real learning late at night. Parents said Ukrainian language materials gave children the chance to stay on schedule with their grade level back home. Failure to do so might further derail their future state exams and graduation dates. </p>
<p>By nightfall, however, children had lost their most productive educational hours. Harmful spirals soon followed. Even formerly top students experienced exhaustion-driven pressures to copy virtual assignments. Losing their joy of learning added to the strain of the war’s intense <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/11/1121426264/traumatized-and-displaced-but-determined-kids-in-ukraine-head-back-to-school">trauma</a> in these young lives. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503071/original/file-20230104-129741-ut6fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A teacher stands in front of a classroom" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503071/original/file-20230104-129741-ut6fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503071/original/file-20230104-129741-ut6fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503071/original/file-20230104-129741-ut6fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503071/original/file-20230104-129741-ut6fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503071/original/file-20230104-129741-ut6fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503071/original/file-20230104-129741-ut6fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503071/original/file-20230104-129741-ut6fnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These Ukrainian refugee children attend a school in Germany, but many of their compatriots struggle to learn other languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/december-2022-lower-saxony-osnabr%C3%BCck-teacher-hilde-news-photo/1245646583">Friso Gentsch/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>A focus on education</h2>
<p>Ukraine’s literacy rate is 99.8%, one of the <a href="https://uatribune.com/en/literacy-and-education-in-ukraine/">highest in the world</a>, and education is a national point of <a href="https://euromaidanpress.com/2022/12/30/they-thought-we-are-cave-people-stereotypes-ukrainian-refugees-face-in-europe/">pride</a>. In wartime, Ukraine’s government is working to adapt its educational system to new realities. </p>
<p>Home schooling is permitted, so long as students can pass standardized tests. Still, many supervising parents are overburdened with the tasks of daily survival in the face of the Russian military’s relentless <a href="https://onu.delegfrance.org/by-targeting-civilians-russia-is-deliberately-violating-international">attacks</a> on the civilian population. One mother <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/quiet-war-fought-ukraines-mothers/">revealed</a> to a reporter that she soothes her children to sleep in bomb shelters before arranging shovels around them in case they become trapped in the rubble of a missile attack. Another mother told me she sends her young child to school with an emergency backpack filled with food, water and clothes in case he becomes trapped with his teachers.</p>
<p>The Russian military has also damaged or destroyed over <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/war-ukraine%E2%80%99s-schools-204596">2,400 schools</a>, adding to construction burdens. When the school year <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/war-ukraine%E2%80%99s-schools-204596">began</a> in September, government data indicated that <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/war-ukraine%E2%80%99s-schools-204596">less than 25%</a> of Ukrainian schools nationwide were able to offer full-time, in-person instruction. Even those that were intact are now required to have a bomb shelter before they can hold in-person lessons. Major <a href="https://kse.ua/support/safe-education/">campaigns</a> have rushed to build bomb shelters for schools, but, even so, many are simple, dirt-floor basements. </p>
<p>In addition, Russia’s intentional targeting of Ukraine’s electrical grid and civilian infrastructure poses new dangers to children’s health and schooling. Power outages have affected an estimated 10 million people, over one-quarter of the Ukrainian population. <a href="https://24tv.ua/vikliki-dlya-sistemi-navchannya-yak-ukrayinski-shkolyari-zdobuvayut_n2195435">Over half</a> of Ukraine’s pupils are enrolled online and need electricity to attend classes and do schoolwork. Continued electrical outages would be a foreboding new hurdle.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503074/original/file-20230104-22-hbyyux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Metal, ceiling tiles and dust are strewn across a ruined room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503074/original/file-20230104-22-hbyyux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503074/original/file-20230104-22-hbyyux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503074/original/file-20230104-22-hbyyux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503074/original/file-20230104-22-hbyyux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503074/original/file-20230104-22-hbyyux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503074/original/file-20230104-22-hbyyux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503074/original/file-20230104-22-hbyyux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Fighting in eastern Ukraine destroyed this school in Paraskoviivka, in Donetsk Oblast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rubble-lies-in-reconstructed-school-building-damaged-by-a-news-photo/1453281266">Vitalii Pavlenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Under occupation</h2>
<p>The status of children’s education in Russian-controlled territories is even more alarming. Russia’s occupation has ushered in new forms of ideological <a href="https://nus.org.ua/articles/osvita-pid-chas-vijny-yak-pidtrymuyut-vchyteliv-iz-tot-ta-yaki-problemy-mayut-ukrayinski-uchni-za-kordonom/">coercion</a> in the classroom. Teachers in the liberated Kharkiv region have spoken of <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/russias-war/ukrainian-teachers-speak-of-intimidation-torture-for-refusing-to-teach-russian.html">arbitrary arrests and torture</a> by the Russian military when they refused to teach their students that Ukraine was a territory of Russia. </p>
<p>Ukrainian teachers have also tried to <a href="https://euromaidanpress.com/2022/11/12/how-schoolchildren-in-russian-occupied-ukraine-are-taught-to-hate-their-homeland/">protect</a> their students from Russia’s forcible deportations of minors, a crime of <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/why-russias-war-ukraine-genocide">genocide</a> under international law.</p>
<p>Courage has become synonymous with global descriptions of Ukrainian citizens enduring war, and teachers exemplify this everyday heroism. Still, Russia’s targeting of Ukraine’s youngest citizens unfortunately goes much deeper than the physical devastation of their <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-crimes-schools-d1e52368aced8b3359f4436ca7180811">schools</a>, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/russia-attacks-ukraine-kindergarten-orphanage-sumy-oblast-shelter-casualties-reported-1682656">kindergartens</a> and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/02/ukraine-cluster-munitions-kill-child-and-two-other-civilians-taking-shelter-at-a-preschool/">nurseries</a>. In a survey of existing educational challenges, one brave parent admitted, “I am really scared for the future of our children.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristina Hook has received funding from the National Science Foundation, USAID Research and Innovation Fellowship Program, U.S. Fulbright Program, University of Notre Dame, and University of Alberta for her ethnographic research in Ukraine. She is an Assistant Professor of Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University's School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development and a nonresident fellow at the Marine Corps University's Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare. </span></em></p>The war in Ukraine affects everyone – including teachers and students, who are meeting the challenges with their people’s famed determination.Kristina Hook, Assistant Professor of Conflict Management, Kennesaw State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1782862022-03-11T13:18:57Z2022-03-11T13:18:57ZWhy most teachers who say they plan to leave the profession probably won’t do so anytime soon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450496/original/file-20220307-83891-gxvux3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C106%2C7930%2C5163&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teachers across the U.S. have been under stress throughout the pandemic.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nicole-brown-a-second-grade-teacher-starts-class-at-carter-news-photo/1237956733">Jon Cherry/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every spring, school and district leaders ask teachers about their plans to return to teaching in the fall. They need to know how many teachers to begin recruiting for the next school year.</p>
<p>These career conversations are currently taking place under the unprecedented circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stories from across the country show high levels of <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-stress-hypervigilance-and-decision-fatigue-teaching-during-omicron/2022/01">teacher stress</a> and <a href="https://www.cnet.com/health/parenting/the-great-resignation-hasnt-hit-school-teachers-yet-heres-why-it-still-might/">burnout</a> from repeated and long-term disruptions to school routines.</p>
<p>School leaders are worried about whether they’ll <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2022/02/18/how-are-staffing-shortages-affecting-schools-during-the-pandemic/">have enough teachers to keep classrooms staffed</a>. In a January 2022 poll of members of the country’s largest teacher union, the National Education Association, <a href="https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/nea-survey-massive-staff-shortages-schools-leading-educator">55% of educators</a> said the pandemic has made them more likely to leave the teaching profession earlier than they had planned. That’s nearly double the proportion of teachers who <a href="https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/NEA%20Member%20COVID-19%20Survey%20Summary.pdf#page=2">said that in July 2020</a>.</p>
<p>Among Black and Hispanic teachers, the percentages of teachers saying they have accelerated their plans to leave teaching were even greater – 62% and 59%, respectively.</p>
<p>Despite these signals of increased turnover, the past two years have not experienced <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/3/9/22967759/teacher-turnover-retention-pandemic-data">mass departures from the teaching profession</a>.</p>
<p>In the past, teachers who were looking to leave didn’t depart immediately, so there’s some hope that the current crop of burned-out teachers won’t either. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.26300/3aq0-pv52">recent working paper</a> explains why. We looked at national data from over 100,000 public school teachers from 2004 to 2012. Of the teachers who said they would leave the profession “as soon as possible,” 34% had left the field by the following school year, and 66% were still teaching. By contrast, of the teachers who said they planned to remain in teaching as long as possible, just 5% left the profession, and 95% kept teaching the following year. </p>
<h2>Leaving isn’t immediate</h2>
<p>Teachers’ feelings about departure can change throughout the year. The 2021-2022 school year helps to illustrate this ebb and flow in teachers’ career plans.</p>
<p>The high rates of <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2022/0126/What-happens-to-US-education-if-there-s-no-one-to-teach">teacher absences</a> during the surge of the omicron variant added additional responsibilities on an already strained teacher workforce. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teachers-burnout-staffing-shortage-pandemic-quitting-schools-education-2022-2">A teacher in Memphis who eventually quit</a> said she was assigned nearly 200 additional students beyond her normal teaching load when a colleague quit midyear. <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/for-anxious-teachers-omicron-feels-like-walking-into-a-trap/2022/01">An elementary school teacher in Brooklyn worried</a> that too many teachers were working in schools without adequate ventilation systems or rules to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.</p>
<p>A beginning teacher in Colorado reflected in <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teacher-shortages-leaving-school-education/">one report</a>: “I also might want to just do it for one more year, just to kind of be more stable financially. If you asked me if I’ll be in the classroom in two years, or three years, I say those odds are even lower.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450500/original/file-20220307-133446-1epioku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An adult approaches a young person in a school classroom" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450500/original/file-20220307-133446-1epioku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450500/original/file-20220307-133446-1epioku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450500/original/file-20220307-133446-1epioku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450500/original/file-20220307-133446-1epioku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450500/original/file-20220307-133446-1epioku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450500/original/file-20220307-133446-1epioku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450500/original/file-20220307-133446-1epioku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many teachers are evaluating how long they plan to stay in the profession.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakMasksReaction/9e3e6314e70341f3897080cee13954cc/photo">AP Photo/David Goldman</a></span>
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<p>As omicron wanes, teachers’ urgent feelings to leave may ease.</p>
<p>Changing personal circumstances may also influence teachers’ decision to leave. Many teachers depend on employer-provided health insurance and would want to find a job with comparable benefits. <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2021/4/6/22368846/teacher-turnover-quitting-pandemic-data-economy">A veteran Florida teacher who considered quitting</a> explains: “I need my health insurance, especially as I’m recovering from COVID. And I need the paycheck.”</p>
<p>Some teachers are keeping their jobs while they figure out their next steps. For example, one <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/teachers-are-getting-ready-to-quit-due-to-the-pandemic.html">North Carolina teacher</a> says she is thinking about going back to school for a new degree outside of education.</p>
<h2>Likelihood of departure</h2>
<p>Based on our research, we think it unlikely that most teachers who say they plan to leave teaching as soon as possible will actually leave this school year.</p>
<p>However, if even one-third of teachers who say they’re leaving the profession do so, that would be significantly more than the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/slc">8% of teachers who leave in an average year</a>.</p>
<p>Teachers are clearly sounding the alarm about stress, burnout, dissatisfaction with school and district leadership, and other working conditions – even if they do stay in their jobs.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178286/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite signals of increased turnover, the past two years have not experienced mass departures from the teaching profession.Christopher Redding, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, University of FloridaAllison Gilmour, Assistant Professor of Education, Temple UniversityElizabeth Bettini, Assistant Professor of Special Education, Boston UniversityTuan D. Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Education, Kansas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1739772022-01-19T13:45:52Z2022-01-19T13:45:52ZState efforts to close the K-12 digital divide may come up short<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439860/original/file-20220107-12389-11c5ir9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C8%2C5651%2C3782&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students and teachers alike struggle with digital connectivity – but education is just one area in which technology matters.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Biden-Broadband-Explainer/229742288a5a489fb47d8fbefc43ec08/photo">AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2021, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced that education officials in his state had “<a href="https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/562021/20210310c.shtml">closed</a>” the digital divide by ensuring that every public school student had a laptop or tablet and internet access. </p>
<p>“Closing the digital divide wasn’t just about <a href="https://nj.gov/governor/news/news/562021/approved/20210312b.shtml">meeting the challenges of remote learning</a>,” Murphy, a Democrat, said at the time. “It’s been about ensuring every student has the tools they need to excel in a 21st century educational environment.” </p>
<p>While the Murphy administration was successful in giving <a href="https://www.nj.gov/education/grants/digitaldivide/techsurveys.shtml">358,212 students</a> access to critical education tools they previously lacked, <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/household-pulse-survey.html">the digital divide remains a problem</a> in New Jersey as well as throughout the nation.</p>
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<h2>Federal data</h2>
<p>A U.S. Census Bureau survey <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/household-pulse-survey.html">undertaken during the pandemic</a> found that not all families with school-age kids had internet access or computers. The levels varied by race and family income.</p>
<p>For instance, whereas 84% of Asian families said they always had a computer on hand for educational uses, only 72% of Hispanic or Latino families did.</p>
<p>And 87% of Asian families said they always had internet access available for school-related activities. But just 68% of families that were biracial, multiracial or in a group labeled “other races” – meaning not white, not Black, not Asian and not Hispanic or Latino – said the same.</p>
<p>Families with higher incomes were more likely to have both internet access and digital devices always available for education. But even the highest-income households didn’t have 100% availability of either. And only about two-thirds of families with incomes below $35,000 did.</p>
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<h2>State and local efforts</h2>
<p>Different communities took different approaches to handling the digital divide before and during the pandemic. A <a href="https://www.nga.org/news/commentary/governors-prioritize-expanding-internet-access-for-k-12-students/">National Governors Association review</a> showed that some education leaders sought to address the immediate needs of students, such as access to computers at home, while others explored long-term broadband solutions. </p>
<p>Some states partnered with <a href="https://www.allconnect.com/blog/organizations-addressing-the-digital-divide">internet service providers or nonprofit organizations</a> with a specific focus on digital access or inclusion, or other organizations with broader missions, such as local libraries. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/progress-closing-digital-divide-20211229.html">Philadelphia</a>, the city worked with the school district, foundations and local cable providers to make sure all public school students have access to <a href="https://www.phila.gov/programs/phlconnected/">free and reliable internet at home</a>. Chicago did <a href="https://www.cps.edu/strategic-initiatives/chicago-connected/">something similar</a>.</p>
<p>In October 2021, New York City announced an initiative to build a <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/724-21/new-york-city-close-digital-divide-1-6-million-residents-advance-racial-equity">publicly owned, open-access broadband system</a> to provide affordable internet access across the city.</p>
<p>Partnerships like this have resulted in the delivery of mobile hot spots, <a href="https://www.nj.com/education/2020/09/organizations-donate-1200-hotspots-to-trenton-public-schools-to-close-digital-divide.html">free internet subscriptions</a> and digital literacy courses. Other local efforts, including from municipal governments and nonprofit organizations, sought to improve public Wi-Fi service and get computers or tablets to people who needed them.</p>
<h2>A lasting problem</h2>
<p>A 2021 report from New America and Rutgers University shows that, while internet access has greatly increased since 2015, <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/learning-at-home-while-underconnected/">1 in 7 children</a> still do not have high-speed internet access at home.</p>
<p>One reason for this may be the focus on temporary solutions to deeper social issues. A device and hot spot issued for one year does not permanently address problems as complex as the digital divide.</p>
<p>Another factor may be the ability to identify those in need. New Jersey’s survey didn’t ask families about their devices and connectivity. Instead, state officials asked local school districts and <a href="https://www.nj.gov/education/grants/digitaldivide/techsurveys.shtml">took their word without double-checking their reported results</a>.</p>
<p>At the federal level, similar attempts to measure the digital divide have also come up short, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/technology/digital-divide-us-fcc-microsoft.html">overestimating the numbers of people</a> who have a computer and internet service. The Federal Communications Commission has also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/technology/digital-divide-us-fcc-microsoft.html">overstated the degree to which high-speed service</a> is available to internet customers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439862/original/file-20220107-13-yh420e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People stand outside a school bus in a rural area" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439862/original/file-20220107-13-yh420e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439862/original/file-20220107-13-yh420e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439862/original/file-20220107-13-yh420e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439862/original/file-20220107-13-yh420e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439862/original/file-20220107-13-yh420e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439862/original/file-20220107-13-yh420e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439862/original/file-20220107-13-yh420e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many rural students don’t have any internet service available, and many urban students’ families can’t afford it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/EducationNavajoInternet/526fc11fe7ac4eb4b8b4b78a6a0e39fb/photo">AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Federal funding</h2>
<p>The federal <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/text">infrastructure package</a> seeks to tackle the digital divide more directly than ever before in the U.S. The law’s text says high-speed internet access is as essential as running water and electricity to “<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684">full participation in modern life in the United States</a>.” The package included <a href="https://nebsa.org/index.cfm/nebsa-spotlight/digital-divide-needs-to-receive-record-2-75-billion-in-grants/">US$2.75 billion</a> to fund an effort to improve online accessibility for social services.</p>
<p>Whether the equitable delivery of digital access is achieved will depend on implementation. Studies of national broadband efforts in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12323">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.thehinducentre.com/the-arena/current-issues/article32444675.ece">India</a> show it isn’t always easy. They also find that the programs don’t make up for existing social inequities. For instance, in Australia, poorer communities got worse internet service than wealthier places. In the U.S., past broadband initiatives <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/CCBroadbandGatekeepers_WEB1.pdf">have not provided equitable service</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/text">infrastructure law</a> has the potential to ensure that digital access becomes a higher government priority. But experience shows fully closing the digital divide will require much more.</p>
<p><em>Jessica Cruz, a Rutgers master’s student in public informatics, contributed to this article.</em></p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173977/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Holcomb is a researcher with organizations that receive funding from the State of New Jersey, federal agencies, and several foundations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Hetling receives funding from the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, and the New Jersey Department of Human Services Division of Family Development. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Porumbescu receives funding from the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education and the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vishal Trehan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Claims the digital divide has been ‘closed’ don’t include the full picture of internet inequality in the United States.Stephanie Holcomb, Ph.D. Student in Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers UniversityAndrea Hetling, Professor of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers UniversityGregory Porumbescu, Associate Professor at the School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University - NewarkVishal Trehan, Ph.D. Student in Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642642021-09-03T12:35:46Z2021-09-03T12:35:46Z5 reasons video games should be more widely used in school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419144/original/file-20210902-17-5oc89a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C6000%2C4009&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Studies show video games help students learn math and science. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/girls-looking-at-tablet-together-in-classroom-royalty-free-image/1049270552?adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In an effort to curtail how much time young people spend playing video games, China has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/08/30/china-video-games-kids-ban-weekday/">banned students from playing them during the school week</a> and limits them to just one hour per day on Fridays, weekends and holidays.</p>
<p>The new rule took effect Sept. 1, 2021.</p>
<p>From my standpoint as a video game designer and scholar who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1l4HrFcAAAAJ&hl=en">specializes in game-based learning</a>, I don’t see a need to limit video game play among students during the school week. Instead, I see a need to expand it – and to do so during the regular school day.</p>
<p>Video games are one of the most popular mediums of our times. One estimate shows that by 2025, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/292056/video-game-market-value-worldwide/">the global gaming market will amount to US$268.8 billion annually</a> – significantly higher than the $178 billion it is in 2021.</p>
<p>The money spent on gaming does not just facilitate a virtual escape from the real world. Scholars such as James Paul Gee, a longtime literacy professor, have repeatedly shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/950566.950595">video games can be used to facilitate learning</a> in the K-12 classroom. Education writer <a href="https://www.ewa.org/profile/greg-toppo">Greg Toppo</a> reached the same conclusion in his <a href="https://www.gettingsmart.com/2015/07/smart-review-the-game-believes-in-you-how-digital-play-can-make-our-kids-smarter/">critically acclaimed</a> book, “<a href="http://www.gamebelieves.com/">The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter</a>.”</p>
<h2>A long history</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419148/original/file-20210902-17-1600par.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Oregon Trail computer game is displayed on a white background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419148/original/file-20210902-17-1600par.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419148/original/file-20210902-17-1600par.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419148/original/file-20210902-17-1600par.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419148/original/file-20210902-17-1600par.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419148/original/file-20210902-17-1600par.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419148/original/file-20210902-17-1600par.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419148/original/file-20210902-17-1600par.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Oregon Trail, a famous 1970s computer game, taught children about life for Americans traveling to the West during the early 1800s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-oregon-trail-computer-game-one-of-many-iconic-toys-thru-news-photo/840756172?adppopup=true">Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The use of video games in the classroom is nothing new. Many people who went to school in the 1970s through the 1990s may recall the iconic video game <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-you-wound-playing-em-oregon-trailem-computer-class-180959851/">The Oregon Trail</a>, which made its debut in a classroom in 1971.</p>
<p>In the game, players lead a group of settlers across the Midwest following in the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/lewis-clark">footsteps of Lewis and Clark</a>. The game came just before the video game industry <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/history-of-video-games">was established</a> with the 1972 release of the video game <a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2012/04/pong-atari-and-the-origins-of-the-home-video-game.html">Pong</a>, an electronic version of table tennis.</p>
<p>Even though educational video games have been used in classrooms for 50 years – and despite the fact that research shows <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781403984531">educational games can be effective</a> – they are <a href="https://joanganzcooneycenter.org/2014/10/21/busting-barriers-or-just-dabbling-how-teachers-are-using-digital-games-in-k-8-classrooms/">not that common</a> in classrooms today.</p>
<p>Many educational games have been released since the days of The Oregon Trail. Some of the most popular are: <a href="https://www.carmensandiego.com/game/">Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?,</a><a href="http://www.mathblaster.com/">Math Blaster!</a>, <a href="https://www.terc.edu/zoombinis/">Zoombinis</a>, <a href="https://www.icivics.org/">iCivics</a>, <a href="https://dragonbox.com/products/algebra-12">DragonBox Algebra</a> and <a href="https://www.schellgames.com/games/history-maker-vr">History Maker VR</a>. Most games are for pre-K to elementary school students. </p>
<p>Here are five reasons why I think video games should be used in every classroom.</p>
<h2>1. Video games can help students stay in STEM</h2>
<p>In 2020, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology found that the nation needs to <a href="https://science.osti.gov/-/media/_/pdf/about/pcast/202006/PCAST_June_2020_Report.pdf?la=en&hash=019A4F17C79FDEE5005C51D3D6CAC81FB31E3ABC">create the STEM workforce of the future</a>. One of the reasons students drop or switch out of science, technology, engineering and math programs is because of the difficulty of introductory courses such as <a href="https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/insights-and-recommendations-from-the-maa-national-study-of-college-calculus#:%7E:text=of%20College%20Calculus-,Insights%20and%20Recommendations%20from%20the%20MAA%20National%20Study%20of%20College%20Calculus,-David%20Bressoud%2C%20Vilma">calculus</a>.</p>
<p>The University of Oklahoma has developed a <a href="https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/game/1039">calculus game</a> that can help students succeed in calculus. Research has shown student mastery of calculus <a href="https://today.tamu.edu/2019/02/13/university-students-who-play-calculus-video-game-score-higher-on-exams/">increases when using a purposeful designed learning game</a>, such as <a href="https://triseum.com/variant-limits/">Variant: Limits</a> – another calculus game that was developed at Texas A&M University.</p>
<h2>2. They provide experiential learning</h2>
<p>Teaching students 21st-century skills, such as creative problem solving, is <a href="https://www.oecd.org/els/emp/wcms_556984.pdf">important for the future workforce</a>, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Games such as <a href="https://dragonbox.com/products/algebra-12">DragonBox Algebra</a>, where students solve math problems in a fantasy environment, can help students master skills such as <a href="https://www.commonsense.org/education/app/dragonbox-algebra-12">critical thinking</a>.</p>
<p>In games such as <a href="https://civilization.com/">Civilization</a>, players can be a civic leader and direct the prosperity of nations. In <a href="https://triseum.com/arte-mecenas/">ARTé: Mecenas</a>, learners can become members of the <a href="http://galileo.rice.edu/gal/medici.html">Medici family</a> and become patrons of the arts and successful bankers. Students learn through doing and can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2015.996098">gain skills and knowledge</a> through experiential learning that might not be gained in traditional classrooms.</p>
<h2>3. Players learn from failure</h2>
<p>Games are a natural way to allow students to fail in a safe way, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1725-y">learn from failures</a> and try again until they succeed.</p>
<p>Some games, like <a href="https://www.ea.com/games/burnout/burnout-paradise">Burnout Paradise</a> make failure fun. In the game, players can crash their cars – and the more spectacular the crash, the higher the points. This allows players to essentially learn from their mistakes, correct them and try again.</p>
<p>The video game theorist and author <a href="https://www.jesperjuul.net/">Jesper Juul</a> wrote in his book, “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/art-failure">The Art of Failure</a>,” that losing in video games is part of what makes games so engaging. Failing in a game makes the player feel inadequate, yet the player can immediately redeem themselves and improve their skills. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419149/original/file-20210902-13-1ewzc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of young girls wear VR headsets in class." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419149/original/file-20210902-13-1ewzc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419149/original/file-20210902-13-1ewzc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419149/original/file-20210902-13-1ewzc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419149/original/file-20210902-13-1ewzc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419149/original/file-20210902-13-1ewzc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419149/original/file-20210902-13-1ewzc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419149/original/file-20210902-13-1ewzc3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Video games can engage students in educational material in a fun way.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/schoolgirl-uses-virtual-reality-goggles-during-royalty-free-image/666835520?adppopup=true">SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Students stay engaged in content</h2>
<p>The average time a student spends learning in a classroom is only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.74.6.844">60% of the allocated class time</a>. Extending the school day to give students more time for learning has been shown to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.06.003">only marginally effective</a>. A more effective way to <a href="https://www.ascd.org/books/classroom-instruction-that-works">maximize time for learning</a> is through engaged time on task. When students are interested and care about a topic and it is relevant, they are curious and engaged. This provides a much better learning experience.</p>
<p>In the classroom, teachers can engage students. But when it comes to homework, educators have to rely on other ways to motivate students. One way is through games. Educational games <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2020.3018503">can be designed to improve motivation and engagement</a>, providing students with more engaged time on task. </p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>5. Games make complex knowledge fun</h2>
<p>Educational theories state that students cannot be given knowledge; they construct knowledge in their own minds. Learners build on previously learned concepts to construct higher-level and more complex knowledge to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjf9vz4">make it their own</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/periodic-table/">periodic table of elements</a> is challenging to learn and remember for many students. However, learning a complex <a href="https://pokemondb.net/type/dual">three-dimensional matrix</a> with 27,624 values is easily accomplished by middle school students playing the popular video game <a href="https://www.pokemon.com/us/">Pokémon</a>. The essence of the game is figuring out how to combine the 17 different types of attack when battling other Pokémon. Each Pokémon has one or two types of attacks they can use. Players do not learn the different possible combinations by studying a large table with 27,624 entries, but by playing the game. Through playing the game, students gradually construct deeper knowledge of the game and <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2031858.2031859#:%7E:text=FREE%20ACCESS-,The%20deeper%20game%20of%20Pok%C3%A9mon%2C%20or%2C%20how%20the%20world%27s%20biggest%20RPG%20inadvertently%20teaches%2021st%20century%20kids%20everything%20they%20need%20to%20know,-Share%20on">develop core skills</a>, such as literacy, how to compete with grace and sportsmanship, and abstract thinking.</p>
<p>Pokémon was not developed as an educational game, but its design principles – and those of other popular video games – could easily be used to design video games for classrooms that enhance their educational experience.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct an error regarding Jesper Juul, whom the article referred to as “late.” Jesper Juul is still alive. A Danish author of the same name is deceased.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andre Thomas works for Texas A&M University and also for Triseum, a spin-off from the university that publishes the games developed at Texas A&M. </span></em></p>While China has taken steps to rein in the playing of video games among students during the school week, a U.S. scholar makes the case for why the games should be featured more prominently in school.André Thomas, Director - LIVE lab and Associate Professor of the Practice, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1572982021-04-08T12:03:39Z2021-04-08T12:03:39ZBringing ‘behavioral vaccines’ to school: 5 ways educators can support student well-being<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393851/original/file-20210407-21-11u68aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=72%2C0%2C7956%2C4922&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Research shows small acts of kindness can make a big difference in classrooms. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/preschool-teacher-students-in-class-wearing-masks-royalty-free-image/1294218659?adppopup=true">kali9/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As many schools in the U.S. figure out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-all-schools-safely-reopen-157475">how to safely and fully resume in-person instruction</a>, much of the focus is on <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/why-teacher-vaccinations-are-so-hard-to-track/2021/03">vaccinations</a>.</p>
<p>But there’s another type of “vaccine” that may be beneficial for some returning K-12 students that could be overlooked. Those are known as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-008-0036-x">behavioral vaccines</a>.”</p>
<p>Behavioral vaccines are not some sort of serum to help control how children behave. There are no needles, shots or drugs involved. Behavioral vaccines are simple steps that educators and parents can take to help support child well-being throughout the day. </p>
<p>Those actions can be as easy as offering students a warm welcome when they enter the classroom. Studies have shown positive greetings can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300717753831">reduce disruptive behavior and increase academically engaged behavior</a>. Written notes of praise from teachers or other students – such as a thank-you note for helping someone with a math problem – are another example of a behavioral vaccine. These sorts of notes have been found to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300716675733">reduce problem behavior during recess</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-008-0036-x">Behavioral vaccines</a> can also entail activities like breathing exercises to help students feel calm or aerobic play to reduce stress. Each simple action can be used alone or in combination to deliver supports that promote well-being. </p>
<h2>Challenging times</h2>
<p>As a concept, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020977107086">behavioral vaccines</a>” have been around for centuries. Intended to prevent disease and promote public health, a behavioral vaccine is a simple action that can lead to big results. Think about hand-washing or seat belt-wearing – behaviors to promote physical well-being and prevent larger problems for individuals and within communities.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C9YZiOsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">school psychologist who focuses on matters of student mental health</a>, I believe behavioral vaccines can help improve the social, emotional and behavioral well-being of students. I also think these vaccines are especially important as schools seek to fully resume in-person instruction.</p>
<p>Over the course of the pandemic, there have been reports of increased <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/sia-mental-health-crisis.pdf">teen stress</a>, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/research-center/student-mental-health-during-the-pandemic-educator-and-teen-perspectives">negative states of mind</a> and even more <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/3/e2020029280">suicide attempts</a> as students struggle with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-029280">isolation</a>, <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/sia-mental-health-crisis.pdf">disruption</a> of their routines and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/research-center/student-mental-health-during-the-pandemic-educator-and-teen-perspectives">remote-learning fatigue</a>. </p>
<p>Since schools can play a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1515296">critical role</a> in child development, they represent an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0020731415585986">ideal venue</a> for public health interventions. With those things in mind, here are five ways that schools can offer behavioral vaccines to returning students:</p>
<h2>1. Build strong connections with every child</h2>
<p>Positive relationships are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1398650">key drivers</a> of healthy development. Strong social connection <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.08.011">buffers against other risks</a> present in young people’s lives, such as belonging to a group that is seen as a minority, living in poverty or having family members who fall ill. When school provides supportive social connection, it can help reduce vulnerabilities.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2009.12087850">Teacher support and connection</a> has been shown to help students feel better about being in school. Behavioral vaccines focused on supportive connection can involve offering an enthusiastic hello when meeting, building confidence about assignments by giving <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-a0033906.pdf">wise feedback</a> and encouraging students to ask questions. It can also involve taking interest in life outside of the classroom, and adding a daily routine of sharing appreciation for others. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two school girls wearing masks play together in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Promoting a positive attitude in the classroom can help students learn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/joyful-school-girls-playing-clapping-game-while-royalty-free-image/1269827900?adppopup=true">FluxFactory/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Foster positive emotions</h2>
<p>Positive emotions such as joy, pride and interest <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00192.x">affect learning</a>. Experiencing positive emotions helps children be more aware, focused and ready to solve problems. </p>
<p>A fancy curriculum or a lot of time is not needed – adults can embed simple, easy-to-do strategies throughout the school day. These strategies can include helping students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760500510676">visualize their best possible selves</a> or practice calming breaths.</p>
<p>Figure out which techniques help children be their best. Some students may need to be physically active to boost positive emotions, whereas others may benefit from just being quiet and sitting still.</p>
<h2>3. Include adults</h2>
<p>Behavioral vaccines can apply across the entire school system – including for every teacher and adult in the setting. Just as with students, teachers can benefit from opportunities to choose and incorporate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22279">strategies for reducing stress</a> and bolstering well-being. Peer-to-peer written praise notes, for example, have been found to work for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43694168">teachers</a> as well as students to increase positive feelings and connection.</p>
<p>Student well-being is connected to teacher well-being. Since the classroom is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1398650">primary place</a> for nurturing child well-being in school, prioritizing each teacher’s well-being is critical.</p>
<h2>4. Be mindful of disciplinary practices</h2>
<p>As students return to fully in-person classes, they may bring social, emotional and behavior challenges. Recent estimates suggest over 37,000 students have already <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.0161">lost at least one parent</a> to COVID-19. Students also have missed time to learn and practice classroom skills, such as how to take turns, understand others’ perspectives or even work quietly. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1523698113">Being empathetic</a> toward student experiences will be critical to reducing reliance on suspensions and expulsions.</p>
<p>School teams must carefully monitor their use of exclusionary discipline to make sure it does not <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318791582">disproportionately</a> affect certain subgroups, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808307116">Black students</a>, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-22/boys-bear-the-brunt-of-school-discipline">boys</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.11.001">students with disabilities</a>.</p>
<h2>5. Recognize different student needs</h2>
<p>In typical circumstances, children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1515296">develop at different rates, times and ways</a>. Every student will enter school with a different set of risks, some that were previously present and some magnified.</p>
<p>As British writer <a href="https://www.damianbarr.com/latest/damian-barr-george-takei-we-are-not-all-in-the-same-boat">Damian Barr</a> stated: “We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar.” Each child’s boat is different. Some will need more than others to keep moving in the right direction and stay afloat. </p>
<p>Schools need to be prepared to deliver different types and “doses” of behavioral vaccines. Having a variety of behavioral vaccines at the ready can help schools more quickly bring about well-being for all students.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra M. Chafouleas receives funding from the Institute for Education Sciences, National Institutes for Health, and the Neag Foundation.</span></em></p>‘Behavior vaccines’ – practices meant to improve safety and well-being – have been around for years. An educational psychologist says they are particularly important for schools to adopt now.Sandra M. Chafouleas, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1527022021-01-27T13:27:05Z2021-01-27T13:27:05Z5 websites to help educate about the horrors of the Holocaust<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380496/original/file-20210125-15-1qpbte.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4179%2C2786&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anne Frank House Executive Director Ronald Leopold, left, presents pages of Anne Frank's diary.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ronald-leopold-executive-director-of-the-anne-frank-house-news-photo/959018820?adppopup=true">Bas Czerwinski/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whenever there’s an analysis or discussion about how much people know about the Holocaust, the focus is often on what they don’t know.</p>
<p>For instance, a 2018 survey of 1,350 people age 18 and older found that 11% of U.S. adults and <a href="http://www.claimscon.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Holocaust-Knowledge-Awareness-Study_Executive-Summary-2018.pdf">22% of millennials had not heard of</a> – or were not sure if they had heard of – the Holocaust.</p>
<p>Almost half of U.S. adults – 45% – and millennials – 49% – could not name one concentration camp or ghetto that was established in Europe during the Holocaust, the survey found.</p>
<p>The survey also showed how there’s an overwhelming lack of personal connections to the Holocaust. Most Americans – 80% – had never visited a Holocaust museum and two-thirds – 66% – did not know, or know of, a Holocaust survivor. A significant majority of American adults believed that fewer people care about the Holocaust today than before. </p>
<p>As troublesome as these statistics may be in terms of what they show about how little people know about the Holocaust, there’s another aspect to Holocaust knowledge that often goes overlooked.</p>
<p>And that is, at a time when the Holocaust has “<a href="https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/546126/TOC">taken on a virtual dimension</a>” and images from the horrific era are prevalent online, there is now a risk of what <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/hi-hitler/04A662624D1A27393AC46D522A241C6C">author Gavriel Rosenberg</a> refers to as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139696449">normalization</a>” of the Nazi past in contemporary culture.</p>
<h2>Desensitization</h2>
<p>As the number of Holocaust survivors continues to dwindle, today’s students may be more apt to find a Hitler meme online before they discover <a href="https://sfi.usc.edu/video-topics">testimonies of Holocaust survivors</a>.</p>
<p>Rosenberg argues that this normalization of the Holocaust will downplay its horrific nature. In some cases, people have seemingly taken to celebrating the Holocaust. For instance, at the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, one participant wore a “<a href="https://nypost.com/2021/01/06/neo-nazis-among-protesters-who-stormed-us-capitol/">Camp Auschwitz” hoodie</a> – a macabre acknowledgment of the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/auschwitz">most infamous of the Nazi concentration and death camps</a>.</p>
<p>At at December 2020 protest in Washington, D.C., against the election of then-President-elect Joe Biden, a member of the Proud Boys – a pro-Trump organization <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys">designated as a hate group</a> by the Southern Poverty Law Center – wore a shirt emblazoned with “<a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/proud-boy-6mwe/">6MWE</a>.” The slogan stands for “6 million wasn’t enough,” in reference to the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution">6 million Jews who were killed</a> in the Holocaust.</p>
<h2>Making history accessible</h2>
<p>Since the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe in early 2020, teachers have <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-creative-use-of-technology-may-have-helped-save-schooling-during-the-pandemic-146488">adapted instruction to make use</a> of existing and emerging technologies. In line with the purpose of <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/remember/international-holocaust-remembrance-day">International Holocaust Remembrance Day</a> on Jan. 27, digital tools are offering educators new innovative ways to engage with Holocaust history </p>
<p>The internet has made <a href="https://sfi.usc.edu/video-topics">survivor testimonies</a> easily accessible. Social media platforms have made learning about the Holocaust easier for younger people.</p>
<p>A popular Instagram account appeared in 2019 that features <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/05/02/hi-my-names-eva-teenage-holocaust-victims-diary-comes-life-instagram/">excerpts from from the journal of Eva Heyman</a>, a 14-year old girl from Poland who was murdered in a death camp.</p>
<p>In recent years, virtual reality been used as a tool for Holocaust education and memorialization. For instance, the University of Southern California’s USC Shoah Foundation has launched a project to develop <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/18/holocaust-survivor-hologram-pinchas-gutter-new-dimensions-history">interactive holograms of Holocaust survivors</a>. The first time the exhibit was displayed publicly was at The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in 2015.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w83pe-0noUU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">“New Dimensions in Testimony” uses holograms of Holocaust survivors so future generations can interact with them.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Criticisms from scholars</h2>
<p>However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17503280.2017.1340796">some scholars challenge the use of virtual reality</a> when it comes to the Holocaust. One concern is the risk that people who go through a virtual reality simulation will incorrectly feel that they now know what the historical event itself was like, thereby trivializing it. </p>
<p>I myself am leading an interdisciplinary team at Rowan University in New Jersey to develop a virtual reality teaching tool about the <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/daily-life-in-the-warsaw-ghetto">Warsaw Ghetto</a>, the largest ghetto established by the Nazis during the Holocaust – holding more than <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/warsaw">400,000 Jews</a> within an area of 1.3 square miles, with an average of 7.2 persons per room.</p>
<p>This project, still in its pilot stage, uses primary-source documents and photographs from the <a href="https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/ringelblum/index.asp">Oneg Shabbat Archive</a> to recreate spaces within the ghetto. Users will be able to explore re-created spaces, examine primary sources, ask questions about photographs and explore a variety of themes.</p>
<p>To better develop The Warsaw Ghetto Teaching and Learning Project, and as author of a chapter in a forthcoming book, “Teaching and Learning Through the Holocaust,” <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tB-wZZ0AAAAJ&hl=en">I have examined</a> many digital tools that can be used to teach about the Holocaust, especially in middle and high schools.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379621/original/file-20210119-14-o87il.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="3D models of women make food in a soup kitchen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379621/original/file-20210119-14-o87il.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379621/original/file-20210119-14-o87il.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379621/original/file-20210119-14-o87il.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379621/original/file-20210119-14-o87il.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379621/original/file-20210119-14-o87il.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379621/original/file-20210119-14-o87il.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379621/original/file-20210119-14-o87il.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A virtual re-creation of a soup kitchen in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jennifer Eve Rich</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Here are five websites that I consider to be the most interesting.</p>
<h2>1. The Life of Bebe Epstein</h2>
<p>This <a href="https://museum.yivo.org/">first foray into digital education</a> from <a href="https://yivo.org/">YIVO, The Institute for Jewish Research</a>, tells the life story of one young girl, who was born in Vilna, Poland, from before the Holocaust through her immigration to the United States. A staggering amount of information can be found in this digital tool, which consists of 10 self-guided “chapters” containing the story of Bebe Epstein, artifacts and maps.</p>
<h2>2. History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust</h2>
<p>The United States <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-exhibitions">Holocaust Memorial Museum</a> has a number of excellent online exhibits that can be used for teaching and learning, but “<a href="https://newspapers.ushmm.org/">History Unfolded</a>” fills a gap: This website aims to show what Americans knew about the Holocaust, and when they knew it, by using articles from U.S. newspapers published during the 1930s and 1940s. Users can explore by event.</p>
<p>For example, they can search for <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kristallnacht">Kristallnacht</a>, a series of violent massacres carried out against Jews in Germany, often referred to as the “Night of Broken Glass.” Or they can search for information about the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/voyage-of-the-st-louis">USS St. Louis</a>, a ship that brought 900 Jews to Cuba and then the United States, where they were turned away. Upon being returned to Europe, almost all aboard were murdered in death camps. Visitors can also search their local newspapers from the period.</p>
<h2>3. In Mrs. Goldberg’s Kitchen</h2>
<p>This <a href="https://jewish-lodz.iu.edu/mrs-goldbergs-kitchen#pano">augmented reality experience</a> is a part of a larger project about Lodz, Poland, during the period between World War I and World War II, created by <a href="https://music.indiana.edu/faculty/current/goldberg-halina.html">Halina Goldberg</a>, a musicology professor at Indiana University Bloomington. This interactive exhibit allows users to explore space in the Jewish Quarter of prewar Lodz, understanding what daily life was like for so many Jews before they were displaced and murdered during the Holocaust.</p>
<h2>4. Anne Frank House: The Secret Annex</h2>
<p>Anne Frank’s diary is one of the best-known primary sources to have survived the Holocaust. The <a href="https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/secret-annex/">annex where Anne and her family hid</a> during the war still exists in the Netherlands and is a popular site for tourists. For those who are unable to visit the site – and for everyone during the COVID-19 pandemic – the augmented-reality site created by the Anne Frank Museum is an impressive alternative. Users are able to explore the space, examine documents and look at photos. </p>
<h2>5. Virtual Tour of the Auschwitz Memorial</h2>
<p><a href="http://panorama.auschwitz.org/">Auschwitz</a> is the best-known concentration camp built with the express purpose of murdering Jews and other victims of the Holocaust. While the memorial and museum remain closed because of COVID-19, the <a href="http://auschwitz.org/en/visiting/">virtual tour</a> presents what the memorial website describes as “authentic sites and buildings of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, complete with historical descriptions, dozens of witness accounts, archival documents and photographs, artworks created by the prisoners, and objects related to the history of the camp.” Each location allows users to access additional information, view primary sources, and listen to survivor testimony.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152702/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Rich does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Information about the Holocaust may be easy to find online, but the best sites offer artifacts and authentic accounts from people who survived the experience, a Holocaust scholar argues.Jennifer Rich, Professor of Sociology, Rowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1466632020-10-27T12:11:45Z2020-10-27T12:11:45ZInitiatives to close the digital divide must last beyond the COVID-19 pandemic to work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365615/original/file-20201026-19-14lo9g1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C0%2C7916%2C5304&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Internet access at home has been linked to higher academic achievement.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mother-helping-son-studying-with-laptop-on-a-online-royalty-free-image/1251698426?adppopup=true">FG Trade / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As COVID-19 continues to force many schools to operate remotely, cities throughout the nation are stepping up to provide free internet service to public school students from families of lesser means.</p>
<p>Washington, D.C., plans to provide free internet access to K-12 students in <a href="https://technical.ly/dc/2020/09/11/bowsers-octo-free-internet-for-all-access-25000-low-income-student-households/">25,000</a> low-income households for the 2020-2021 school year. In Philadelphia, any family with a public school student lacking internet service can <a href="https://www.phila.gov/programs/phlconnected/">get it free</a> through June of 2022. In Chicago, a <a href="https://www.cps.edu/strategic-initiatives/chicago-connected/">similar effort</a> will provide free high-speed internet service to 100,000 public school students over the next four years.</p>
<p>Since research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2020.1783402">consistently shows</a> that students with internet access tend to <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/even-pandemic-students-limited-technology-access-lagged-behind-their-peers">do better academically</a> than those without, the initiatives in Washington, Philadelphia and Chicago represent a welcome step toward closing the <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/13/1010243/jessica-rosenworcel-homework-gap-key-to-americas-digital-divide/">digital divide</a>. However, if the free internet service lasts only as long as the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital divide may open back up before it even really begins to close.</p>
<p>I make this observation as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7SHQyJ0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher</a> who specializes in curriculum design and integrating technology into education.</p>
<h2>A long-standing problem</h2>
<p>The digital divide has been undermining the academic success of students from poor families since <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017098/ind_15.asp">well before</a> the pandemic led many schools to move their operations online. President Bill Clinton, for instance, spoke of the need to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/states/docs/sou00.htm">close the digital divide</a> in his 2000 State of the Union address. The pandemic has underscored this issue in a much more visible way.</p>
<p>Digital equity advocates pointed out when the pandemic began in early 2020 that it had created a <a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-06-16-covid-19-has-widened-the-homework-gap-into-a-full-fledged-learning-gap">homework gap</a> between students with internet service at home and those without. Many low-income parents <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/10/59-of-u-s-parents-with-lower-incomes-say-their-child-may-face-digital-obstacles-in-schoolwork/">expressed similar concerns</a>. Research has shown that as many as <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/16/as-schools-close-due-to-the-coronavirus-some-u-s-students-face-a-digital-homework-gap/">1 in 5 teenage students</a> frequently miss homework assignments because of a lack of technology or internet access.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365621/original/file-20201026-19-xp0v6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A boy works on a laptop at a table in his home.]" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365621/original/file-20201026-19-xp0v6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365621/original/file-20201026-19-xp0v6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365621/original/file-20201026-19-xp0v6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365621/original/file-20201026-19-xp0v6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365621/original/file-20201026-19-xp0v6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365621/original/file-20201026-19-xp0v6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365621/original/file-20201026-19-xp0v6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students who lack internet at home tend to lag academically behind their peers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/boy-wearing-headphones-while-using-laptop-during-royalty-free-image/1159377801?adppopup=true">Maskot / Getty</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>But the homework gap was hardly surprising. Federal data show that students who used computers or had internet at home <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017098/section3.asp">consistently showed higher achievement scores</a> in reading, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017098/ind_16.asp">math</a> and <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017098/ind_17.asp">science</a>.</p>
<p>It also makes a difference in rates of high school graduation – an essential step on the way to college. For instance, when the Coachella Valley Unified School District – the second-poorest school district in California – launched a “<a href="https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2018/01/schools-expand-wi-fi-beyond-classroom">WiFi on Wheels</a>” initiative in 2014 that involved free Wi-Fi on school buses located in the community, it <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/bridging-digital-divides-between-schools-and-communities/">helped boost the graduation rate from 70% to 80%</a> within two years.</p>
<p>Given what was known before the pandemic about the benefits of providing internet access to families that need it, it is reasonable to ask why it took this crisis to spur some cities to finally take steps to close the digital divide. </p>
<p>The lack of large-scale initiatives also suggests that the free internet may go away once the pandemic passes.</p>
<h2>Reasonable costs</h2>
<p>How hard would it be to provide free internet on an ongoing basis? A look at the Washington and Chicago initiatives suggests that it would cost about US$130 or so per household per school year.</p>
<p>Consider, for instance, Washington’s <a href="https://www.techtogetherdc.com/internetforall">Internet for All</a> initiative. The initiative seeks to provide free at-home internet access to <a href="https://technical.ly/dc/2020/09/11/bowsers-octo-free-internet-for-all-access-25000-low-income-student-households/">25,000 households</a> with K-12 students at a cost of $3.3 million for the 2020-2021 school year. That breaks down to $132 per household for the period in question.</p>
<p>But it’s uncertain whether the initiative will last beyond the current school year. The Washington Post has reported that the city is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-plans-to-pay-the-internet-bills-for-25000-low-income-families-for-a-year/2020/09/08/988a54ae-f1e7-11ea-b796-2dd09962649c_story.html">using money it got from a federal pandemic response fund</a> to cover one year’s worth of internet bills for each family, and that city leaders “hope to find more funds to continue the program beyond a year.”</p>
<p>The capital city’s initiative, which is part of a broader initiative called <a href="https://www.techtogetherdc.com/">Tech Together</a>, also involves the business sector, which can in turn potentially play a role in closing the digital divide. For instance, businesses that obtain broadband connections through initiatives like Washington’s Tech Together can then provide free Wi-Fi spaces for the public, including students. This helps to create a neighborhood web of connectivity that makes it possible for students to study without being confined to their homes, where conditions may <a href="https://edsource.org/2020/more-california-students-are-online-but-digital-divide-runs-deep-with-distance-learning/630456">not be optimal</a> for studying. For instance, there might be numerous family members that must share the same devices or connection at home. The public Wi-Fi hubs would be of particular assistance to high school students. </p>
<p>The Chicago initiative – known as “<a href="https://www.cps.edu/strategic-initiatives/chicago-connected/">Chicago Connected</a>” – costs about the same as the one in Washington. The program, with a price tag of <a href="https://news.wttw.com/2020/08/25/cps-18k-plus-students-signed-free-internet-chicago-connected-program">$50 million</a>, is expected to serve 100,000 students in Chicago over the next four years. That breaks down to $500 per student over those four years, or $125 per year.</p>
<p>Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jennie Bennett said she hopes the program will lead to a “<a href="https://news.wttw.com/2020/08/25/cps-18k-plus-students-signed-free-internet-chicago-connected-program">permanent infrastructure</a>” – rather than a “temporary scaffolding” – to address the needs of the city’s students.</p>
<p>The scale of this $50 million program was made possible by substantial funds provided by some <a href="https://negociosnow.com/chicago-to-provide-free-high-speed-internet-access-to-over-100000-cps-students/">notable individuals and organizations</a>, such as billionaire Ken Griffin, the MacArthur Foundation and former President Barack and Michelle Obama.</p>
<h2>Internet and devices are not enough</h2>
<p>There might be a tendency to view resolution of the digital divide as merely providing devices or free internet service. The initiative in Philadelphia – <a href="https://www.phila.gov/programs/phlconnected/">PHLConnectEd</a> – doesn’t rest on this assumption. Instead, it seeks to address a <a href="https://sngroup.com/new-dimensions-to-the-digital-divide/">hidden dimension</a> of the divide, which involves how people use the internet, and why. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>With those things in mind, Philadelphia’s program employs “<a href="https://technical.ly/philly/2020/06/29/digital-literacy-alliance-helplines-digital-navigators-internet-technology-now-open/">digital navigators</a>” to help individuals with a variety of tasks – from applying for free internet service to providing digital literacy training.</p>
<p>Ultimately, initiatives such as the ones in Washington, Philadelphia and Chicago will make a lasting difference if they do not end up being merely temporary ways to cope with the pandemic but remain as part of a long-term strategy to make basic educational opportunities available for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>D. Antonio Cantù does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cities are stepping up to provide free Wi-Fi for families in need in order to close the digital divide in education. But will those efforts make a difference where it counts?D. Antonio Cantù, Associate Dean and Director of Education, Counseling and Leadership, Bradley UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1437972020-10-05T12:07:18Z2020-10-05T12:07:18ZRemote learning isn’t new: Radio instruction in the 1937 polio epidemic<p>A <a href="https://data.unicef.org/resources/remote-learning-reachability-factsheet/">UNICEF survey</a> found that 94% of countries implemented some form of remote learning when COVID-19 closed schools last spring, including in the United States. </p>
<p>This is not the first time education has been disrupted in the U.S. – nor the first time that educators have harnessed remote learning. In 1937, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59888554/children-to-be-taught-by-radio-dixon/#">the Chicago school system used radio to teach children during a polio outbreak</a>, demonstrating how technology can be used in a time of crisis.</p>
<p>I’ve <a href="https://www.umasspress.com/9781625345288/constructing-the-outbreak/">documented outbreaks</a> of scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, influenza and other communicable illnesses that regularly closed schools <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/209448">before vaccines</a> greatly reduced childhood diseases. </p>
<p>Responses varied from district to district. During the <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.28.6.w1066">1918-19 influenza pandemic</a>, school boards held special meetings to debate the best way to proceed. Chicago, New York and New Haven were among the cities that never closed, using medical inspection and individual quarantine instead, while <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.28.6.w1066">other schools shuttered for up to 15 weeks</a>. </p>
<p>School closings typically halted formal learning. For some kids, it meant extra playtime, while others went back to work at home or on family farms. Schools sometimes compensated for lost instructional time by shifting the academic calendar or mandating Saturday attendance.</p>
<h2>Radio school</h2>
<p>In 1937, a severe polio epidemic hit the U.S. At the time, this contagious virus had no cure, and it crippled or paralyzed some of those it infected. Across the country, playgrounds and pools closed, and children were banned from movie theaters and other public spaces. Chicago had a record 109 cases in August, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59889301/delay-opening-on-orders-of-health/">prompting the Board of Health to postpone the start of school</a> for three weeks. </p>
<p>This delay sparked the first large-scale “radio school” experiment through a highly innovative – though largely untested – program. Some 315,000 children in grades 3 through 8 continued their education at home, receiving lessons on the radio.</p>
<p>By the late 1930s, radio had become a popular source of news and entertainment. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1207/s15506878jobem4802_2?casa_token=9kx859uJE7gAAAAA:dgAGC-vA_ON5H2g3LdannS-gRe_qKkLpor1njpho3Qqp5aDZXCCJLV2ylcLnUdpdxCcKnT_3V5sR">Over 80% of U.S. households owned at least one radio</a>, though fewer were found in homes in the southern U.S., in rural areas and among people of color. </p>
<p>In Chicago, teachers collaborated with principals to create <a href="https://nyti.ms/34bojSX">on-air lessons</a> for each grade, with oversight from experts in each subject. Seven local radio stations donated air time. September 13 marked the first day of school. </p>
<p>Local papers printed class schedules each morning. Social studies and science classes were slated for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays were devoted to English and math. The on-air school day began with announcements and gym. Classes were short – just 15 minutes – providing simple, broad questions and assigning homework. </p>
<p>The objective was to be “<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59889812/broadcast-food-for-thought-chicago/">entertaining yet informative</a>.” Curriculum planners incorporated an engaging commercial broadcasting style into the lessons. Two principals monitored each broadcast, providing feedback to teachers on content, articulation, vocabulary and general performance. When schools reopened, students would submit their work and take tests to show mastery of the material.</p>
<p>Sixteen teachers answered phone calls from parents at the school district’s central office. After the phone bank logged more than 1,000 calls on the first day, they brought five more teachers on board. </p>
<p>News stories reporting on this novel radio school approach were mostly positive, but a few articles hinted at the challenges. Some kids were distracted or struggled to follow the lessons. There was no way to ask questions in the moment, and kids needed more parental involvement than usual. </p>
<p>In general, media coverage focused on the innovation of the delivery method. Access issues received little attention. Even Superintendent William Johnson <a href="https://nyti.ms/34bojSX">didn’t know how many students tuned in</a> for the lessons.</p>
<p>Radio instruction officially ended at the end of September when schools reopened. Though the program ran for less than three weeks, it transformed the role of local radio in Chicago education. The experiment initiated a partnership between the city’s public schools and local radio stations, which was quickly cemented in the formation of the <a href="https://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3272&context=luc_diss">Chicago Radio Council</a>. The council produced educational shows, broadcasted educational conferences and supplemented specific grade-level curriculum.</p>
<p>The partnership also brought more radios into schools, with teachers required to include on-air programs in their lesson plans. It also offered opportunities for students to participate in newscasts, radio round tables and other programming. </p>
<h2>Remote learning 2020</h2>
<p>Fast forward to 2020. When the current pandemic shut down schools last spring, nations around the world instituted remote learning. But many countries used multiple platforms: About three-quarters also offered classes on television and about half used radio learning – which was particularly important in developing nations.</p>
<p>Instruction through multiple technologies helps, but many kids simply have no access. Approximately <a href="https://data.unicef.org/resources/remote-learning-reachability-factsheet/">one-third</a>) of students worldwide cannot participate in digital or on-air education because they don’t own a computer, TV or radio, lack reliable internet access or live in remote areas that lie beyond the range of broadcasts.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Lessons from Chicago</h2>
<p>Chicago’s handling of remote education during its 1937 polio epidemic offers lessons on ways to use technology to address the current educational disruptions. But even where most students have access to reliable internet service, the pandemic has highlighted the mass-scale burdens of the digital divide. </p>
<p>One example comes from Southern California, where <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-13/online-learning-fails-low-income-students-covid-19-left-behind-project">a survey of 45 school districts</a> found substantial differences in distance learning among children living in high-poverty communities compared with those in more affluent areas. State officials estimate that California’s students need more than a million computers – and additional hot spots. </p>
<p>This highlights the need for funding in the U.S. – and in nations worldwide – to address technological inequalities in schools and to teach educators, administrators, parents and students how to better use digital platforms.</p>
<p>This pandemic could reshape education once school safely shifts back to the classroom. Innovative use of digital tools and platforms could enrich curriculum, provide online makeup material and create new ways to connect with students beyond the traditional modes of learning. It would also reduce the environmental impact from distributed papers and help teachers, students and parents to more easily connect outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>Pandemic teaching may not just be a temporary means to an end. It could ultimately improve education, much like Chicago’s radio experiment in 1937.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine A. Foss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This isn’t the first time America’s schoolchildren have studied remotely – and Chicago’s 1937 ‘radio school’ experiment shows how technology can fill the gap during a crisis.Katherine A. Foss, Professor of Media Studies, Middle Tennessee State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1438832020-09-10T11:42:03Z2020-09-10T11:42:03ZFew US students ever repeat a grade but that could change due to COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357063/original/file-20200908-18-prrwmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5254%2C3278&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will it take longer for students to graduate because of the pandemic?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teenage-girl-studying-with-video-online-lesson-at-royalty-free-image/1216391310">valentinrussanov/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With in-person instruction becoming the exception rather than the norm, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/05/republicans-democrats-differ-over-factors-k-12-schools-should-consider-in-deciding-whether-to-reopen/">54% of parents</a> with school-age children expressed concern that their children could fall behind academically, according to a poll conducted over the summer of 2020. Initial <a href="https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2020/05/Collaborative-Brief_Covid19-Slide-APR20.pdf">projections from the Northwest Evaluation Association</a>, which conducts research and creates commonly used standardized tests, suggest that these fears are well-grounded, especially for children from low-income families.</p>
<p>Based on the association’s findings and my own research <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sFKNk7EAAAAJ&hl=en">regarding academic achievement and socioeconomic status</a>, I believe it’s likely, based on these early projections, that the widespread and rapid switch to remote schooling will have negative long-term academic consequences.</p>
<p>One possibility is that the share of students who end up repeating at least one grade at some point could rise due to this unprecedented disruption.</p>
<p>According to government data collected in 2018, only about <a href="https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/9713-children-ages-6-to-17-who-repeated-one-or-more-grades-since-starting-kindergarten">6% of U.S. students</a> <a href="http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/graderet.pdf">had to repeat a grade</a> before graduating from high school prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357329/original/file-20200909-22-wxokum.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357329/original/file-20200909-22-wxokum.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357329/original/file-20200909-22-wxokum.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357329/original/file-20200909-22-wxokum.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357329/original/file-20200909-22-wxokum.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357329/original/file-20200909-22-wxokum.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357329/original/file-20200909-22-wxokum.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357329/original/file-20200909-22-wxokum.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Any potential effort to make students repeat a grade when they can’t demonstrate they have learned enough to advance to the next one would build on some recent precedents. </p>
<p>Starting in 2001 with the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/methods/reading/reading.html#4">No Child Left Behind Act</a>, reading proficiency by third grade became one of the federal mandates for schools to receive designated streams of federal funding.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.fcd-us.org/assets/2016/04/DoubleJeopardyReport.pdf">federal legislation, combined with research</a> indicating that children who couldn’t yet read <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.06.004">fared better when they repeated a grade</a>, brought about a wave of state-level legislation. So far, a total of <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/education/third-grade-reading-legislation.aspx">16 states have enacted laws</a> that prevent students from moving on from third grade until they are considered <a href="http://hermes.cde.state.co.us/drupal/islandora/object/co%3A26127/datastream/OBJ/view">proficient on standardized reading tests</a>.</p>
<p>These <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/education/third-grade-reading-legislation.aspx">state laws vary</a>. Some states, like <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/1008.25">Florida</a>, require students who aren’t reading well enough to repeat third grade altogether. Others, such as <a href="https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/120B.12">Minnesota</a>, let children move onto fourth grade and provide them with supplemental reading assistance until they can read at what the state deems to be a third-grade level. In practice, students typically don’t repeat more than one grade.</p>
<p>I consider it likely that the academic consequences of the extended period of remote learning that began in March 2020 will be unequal. These consequences are bound to fall more heavily on students who are growing up facing persistent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.19.2.294">economic hardship</a>. </p>
<p>The practice of making children who are struggling to learn how to read repeat third grade, however well-intentioned, can be risky. For example, students who repeat a grade can feel <a href="http://hermes.cde.state.co.us/drupal/islandora/object/co%3A26127/datastream/OBJ/view">stigmatized and less motivated to learn</a>.</p>
<p>Therefore, I believe parents, educators and policymakers will all need to try to address the inevitable gaps in learning bound to arise from widespread remote learning during the pandemic.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143883/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pamela Davis-Kean receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute for Child Health and Development (NICHD). </span></em></p>The disruption to K-12 education caused by the coronavirus pandemic may have major academic consequences, especially for low-income children.Pamela Davis-Kean, Professor of Psychology, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1441692020-09-01T12:23:45Z2020-09-01T12:23:45ZRace and class can color teachers’ digital expectations for their students – with white students getting more encouragement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351831/original/file-20200808-14-1apzmoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C0%2C7463%2C4560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is he learning something?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/boy-with-digital-tablet-on-sofa-royalty-free-image/1021924794">Pollyana Ventura/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Schools that rely on remote learning during the pandemic are trying to ensure that all kids have the <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90543628/remote-education-is-forcing-the-u-s-to-confront-the-digital-divide">devices and internet bandwidth</a> they need. While important, it takes more than everyone having comparable equipment and working WiFi for all children to get an equal shot.</p>
<p>In my <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo57273552.html">new book</a> based on the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qoCI1AgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">sociological research I conducted at three middle schools</a> before the COVID-19 pandemic, I explain how even if all students could get the same hardware and software, it would fail to even the academic playing field.</p>
<p>I saw many technologies used in unequal ways. And I observed teachers responding differently to students’ digital skills depending on the race or ethnicity and economic status of most of their students.</p>
<h2>Learning from digital play</h2>
<p>Previous research by a team of University of California researchers found that young people gain basic <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/hanging-out-messing-around-and-geeking-out">digital skills just from playing with friends online</a>. This includes the ability to do things like communicate online and create and share media.</p>
<p>Consider <a href="https://www.minecraft.net/">Minecraft</a>, the popular video game that lets players build cities and towns.</p>
<p>Minecraft players have to learn how to create and assemble the building blocks – like digital Legos. Players can learn creative skills, too. For example, they can design how characters look by creating custom “<a href="https://www.minecraftskins.com/">skins</a>.”</p>
<p>These activities require the same basic digital skills educators are increasingly asked to teach school children.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LVB9n5FbPKI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Minecraft tips and tricks, explained.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3 middle schools</h2>
<p>I studied three Southern California middle schools over the course of the 2013-14 academic year to observe what happened when students had acquired these digital skills on their own.</p>
<p>All three schools had plenty of technology available for students to use. The students told me they used social media and played video games at home.</p>
<p>Many students had also mastered the basics of many digital tools, like knowing how to communicate online and how to create and share digital media. Most told me that they were the tech experts of their families. Further, their teachers and administrators explained that teaching digital skills was an essential part of their class curricula.</p>
<p>For all three schools, it seemed, students were ready to use what they already learned to succeed in class.</p>
<p>The main differences were demographic.</p>
<p>One of the schools had mostly wealthy, white students – none of whom got <a href="https://www.fcps.edu/resources/student-safety-and-wellness/food-and-nutrition-programs/free-and-reduced-price-meals#:%7E:text=Families%20who%20earn%20less%20than,qualify%20for%20reduced%2Dprice%20meals">free or reduced-priced meals</a>.</p>
<p>At another, most students were middle class and Asian American, with about 10% qualifying for free or reduced-price meals.</p>
<p>The students at the third were mostly working class and Latino, with 87% eligible for free or reduced-price meals.</p>
<p>There were few Black students at any of the schools, and I believe that more research is needed to assess how teachers interact with Black children.</p>
<p>I observed that their teachers responded to these different kinds of student communities in different ways. They appeared to see the value of the skills they’d acquired differently depending on characteristics of the school’s student body.</p>
<p>At the school with mostly wealthy, white students, teachers considered digital play as essential to learning. </p>
<p>“I always use the example of Steve Jobs going to his garage and tinkering around,” explained the school’s technology manager, who I’ll call Mr. Crouse. “Why can’t the garage be at school?” </p>
<p>Teachers at this affluent school tended to see pupils as “future innovators.” </p>
<p>Some teachers at the more well-off school would even let students submit their online creations, like Minecraft levels, stories they wrote online or digital art, in place of some classroom assignments.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355362/original/file-20200828-14-1ejilu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An Asian American girl points at a computer screen with African American female teacher." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355362/original/file-20200828-14-1ejilu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355362/original/file-20200828-14-1ejilu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355362/original/file-20200828-14-1ejilu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355362/original/file-20200828-14-1ejilu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355362/original/file-20200828-14-1ejilu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355362/original/file-20200828-14-1ejilu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355362/original/file-20200828-14-1ejilu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers may perceive digital skills differently depending on their students’ class, race or ethnicity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/pre-teen-students-in-computer-lab-with-instructor-royalty-free-image/171583465">SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Very different responses</h2>
<p>But teachers at the schools where students were less affluent and predominately came from communities of color, saw these same digital activities in different lights. </p>
<p>At the school with mostly middle-class, Asian American students, teachers treated the most tech-savvy kids as potential troublemakers. </p>
<p>While teachers at this school saw students as upwardly mobile, racial stereotypes about the overall student body drove perceptions of digital play as threatening rather than an opportunity for learning.</p>
<p>“We’ve had a bunch of suspensions this year because these Asian kids are so good at using technology that they hack our online system,” explained a teacher I’ll call Ms. Finnerty, an eighth-grade science teacher at the school.</p>
<p>Over time, I observed that when these teachers caught students playing video games in class they would snatch their phones, give them detention and shame them for it.</p>
<p>At the mostly working-class, Latino school, teachers had stereotypes about their students as “hard-working immigrants” who were destined for working class jobs. The teachers I observed didn’t punish them for playing online. But they indicated that they didn’t think the digital skills acquired from gaming or social media use mattered at all for achievement. </p>
<p>“These kids aren’t naturally gifted at technology, so those skills playing video games don’t translate to school,” explained a teacher I’ll call Ms. Duffey, a seventh-grade science teacher at the school. “The kids we teach, if we are being realistic, they need skills for hands-on jobs, like how to fix a (car). If they learn technology it’s for that purpose.”</p>
<p>UCLA education professor <a href="https://www.sunypress.edu/p-2619-choosing-colleges.aspx">Patricia McDonough</a> has previously demonstrated that teachers’ assumptions about working-class students’ futures can shape the kinds of lessons they get in class. However, I saw that this also extends to assumptions about students’ socioeconomic status and technology use.</p>
<p>When technology came up, the teachers at the mostly Latino school focused instead on teaching students how to type quickly or other noncreative tech activities that they thought would help those middle school students some day in a low-ranking job requiring only the most basic digital abilities.</p>
<h2>The role of stereotypes</h2>
<p>Even though students at each of these schools gained some of the same basic skills while having fun online – such as becoming adept at online communication and digital production – their teachers responded differently when they encountered these activities in the classroom.</p>
<p>I believe that this happened due to stereotypes that colored what the teachers believed about their students.</p>
<p>These beliefs regarding race and class shaped whether they saw students’ digital skills as valuable or not. That is, not even the best equipment and fastest WiFi can end the inequities that emerge through digital technology use - often called the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-digital-divide-leaves-millions-at-a-disadvantage-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-133608">digital divide</a>.”</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Rafalow works for Google, where he leads social science research for a product team.</span></em></p>While providing access to digital technology is important, it won’t even the digital playing field. If teachers can embrace all students’ digital interests as opportunities for learning, it would help.Matt Rafalow, Sociologist and Visiting Scholar, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1446742020-08-25T12:22:17Z2020-08-25T12:22:17ZReopening elementary schools carries less COVID-19 risk than high schools – but that doesn’t guarantee safety<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354218/original/file-20200822-16-914mkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C14%2C4754%2C3234&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Safety precautions like wearing face masks and leaving space between desks are also important to limit the coronavirus's spread.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/first-grade-teacher-dianna-accordino-puts-out-erasers-at-news-photo/1267680262">Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/school-districts-reopening-plans-a-snapshot.html">only a fraction</a> of the country’s <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372#PK12_enrollment">50 million public school</a> kids headed back to school in-person this month, many have already found themselves back at home. </p>
<p>Within two weeks of opening, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-are-reopening-then-quickly-closing-due-to-coronavirus-outbreaks-11597700886">multiple states</a> reported school-based COVID-19 outbreaks, and thousands of students and school staff have been quarantined following possible exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.</p>
<p>Many of these districts are in areas with <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map">high community spread</a> of COVID-19, and some didn’t enforce social distancing or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/us/georgia-school-coronavirus.html">require face masks</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/">Our team</a> of infectious disease epidemiologists <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.06.20169797">collected data in the San Francisco Bay Area and ran computer simulations</a> to examine how school closures and reopenings can affect the spread of COVID-19.</p>
<p>What we learned points to three key strategies for minimizing the risk of coronavirus transmission while allowing kids to get back to learning, socializing and thriving in their classrooms. Those strategies involve lowering community transmission, minimizing interaction between students and teachers of different classrooms, and focusing on elementary schools.</p>
<h2>Lessons from spring’s school closures</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2020/coronavirus-timeline/">mid-March</a>, the Bay Area was one of the first places in the U.S. to close its school buildings and switch to remote classes. By the end of the spring semester, it had <a href="https://usafacts.org/visualizations/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-map/">confirmed</a> more than 14,000 COVID-19 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths. </p>
<p>Our model used data from the Bay Area, including on social contacts among children and adults during shelter-in-place, to estimate how much the virus is expected to spread. We estimate that if all K-12 schools had remained open for the full spring semester, the region would have had an additional 13,000 cases – nearly doubling the case count – and added more than 600 deaths to the devastating toll of the pandemic. </p>
<p>Clearly, school closures made an important contribution to slowing the coronavirus’s spread, but not all schools contributed equally. </p>
<p>We found that closing elementary schools averted just 2,000 cases, compared with more than 8,000 cases prevented by closing high schools. To put that in perspective, our model showed that workplace closures averted about 16,000 cases.</p>
<h2>High schools and teachers face the highest risk</h2>
<p>What does all this mean for the prospects of K-12 schools reopening this fall? </p>
<p>If community transmission remains high – as it has in the Bay Area – in-person classes carry substantial risks.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students cheering at a high school football game." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354253/original/file-20200823-18-1q7nz25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354253/original/file-20200823-18-1q7nz25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354253/original/file-20200823-18-1q7nz25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354253/original/file-20200823-18-1q7nz25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354253/original/file-20200823-18-1q7nz25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354253/original/file-20200823-18-1q7nz25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354253/original/file-20200823-18-1q7nz25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fans cheering at a high school football game in Alabama illustrated the challenges high schools are facing with social distancing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/thompson-fans-cheer-after-a-score-as-they-follow-guidelines-news-photo/1267795415">Butch Dill/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We estimate that an additional 1 in 3 teachers, 1 in 8 students, 1 in 12 family members, and 1 in 16 community members in the Bay Area would get infected and experience COVID-19 symptoms during the fall semester if area schools reopened without safety measures. More than 1 out of every 100 Bay Area teachers would be hospitalized. </p>
<p>The risk to teachers would be especially concerning in the area’s high schools, where we estimate nearly half of teachers would develop COVID-19 symptoms.</p>
<p>The predictions also show that risk is not the same across all levels of schooling. </p>
<p>Our models show that the excess risk to elementary school teachers is five to 10 times lower than the risk to high school teachers. Our findings, released in August as a <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.06.20169797v1">preprint study</a>, reinforce what <a href="http://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMms2024920">other researchers</a> <a href="https://globalepidemics.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pandemic_resilient_schools_briefing_72020.pdf">have concluded</a>: that elementary schools have the best chance of reopening with the least risk.</p>
<p><iframe id="gVWQH" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gVWQH/11/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Why do elementary schools have a lower risk?</h2>
<p>Elementary schools have fewer students than high schools, so it’s less likely that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/31/us/coronavirus-school-reopening-risk.html">an infected student will enter</a> the classroom. Since elementary students don’t move between rooms as often, there also is less opportunity to seed a school-wide outbreak.</p>
<p>Additionally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.19.20157362">studies</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0962-9">suggest</a> that younger children may be half as likely to get COVID-19 after exposure to the virus than adults, potentially because children have <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.8946">fewer of the receptors</a> that the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to infiltrate cells in the body. If infected, children are more likely to have <a href="http://doi.org/10.3345/cep.2020.00535">mild symptoms or no symptoms</a> at all. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.03.20121145">Some</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.14.20153643">studies</a> have suggested that younger children don’t transmit the virus as easily, but that children over 10 years may pass on the virus <a href="http://doi.org/10.3201/eid2610.201315">as efficiently as adults</a>. Scientists’ understanding of how susceptible children are to the virus and how infectious they can become is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30249-2">rapidly evolving</a>. </p>
<p>If schools are closed, elementary school students are also more likely to be exposed to other people in the community, particularly through day care and running errands with their parents. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.06.20169797">surveyed hundreds of Bay Area households</a> to see how students and families were able to shelter in place during long-term school closures. Before the pandemic, older children ages 13-17 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005697">were found</a> to have more contacts than younger children, ages 5-12. We found that during school closures, however, younger children had twice as many interactions with other people as teenagers.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p>
<h2>More precautions are needed</h2>
<p>To safely reopen schools, communities must reduce their transmission rates. That alone isn’t enough, though. Safety precautions, such as wearing face masks and social distancing, are also necessary. </p>
<p>Our models predict that even if community transmission is moderated, opening a Bay Area elementary school of 350 students without safety measures would result in 1 in 25 teachers becoming infected. The risks balloons to nearly 1 in 5 if young children are found to be as efficient at acquiring the virus as adults.</p>
<p>We found that the following safety measures would allow schools to keep the number of school-attributable infections among teachers below 1%:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Keep children in small class groups of no more than 20 students.</p></li>
<li><p>Sharply reduce interactions between class groups, including keeping teachers apart from each other.</p></li>
<li><p>Require everyone to wear a mask. </p></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.03.20165589">South Korea is one example</a> of how these measures can be successfully implemented. In many schools, students eat lunch at tables with plastic barriers, and lunch times are different for each grade. Hallways are one way, and arrivals are staggered. Teacher-to-teacher socializing is limited. Everyone wears a mask.</p>
<h2>Which neighborhoods to focus on first</h2>
<p>In deciding whether to reopen schools or keep classes online, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30084-0">impact on students’ learning</a> is also <a href="http://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMms2024920">important</a>. In communities with the highest rates of COVID-19 transmission, schools often have fewer resources that would allow them to reduce class sizes, provide masks and find space for distanced lunches and recess. At the same time, their students may lack support at home during the day to help them succeed in an online learning environment. </p>
<p>That and our findings suggest that communities should focus first on developing <a href="https://globalepidemics.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pandemic_resilient_schools_briefing_72020.pdf">pandemic-resilient classrooms</a> in elementary schools in high-transmission neighborhoods, particularly those with low-income families.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144674/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research points to why reopening elementary schools is the safest bet and what else needs to happen for schools to have the best chance of staying open.Jennifer Head, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, BerkeleyJustin Remais, Associate Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1441872020-08-17T12:24:09Z2020-08-17T12:24:09Z3 ways to get kids to tune in and pay attention when schools go virtual<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352608/original/file-20200812-20-1pn6pw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=48%2C129%2C5400%2C3379&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This is what the school day currently looks like in many parts of the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Distance-Learning/8a00337dfa9a482484dda7f6371e35e2/3/0">AP Photo/Jessica Hill</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When nearly all U.S. brick-and-mortar schools suddenly closed in March 2020 and went online, large numbers of students simply didn’t log into class. Even if they did show up, <a href="https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2020/8/11/21363943/ilearn-summer-school-nyc-gitches">many more weren’t paying much attention</a> or doing their schoolwork. As a <a href="https://www.kgun9.com/news/back-to-school/students-missing-thousands-have-not-logged-into-schools-remotely">new school year gets underway</a>, is there anything that teachers and families can do to curb these problems with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12/health/covid-kids-school-gupta-essay/index.html">remote learning</a> due to COVID-19?</p>
<p>Having spent our careers doing <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Awl0ddQAAAAJ&hl=en">research on student motivation</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=cBsh7i4AAAAJ">learning with technology</a>, we recommend these three strategies.</p>
<h2>1. Go out of your way to build relationships</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.2307/1170683">importance of the relationships</a> that develop in classrooms is often taken for granted. With online learning, students and teachers can no longer greet each other with high-fives and fist bumps or develop a sense of connection through direct eye contact. Their interactions are now restricted, and in a <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-covid-19-schools-open-closed.html?intc=main-mpsmvs">growing number of communities</a> they are limited to communications through computers.</p>
<p>Teleconferencing software like Zoom can mimic face-to-face conversations and lessons. An array of digital tools can improve the quality of these <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-weird-things-that-happen-when-you-videoconference-134879">sometimes awkward interactions</a>. Some are text-based, delivered either live or pre-recorded.</p>
<p>Pictures, audio clips, videos, emojis and GIFs help people get their points across more clearly and colorfully. Rather than seeing them as frivolous, we recommend that families and teachers not be afraid to encourage students to use those tools to build and strengthen social relationships with their peers and their teachers.</p>
<p>Students will also benefit when schools create opportunities to spend non-instructional time with other students online because it makes it easier to forge personal connections. To be sure, schools also need to set and enforce clear “<a href="https://elearningindustry.com/10-netiquette-tips-online-discussions">netiquette</a>” – online manners – to discourage <a href="https://theconversation.com/cyberbullying-four-steps-to-protect-your-kids-90907">digital bullying</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.01.003">support a positive culture</a>. This is especially true when a new semester gets underway.</p>
<p>We recommend that schools set up <a href="https://doi.org/10.2190%2F7BAK-EGAH-3MH1-K7C6">virtual study rooms and online discussion boards</a> where students can be encouraged to regularly socialize and work collectively and that families encourage children to participate.</p>
<h2>2. Stress the relevance of what students are learning</h2>
<p>Students often question <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-07986-017">why they are required to learn various topics</a>. What teacher or parent has never had to answer a question such as, “When will I ever need to know about the Spanish-American War?”</p>
<p>More than ever, it matters whether students get <a href="https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/sparking-student-motivation/book272072">why what they’re learning is relevant</a>. Research unequivocally shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101859">when students understand this</a>, they are more engaged, more likely to want to learn more about the topic in the future and even <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/dev0000367">more likely to choose careers</a> related to what they’re being taught.</p>
<p>Technology can help. For example, videos and other online resources can instantly show students how a particular topic might be essential for certain careers. And we recommend that teachers tell students to briefly interview relatives and friends, whether by using Zoom, email or the phone, about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000367">why a particular topic that they are learning might be relevant</a> to their own lives.</p>
<h2>3. Establish new routines</h2>
<p>Students benefit from routines at school, because routines help them to organize and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-015-9320-8">use their time efficiently throughout the school day</a>. These can include short breaks between classes when they can interact with their peers and take a mental break before they begin their next class. Online learning, even with some daily instruction happening in real time, is more self-paced and self-managed. Kids will benefit from <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-good-practices-for-anyone-caring-for-quarantined-kids-135626">a new daily routine</a> that suits their virtual school schedule and their family’s needs. Students are likely to be more engaged with online learning if they are expected to get ready for the day by acting as though they were actually going to their school building, and not just roll out of bed and turn on the computer. </p>
<p>[<em>Research into coronavirus and other news from science</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-corona-research">Subscribe to The Conversation’s new science newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p><a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203876428/chapters/10.4324/9780203876428-29">Students quite often don’t know how</a> to effectively set reasonable goals, manage their time, take notes, study for tests, ask for help in constructive ways or plan and carry out research projects.</p>
<p>Because figuring all of that out only gets harder with online learning, kids and teens will benefit if they establish daily plans with achievable goals. Families can help them keep their plans on track by encouraging students to <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1104000">think about the strategies they are using</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00476.x">reminding them when and how to apply appropriate study strategies</a>.</p>
<p>For example, while a student is watching an online instructional video, we recommend that parents and other guardians from time to time get them to briefly pause the clip. Try asking “Do you understand what you’ve seen so far?” If not, suggest that they start it over. Offer to help them puzzle through what’s being taught. If that doesn’t help, assist with scheduling a personal meeting with their teacher.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144187/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric M. Anderman receives funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Nationwide Children's Hospital.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kui Xie receives funding from Institute for Educational Sciences, Spencer Foundation, Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Department of Higher Education, and Ohio Mayfield School District. </span></em></p>One big complication with K-12 distance learning is how hard it is to get children and teens to log in and do their schoolwork. But there are things teachers and families can do to help.Eric M. Anderman, Professor of Educational Psychology and Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement, The Ohio State UniversityKui Xie, Cyphert Distinguished Professor of Learning Technologies; Director of The Research Laboratory for Digital Learning, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1431472020-08-12T11:58:56Z2020-08-12T11:58:56ZPivot to remote learning creates a chance to reinvent K-12 education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352063/original/file-20200810-16-10g5ku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8660%2C5691&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lights, camera, learn!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-african-american-director-girl-filming-a-royalty-free-image/1214258563"> AaronAmat/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of the nation’s <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/blogs/nces/post/back-to-school-by-the-numbers-2019-20-school-year">57 million K-12 students</a> will spend at least part of the 2020-2021 school year either dealing with <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/school-districts-reopening-plans-a-snapshot.html">distance learning or a hybrid model</a> that keeps them out of classrooms several days a week. They’ll spend lots of time using teleconferencing software, with teachers either convening classes live or pre-recording lessons. </p>
<p>Getting children to excel won’t be easy. Zoom and similar programs can be challenging for teachers and boring for “<a href="https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf">digital natives</a>” accustomed to watching more entertaining stuff on their devices.</p>
<p>Based on my experience both as a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0475802/">writer and a producer of films and TV shows in Hollywood</a> and a <a href="https://www.filmandmedia.pitt.edu/people/carl-kurlander">lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh</a> – where WQED, the nation’s <a href="https://www.wqed.org/">first educational television station</a> got started – I recommend four creative ways to overcome this problem. While challenging, this disruption in education can be a a unique opportunity for innovation.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The made-for-TV French class produced by WQED was an early attempt at accessible distance learning.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. Tap star power</h2>
<p>What if the producers, directors and writers who are skilled at explaining ideas visually over digital platforms – many of whom are currently <a href="https://variety.com/2020/biz/features/hollywood-coronavirus-entertainment-industry-unemployment-jobs-1234592106/">sidelined because of the coronavirus pandemic</a> – teamed up with teachers to make education more entertaining and engaging?</p>
<p>Having worked in both worlds, I can attest to how some TV and movie producers have no idea what a curriculum is, while even the best teachers and professors struggle to engage their own students with distance learning. But imagine a ground-up collaborative process, where educators who know the material they need to convey partner with the best storytellers who know how to get information across in the most compelling way?</p>
<p>Admittedly, it’s unclear where the funding might come from. But a burst of collaboration between educators, entertainment professionals and perhaps parents and students could create high-quality educational programs that could be accessed everywhere. The resulting online lessons could assist hundreds of thousands of educators and reach millions of students. Imagine the potential, especially if one or more networks or studios took part.</p>
<p>There have been some notable experiments along these lines such as <a href="https://www.espn.com/blog/playbook/trending/post/_/id/11408/lebron-takes-you-to-school">Khan Academy enlisting basketball star Lebron James</a> to illustrate probability. But what’s needed with the swift pivot to online education is a wide-scale collaboration to give teachers and students engaging educational materials.</p>
<p>Why not have comedian <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0152638/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Dave Chappelle</a> explain the theory of “<a href="http://reports-archive.adm.cs.cmu.edu/anon/2005/CMU-CS-05-193.pdf">Human Computation</a>” developed by <a href="https://www.cs.cmu.edu/%7Ebiglou/">Luis Von Ahn</a>, the Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor who co-founded the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51208154">Duolingo</a>
foreign language learning app? Or how about a physics class with <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/billie-eilish-2020-grammy-awards-recap-943644/">Billie Eilish</a> singing a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069627/">Schoolhouse Rock</a>-style song about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity?</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Khan Academy enlisted LeBron James for a lesson about probability.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Unleash student creativity</h2>
<p>The advertising company <a href="https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/collections/creators/corporations/jwt">J. Walter Thompson</a> and Snapchat together issued a report in 2019 called <a href="https://intelligence.wundermanthompson.com/trend-reports/into-z-future-understanding-generation-z/">Into Z Future</a>. It documented how the digitally adept generation born approximately between 1995 and 2012 is the most creative the world has ever seen.</p>
<p>Because I see the same kind of promise in today’s young people, I believe that schools should help unleash their creativity and encourage them to become active participants in making and sharing media as part of their learning experience.</p>
<p>I witnessed just how much students are capable of while producing a film about the development of the polio vaccine, “<a href="https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/shot-to-save-the-world--a/0/3377766">A Shot To Save The World</a>.” It featured an interview with the philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, talking about that <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-deadly-polio-epidemic-and-why-it-matters-for-coronavirus-133976">important scientific breakthrough</a> and today’s efforts to combat infectious diseases.</p>
<p>The film aired on the Smithsonian Channel and the BBC. We also used it as a prompt for a viral video competition called “<a href="http://www.news.pitt.edu/news/pitt-host-take-shot-changing-world-event-observe-april-12th-anniversary-salk-polio-va">Take A Shot At Changing The World</a>.” </p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Students from middle and high schools across Western Pennsylvania were challenged to make their own short films about the development of vaccines. The winners and their schools got cash prizes and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website featured <a href="https://vimeo.com/21813733">their videos</a>. In visually explaining how vaccines work, eighth-graders suddenly learned a lot about in virology and immunology.</p>
<p>The lesson for teachers thinking about remote assignments is the value of having students make their own movies. Those assignments, done right, immerse students in research. While gaining expertise, they acquire and sharpen creative skills that come naturally to their generation.</p>
<p>Steeltown, a nonprofit I co-founded, has been partnering with middle schools, high schools and nonprofits for more than a decade doing <a href="https://www.steeltown.org/">similar projects</a>. Through hands-on, <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/article/boosting-student-engagement-through-project-based-learning">project-based learning</a>, students have deepened their knowledge about the environment, history, hunger, social justice and other subjects aligned with their school assignments.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘A Shot to Save the World,’ a documentary, told the story of the polio vaccine.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Tailor education to meet students’ needs</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2018/05/07/po-shen-loh-expii-math-olympiad-steeltown-Carnegie-Mellon-University-CMU/stories/201805010004">U.S. Math Olympiad coach</a> <a href="https://www.poshenloh.com/">Po-Shen Loh</a>, another Carnegie Mellon professor, created a new learning platform called <a href="https://www.expii.com/">Expii</a>. It customizes the way students learn by showing them various videos and tracking which ones they learn best from.</p>
<p>Several years ago, Loh and I enlisted high school students from across the Pittsburgh region to help make a video that would illustrate the <a href="https://www.mathsisfun.com/pythagoras.html">Pythagorean Theorem</a>. The students came up with a <a href="https://www.expii.com/t/pythagorean-theorem-4557?id=7306&type=explanation">video of a kid who misses a bus</a> and with a quick calculation involving a hypotenuse makes it to the next stop in plenty of time. It’s an example of how students are not only able to work through complex problems, but also help their peers learn – once they feel empowered. </p>
<p>Because people can learn differently, virtual instruction should be an opportunity to find what works best for each student.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Teen-produced videos can make mastering math more enjoyable.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Expand access to tech</h2>
<p>Curiosity is increasingly important, as award-winning <a href="http://www.maggiehosmcgrane.com/2012/09/learning-is-beautiful-pyp-attitude-of.html">video game designer Jesse Schell</a> has explained. “We have the entire field of human knowledge available at the touch of a button,” Schell said. It “gives the curious children an insane advantage because anything they would like to learn about they can learn, just like that.”</p>
<p>But Schell worries about what he calls a “curiosity gap”: When a child’s curiosity isn’t stimulated and they lack access to this digital universe, they can fall behind.</p>
<p>Providing all students with access to Wi-Fi and top-notch devices is starting to happen because of this pandemic, but this crisis could become a great equalizer. Even after COVID-19 is under control, I believe that every child who goes to school, whether in a brick-and-mortar building or from their own home, deserves access to the internet and their own iPad, laptop or desktop computer.</p>
<p>Just as TV stations are required by the <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/childrens-educational-television">Children’s Television Act</a> to broadcast educational programs like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0173528/">Bill Nye: The Science Guy</a>” in exchange for their licenses, in my opinion, internet providers and other tech companies should also have to do more to help <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-kids-have-computers-and-theyre-being-left-behind-with-schools-closed-by-the-coronavirus-137359">close the digital divide</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143147/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carl Kurlander receives funding from the R.K. Mellon Foundation and has received support in the past from The Grable Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Henry L. Hillman Foundation and the Heinz Endowments for work related to this article.
He has previously been employed by NBC, CBS, Fox Television, Columbia Pictures, Disney, Paramount, and Universal Studios to write screenplays and teaches a University of Pittsburgh study away program at Lionsgate Entertainment.
</span></em></p>For starters, why not have Hollywood team up with teachers to make education more entertaining?Carl Kurlander, Senior Lecturer, University of PittsburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1431642020-07-29T19:11:31Z2020-07-29T19:11:31ZParents with children forced to do school at home are drinking more<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348958/original/file-20200722-24-bh7f37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C5869%2C3924&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More people turn to alcohol in the wake of disasters, research has found.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/family-relaxing-on-sofa-at-home-royalty-free-image/1217703099?adppopup=true">Kerkez/GettyImages</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>We found that parents who are stressed by having to help their children with distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic drink seven more drinks per month than parents who do not report feeling stressed by distance learning. These stressed parents are also twice as likely to report binge drinking at least once over the prior month than parents who are not stressed, according to our results. <a href="https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/alcohol-facts-and-statistics">Binge drinking</a>, which varies by gender, is when women consume at least four, or men have at least five alcoholic beverages (which includes beer, wine, or liquor) within a couple hours of each other. </p>
<p>We learned this from our online survey, which 361 parents with children under 18 years old currently living with them completed in May 2020. Seventy-eight percent of the parents had children who did distance learning in the Spring of 2020. Of those, 66% reported that the experience caused them stress because they were not sure how to help. </p>
<p>We sent the survey out through social media sites and listservs to people throughout the U.S. However, this is not a nationally representative sample. As is <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/methods/2015/09/22/coverage-error-in-internet-surveys/">common with such surveys</a>, most of the parents who responded were middle-income or higher. The results of the study have not yet been published. </p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>While many people joke about how booze is <a href="https://preventionconversation.org/2020/04/30/canfasd-alcohol-memes-and-covid-19/">getting them through the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, drinking can be harmful. More people <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6310a2.htm?s_cid=mm6310a2_w">die each year from drinking alcohol</a> than from motor vehicle crashes, guns or illegal drugs. Increased drinking is also related to many public health problems, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2019.04.018">violence</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2012.01753.x">crime</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4603(01)00181-2">poverty</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/01.olq.0000151418.03899.97">sexually transmitted diseases</a>.</p>
<p>Drinking alcohol is <a href="https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/437608/Alcohol-and-COVID-19-what-you-need-to-know.pdf?ua=1">especially dangerous during COVID-19</a> because alcohol use weakens your immune system. Drinking increases your likelihood of getting COVID-19 and, if you do get it, of having <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/15/drinking-alcohol-can-make-the-coronavirus-worse-the-who-says-in-recommending-restricting-access.html">worse outcomes</a>.</p>
<p>People increase their alcohol consumption after stressful times, such as <a href="https://doi.org/0.1186/1471-2458-8-92">tsunamis</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/10826080902962128">hurricanes</a>. Research has shown that this pattern has held before during disease outbreaks, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agn073">SARS in 2003</a>, and following the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.20673">9/11 terrorist attacks</a>.</p>
<p>COVID-19 is another stressful situation. One study in Poland with over 1,000 participants found that people are currently <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12061657">drinking more wine, beer and liquor</a> than before the pandemic. </p>
<p>Given that distance learning <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/06/29/back-to-school-reopen-online-classes/3251324001/">is going to continue for the near future</a>, we believe it is warranted to decrease stressors that lead to parents’ drinking.</p>
<h2>What other research is being done</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.rti.org/sites/default/files/covid19_alcohol_survey_webinar_slides_071420.pdf?utm_campaign=SSES_SSES_ALL_LeadGen2020&utm_source=IntEmail&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=COVID19DrinkingSurveyWebinarPostAtt">Parents are drinking more during the COVID-19 pandemic</a> than people without children. Our survey is the first one to look at the relationship between alcohol use and the stress caused by distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>School systems throughout the U.S. currently are planning for the upcoming year. In many cases, that will <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/06/29/back-to-school-reopen-online-classes/3251324001/">require more distance learning</a>. For distance learning to be successful for children and parents, more needs to be known about what makes it stressful.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p>
<p>Another study of ours, currently underway, suggests that one reason that parents are stressed is that they are not getting enough guidance from teachers or schools. This is a particular concern for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2016.1194707">low-income families</a> whose children, in general, already <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ936666">fare worse in school</a> than more affluent children.</p>
<p>It is important to realize that <a href="https://www.the74million.org/2-new-surveys-find-teachers-stressed-by-shutdown-unable-to-contact-students-and-feeling-their-confidence-drop/">teachers and other school staff are also experiencing stress</a> and not getting enough guidance on how to do distance learning. </p>
<p>Our results were collected in May 2020. As distance learning becomes the new normal, at least for now, it is important to see what, if anything, changes in how well schools provide distance learning and how it affects parents.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Sonnenschein received funding from the Montgomery County, Maryland Alcohol Beverage Services for this study. However, it should be noted that the content of this study is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Montgomery County, Maryland Alcohol Beverage Services. The funders had no role in the design of the study, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elyse R. Grossman received funding from the Montgomery County, Maryland Alcohol Beverage Services for this study. However, it should be noted that the content of this study is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Montgomery County, Maryland Alcohol Beverage Services. The funders had no role in the design of the study, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.</span></em></p>The stress of having children do distance learning at home during the pandemic is linked to an increase in alcohol consumption among parents, a new survey finds.Susan Sonnenschein, Professor, Applied Development Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyElyse R. Grossman, Policy Fellow, Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1412612020-07-15T12:12:17Z2020-07-15T12:12:17ZWith kids spending more waking hours on screens than ever, here’s what parents need to worry about<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346205/original/file-20200707-42-iw60pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6140%2C3143&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Today's children are getting way more screen time than usual.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/boy-playing-video-game-on-computer-royalty-free-image/1216829942">Isabel Pavia/Moment collection via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions of <a href="https://theconversation.com/nearly-3-in-4-us-moms-were-in-the-workforce-before-the-covid-19-pandemic-is-that-changing-141510">working parents</a> have spent months largely trapped in their homes with their children. Many are trying to get their jobs done remotely in the constant presence of their kids, and they are desperate for some peace and quiet.</p>
<p>Many mothers and fathers have sought any available remedy that would enable them to do their jobs and fight cabin fever – including some who have given their children a free pass on video games, social media and television. One survey of more than 3,000 parents found that screen time for their kids had <a href="https://parents-together.org/parents-alarmed-as-kids-screen-time-skyrockets-during-covid-19-crisis-heres-what-you-can-do/">increased by 500% during the pandemic</a>. </p>
<h2>Screen time rules</h2>
<p>In case you missed it, when the <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/325147/WHO-NMH-PND-2019.4-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">World Health Organization released daily screen time guidelines</a> for children in April 2019, it suggested tight limits.</p>
<p>Infants should get none at all, and kids between the ages of 1 and 5 should spend no more than one hour daily staring at devices. The WHO does not provide specific limits for older children, but some research has suggested that excessive screen time for teenagers could be <a href="https://time.com/5437607/smartphones-teens-mental-health/">linked to mental health problems like anxiety and depression</a>. </p>
<p>Kids were already spending far more time than recommended with screens before the pandemic, and had been for years.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>As far back as the late 1990s, children between the ages of 3 and 5 years old were averaging <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2019/02/how-screen-time-affects-kids-development.html?page=all">two and a half hours per day with their screens</a>. And, naturally, what <a href="https://theconversation.com/parents-cut-yourself-some-slack-on-screen-time-limits-while-youre-stuck-at-home-133904">screen time rules</a> families had been enforcing have been on hold since at least mid-March 2020, when most U.S. communities entered an era of social distancing.</p>
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<h2>Prone to distraction</h2>
<p>Should parents worry if their children are spending more time than ever online to learn, play and while away the hours until they can freely study and socialize again? The short answer is no – as long as they don’t allow pandemic screen time habits to morph into permanent screen time habits.</p>
<p>Shortly before the coronavirus led to schools across the country suspending in-person instruction for safety reasons, I wrapped up my upcoming book on the power of digital devices to distract students from their learning. In “<a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/james-m-lang/distracted/9781541699816/">Distracted:
Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It</a>,” I argue that trying to eliminate distractions from classroom takes the wrong approach. The human brain is naturally prone to distraction, as scientists and philosophers have been attesting for centuries now.</p>
<p>The problem with distraction in school is not the distractions themselves. Children and adults alike can use social media or view screens in perfectly healthy ways. </p>
<p>The problem occurs when excessive attention to screens crowds out other learning behaviors. A child watching YouTube on her phone in the classroom or during study time is not developing her writing skills or mastering new vocabulary. Teachers should consider how to cultivate better attention to those behaviors, rather than trying to eliminate all distractions.</p>
<p>Likewise, parents should not view screens as the enemy of their children, even if they do need to be wary of <a href="https://theconversation.com/increasing-screen-time-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-could-be-harmful-to-kids-eyesight-138193">the impact of excessive screen time on eye health</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/worry-over-kids-excessive-smartphone-use-is-more-justified-than-ever-before-108585">how much sleep their kids get</a>.</p>
<p>The trouble with excessive screen time is that it eclipses healthy behaviors that all children need. When children gaze passively at screens, they aren’t exercising, playing with their friends or siblings, or snuggling with their parents during story time.</p>
<p>What I believe parents need to worry about isn’t how much time kids are spending cradling their devices during our current crisis. It’s whether their children are forming habits that will continue after the pandemic’s over. Those habits could stop today’s youngest Americans from resuming healthier and more creative behaviors like reading or <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/family-time/imaginative-play-benefits/">imaginative play</a>.</p>
<p>If kids can kick their pandemic screen patterns, and return to the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000203">relatively healthier levels of screen time</a> they had before, they will probably be just fine. The human brain is remarkably malleable. It has extraordinary potential to rewire itself in the face of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK326735/">accident or illness</a> and <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/adaptations-of-the-brain">adapt to new circumstances</a>.</p>
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<h2>Making a habit of bingeing</h2>
<p>This feature of the human brain, known as <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-brain-plasticity-and-why-is-it-so-important-55967">neuroplasticity</a>, is one of the reasons that doctors and health organizations recommend limits to the screen time of young children. Experts, educators and families alike don’t want their brains developing as organs primarily designed for television binge-watching and video game marathons. </p>
<p>In the current moment, parents should be grateful for brain neuroplasticity, and take heart from the fact that whatever changes that might have occurred over the past few months need not be permanent ones. The brain <a href="https://positivepsychology.com/neuroplasticity/">transforms in response to our circumstances and behaviors</a> – and it changes again as those circumstances and behaviors evolve. A few months of excessive screen time won’t override an otherwise healthy childhood of moderate screen time and active play.</p>
<p>The ways in which work and school are adapting to social distancing suggest that screens are not the enemy. Rather, they are enabling people around the world to work and learn and communicate with loved ones during this extraordinary time.</p>
<p>The real enemies of healthy development in children are the same enemies adults face: a <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/sitting-disease-how-a-sedentary-lifestyle-affects-heart-health">sedentary lifestyle</a>, <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/05/ce-corner-isolation">social isolation</a> and <a href="https://research.udemy.com/research_report/udemy-depth-2018-workplace-distraction-report/">distractions from work and learning</a>. Using screens too much can contribute to all of these problems – but they can also counter them.</p>
<p>Researchers point out, after all, that <a href="https://theconversation.com/3-smart-ways-to-use-screen-time-while-coronavirus-keeps-kids-at-home-133896">not all screen time is equal</a>. You might not make the same judgment about a child writing a novel using Google Docs, FaceTiming with Grandma or using a smartphone to geocache with their friends.</p>
<p>As restrictions on everyone’s movements and activities evolve in the coming months, parents can support the healthy development of their children by encouraging them to return to such healthy and imaginative behaviors – whether they take place in front of screens or not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141261/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James M. Lang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Children will probably be OK, especially if their families make sure this elevated level of screen time doesn’t turn into a long-term habit.James M. Lang, Professor of English and Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, Assumption CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1375542020-06-01T12:31:55Z2020-06-01T12:31:55ZBlack Americans homeschool for different reasons than whites<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338354/original/file-20200528-51496-1eh2h3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5109%2C3398&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black children face harsher discipline in public schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/african-boy-doing-homework-next-mother-on-computer-royalty-free-image/87416735?adppopup=true">JGI/Tom Grill/Getty</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Michelle, a white stay-at-home mom, decided to homeschool her 8-year-old daughter, Emily, the decision was driven by what she saw as the lack of individualized attention at school.</p>
<p>“We wound up feeling frustrated that the school wasn’t following the child,” Michelle, a former communications specialist, explained of the decision by she and her husband, a software engineer, to homeschool their daughter.</p>
<p>She described her daughter as “exceptionally gifted” and said after repeated attempts to get her daughter’s school to provide advanced coursework, “it just felt like so much energy that I might as well do this thing myself.”</p>
<p>Michelle’s decision to homeschool stands in stark contrast to that of Lynette, a black mother who told me her son, Trevor, was seven when he started having a hard time in school.</p>
<p>“I don’t want to say that it was bullying but that’s what it kind of ended up being and it wasn’t from students,” Lynette explained. “It was from teachers.”</p>
<p>“He’s seven but he looks like he’s 10,” Lynette continued. “And they kind of acted like they were afraid of him. He’s never acted out violently but they made it sound like he was going to.”</p>
<p>Like Michelle, Lynette grew tired of making visits to her child’s school, but for a different reason.</p>
<p>“I just didn’t want to have to keep going to the principal’s office,” Lynette recalled during an interview at a cafe in the suburbs of a Northeastern city. “I’m like ‘you’re really targeting my kid for no reason because he’s the second biggest kid in the school.’”</p>
<h2>Motives differ</h2>
<p>The sharp contrast between Michelle and Lynette’s reason for homeschooling their children is common.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=x2MaD1wAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&gmla=AJsN-F5ksHYx2Jf9aEWYsWR-EC_Sv3o0Qfu-qeWoFe7KGBw9ymOS2LtvKW3wujDY3Z-IB9FF8HAs7gPDihtAJWYVsRk2iGVPA7Gk0rtcENxUTaNgm-_CS3c">sociologist</a> who has interviewed dozens of homeschooling parents, I’ve <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2332649219901130">found</a> that whereas most white parents homeschool to make sure their children get an education more tailored to their needs and talents, most black parents homeschool to remove their children from what they see as a racially hostile environment.</p>
<p>Now that schools are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, families of all racial, ethnic and class backgrounds have been forced to spend more time educating their children at home, or at least making sure their children do whatever work the school has assigned. </p>
<p>It is unclear as to <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/5/12/21256193/reopen-schools-in-fall-fauci-testifies-answer-will-vary">whether schools will reopen</a> in the fall. It is also unclear how homeschooling – or at least the ability to oversee at-home learning – will be impacted by the pandemic. Based on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0021934712457042">existing research</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013124504274190?journalCode=eusa">data</a>, I don’t see why reasons that parents previously decided to homeschool – whether they are black or white – will change or disappear. However, concerns about sending their children back to school amid the pandemic could become an additional reason.</p>
<h2>Black students disciplined more</h2>
<p>There is no shortage of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0038040714555434?casa_token=ZS_LJ6NyEvoAAAAA%3AEdKfR0uO08U1ZfyhsYprMfjdDQgN08oKVL6J2FrGXSNtgjdyl0rSnu9VBMeIT1--CiIYRuYmctGx">research</a> to support the view that America’s public schools <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/003804070407700401">treat black students</a> <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/16797/bad_boys">more harshly</a> than their white peers.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article-abstract/63/1/68/1844875">a study</a> by sociologists Edward Morris and Brea Perry found black boys are twice as likely as white boys to receive disciplinary action such as office referral, detention, suspension or expulsion. The same study found black girls are three times as likely as white girls to be disciplined for less serious and arguably more ambiguous behavior, such as disruptive behavior, dress code violations or disobedience.</p>
<p>The middle-class black mothers I interviewed say that despite their college education, salaries and advocacy on behalf of their children, they were unable to protect their children from the racial hostilities at school. The black families I spoke with told me they chose to homeschool only after they tried in vain to address discriminatory discipline practices at their children’s schools.</p>
<h2>Money matters</h2>
<p>Though the reasons why families chose to homeschool varies by race, other researchers and I have found that homeschooling is <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_206.10.asp">more common</a> among two-parent households where one parent is the breadwinner and the other – <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814752517/home-is-where-the-school-is/">most often the mother</a> – educates the children. Homeschooling parents are also most often college-educated. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0161956X.2013.796823?journalCode=hpje20">One 2013 study</a> found that among the 54 black homeschooling families interviewed, 42 of the families had one parent with at least a college degree, while many (19) also had graduate degrees. </p>
<p>If the ability to work from home makes it possible to homeschool, although <a href="https://theconversation.com/without-child-care-work-and-family-are-impossible-137340">incredibly challenging</a>, data also suggest that homeschooling is more likely among families with higher incomes. That’s because the ability to work from home is largely tied to income. <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/flex2.pdf">Federal labor data</a> show that in 2017 and 2018, 61.5% of workers in the top income quartile could work from home. For workers in the second highest quartile, 37.3% could work from home. But for those in third and fourth highest income quartiles, only 20.1% and 9.1%, respectively, could work from home.</p>
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<p>If reducing the risk of exposing their children to COVID-19 becomes a reason to homeschool this fall, these data would suggest that more well-to-do families are in a better position to see that their children are educated at home. By contrast, low-wage workers are less likely to easily exercise this choice. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerrymcdonald/2020/03/11/the-worlds-homeschooling-moment/#6d3a5478550c">Some scholars</a> <a href="https://www.redefinedonline.org/2020/03/how-covid-19-could-fuel-school-choice/">speculate</a> that this will lead to more well-off families deciding to continue their children’s learning at-home as a way to avoid virus exposure.</p>
<h2>Future growth?</h2>
<p>The percentage of U.S. children who are homeschooled rather than attending public and private schools was <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/blogs/nces/post/a-fresh-look-at-homeschooling-in-the-u-s">rising before the pandemic</a>. <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_206.10.asp">Between 1999 and 2016</a>, the percentage of the school age population who were homeschooled doubled from 1.7% to 3.3%, or close to 1.7 million students.</p>
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<p>Black homeschoolers account for roughly 8% of this population, up from an estimated <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_206.10.asp">4% in 2007</a>. The 8% in 2016 represents 132,000 black homeschooling kids, according to the NCES data.</p>
<p>In 2017, black kids made up 15% of public school students, or <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_cge.pdf">7.7 million kids</a> of the roughly 50.7 million public school kids that year. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020001.pdf">2019 federal report</a> shows parents homeschool for a variety of reasons. Just 16% of homeschool families report moral or religious instruction as the primary reason for homeschooling, while 34% report their primary reason is concern with school environment. This report does not document how reasons vary by race. Yet my study would suggest that black parents, like Lynette, may be dissatisfied with school environment in very different ways than white parents, like Michelle.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mahala Dyer Stewart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When white parents decide to homeschool, usually it’s to provide individualized education to their child. Research shows black parents homeschool for an entirely different reason.Mahala Dyer Stewart, Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology, Hamilton CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1356262020-04-20T18:57:09Z2020-04-20T18:57:09Z4 good practices for anyone caring for quarantined kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328797/original/file-20200417-152597-kdigx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C116%2C4896%2C2211&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All families need to establish a new normal.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/robinson-paul-right-jokes-with-his-daughter-kennedy-while-news-photo/1207965626">Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>About <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-schools-closed-kids-face-misinformation-online-cbsn-originals-documentary/">55 million U.S. schoolchildren</a> attend schools that have been closed or are being directly affected by the new coronavirus social distancing rules. Erika London Bocknek, a family therapist who studies early <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=t-lUR98AAAAJ&hl=en">childhood development, parenting and family resilience</a>, encourages parents and others raising kids to focus on the 4 R’s: routines, rules, relationships and rituals.</em></p>
<h2>1. Routines</h2>
<p>A good routine should create a pattern each day for a child that is predictable. But there are many ways to do that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.156">besides setting up a traditional schedule</a>. New strict schedules may increase anxiety for some kids, especially if the transitions between one activity and the next seem arbitrary. To create predictability outside the constraints of a traditional school schedule, consider holding daily morning meetings to set priorities. Families can use that time to clearly communicate, sort out expectations and remind one another of what’s ahead, from online chats with teachers to when lunch will be to who will do which household chores or where to go on an afternoon walk. Older children can write those priorities down to use as checklists. Little kids benefit from daily reminders about what they can look forward to throughout the day.</p>
<p>Several studies, including some I’ve conducted, have consistently found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000433">sticking with</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2379-3988.2008.tb00057.x">dinnertime and bedtime routines</a> in particular is good for positive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2014.930946">mental health outcomes throughout childhood</a>.</p>
<p>Even if families opt for a model that’s more flexible than what kids are used to on school days, consistency is key. For example, kids and adults should have at least <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-says-eat-with-your-kids-34573">one meal at about the same time</a> every day together. That meal is a good opportunity for everyone to spend time together free of electronic devices and other distractions. To be clear, the gathering itself matters as much as what’s on the table. These types of routines anchor the day, and research shows that they organize children’s external worlds in ways that support self-regulation, the building block of good mental health. In addition, predictable family environments help children feel like their <a href="https://infantcrier.mi-aimh.org/trauma-in-young-families-living-in-urban-poverty-and-parenting-under-stress-among-mothers-and-fathers/">homes are stable and supportive</a> – which is especially important when under stress.</p>
<h2>2. Rules</h2>
<p>While parents and other guardians may see fit to reduce expectations and ratchet down demands, they should stick with the rules that matter most in the long term for their families. For example, it may be reasonable to relax expectations about tidiness or screen time. However, families should maintain rules about safety and kindness and be consistent with consequences. Children of all ages feel and behave better with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03110-7_7">predictable family rules</a>.</p>
<p>Parents and other caregivers may want to set new family rules at this time, such as requiring kids to do more chores and share in household responsibilities. Such rules may instill some of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2015.10.001">independence, community obligation and social engagement</a> that students otherwise experience at school. </p>
<h2>3. Relationships</h2>
<p>As families find themselves spending more time together, responsible adults should reflect on their own mood and behavior. Children don’t need perfect parents to thrive, but they do benefit from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2012.01411.x">parenting they find predictable</a>. For example, children should be able to anticipate how their parents or other caregivers will typically interact with them and how the most important adults in their lives will respond to stress. It’s OK for those adults to let on that they’re <a href="https://theconversation.com/try-these-8-tips-to-reduce-parenting-stress-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-136381">feeling stressed out</a>, as long as children see them coping with these feelings in <a href="https://infantcrier.mi-aimh.org/parenting-and-co-parenting-predictors-of-mothers-and-fathers-negative-responses-to-toddlers-emotions/">safe and appropriate ways</a>.</p>
<p>Kids fare best when their moms, dads and other caregivers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.11.005">warm and responsive</a> when directly interacting with them. This doesn’t require nonstop attention and, in fact, attempts to sustain direct attention throughout the day may detract from adults’ overall capacity to provide this kind of positive attention. Aim instead for planned moments of focused, positive interaction even if brief and repeat throughout the day.</p>
<h2>4. Rituals</h2>
<p>Any special routine can become a family ritual – which are predictable and help every family member feel like they belong to a special group. Research shows that rituals support good mental health in childhood because of the previously mentioned sense of family organization and the added benefit of family cohesion that gives children a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.16.4.381">positive sense of their identity</a>. </p>
<p>Taco Tuesdays and regular movie nights work, as do religious practices like bedtime prayers. I’ve found that rituals that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12293">connect children to previous generations</a> may be particularly powerful, so this could be a good time to revive and adapt a beloved ritual from your own childhood. Or create new family rituals together. Especially during periods of uncertainty like this pandemic, rituals make it clear to kids that their families are stable and strong.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erika Bocknek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A family therapist and childhood development expert encourages parents and others raising kids to focus on the 4 R’s: routines, rules, relationships and rituals.Erika Bocknek, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1333382020-03-13T17:09:31Z2020-03-13T17:09:31ZOnline learning will be hard for kids whose schools close – and the digital divide will make it even harder for some of them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320428/original/file-20200313-115073-1tzjfhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Millions of US kids are suddenly being taught outside the classroom.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image/255092818">asife/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-coronavirus-and-school-closures.html">Public and private schools</a> across the nation are closing their doors as everyone scrambles to protect themselves from the COVID-19 viral disease pandemic.</p>
<p>With little or no time to prepare for this disruption, families from <a href="https://www.kuow.org/stories/seattle-public-schools-closes-for-two-weeks-due-to-coronavirus-outbreak?fbclid=IwAR1al4DwcrnT-cs8-VQZhmVqzDTmnv122T9i3-B_-G1w7afg9L8DzsaWs8Q">Seattle</a> to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/nyregion/coronavirus-new-york.html">New York City suburbs</a> are suddenly having to figure out how to help their kids learn at home. This is an unprecedented effort.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/IUBloomington/status/1237480494046105600">Indiana University</a>, where I teach, recently announced that we’ll stop offering in-person classes and move all instruction online after spring break ends on March 22. On top of <a href="https://twitter.com/JessicaCalarco/status/1237457220884979713">setting up live-streaming channels</a> for the 250 students in my Introduction to Sociology class, I <a href="https://twitter.com/JessicaCalarco/status/1237357018396098560">revamped the course requirements</a> for students who can’t connect online.</p>
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<p>Another step: I put locks on my home office door so I don’t end up like this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmeBMvGhf1g">professor in South Korea</a> whose interview went viral when his kids wandered into the camera’s line of sight. My 5-year-old and 2-year-old are <a href="https://twitter.com/JessicaCalarco/status/1238252106907291648">cute</a>, but I don’t want them barging in and disrupting my classes now that their school and day care center are closed. </p>
<p>My concern with these disruptions, however, isn’t for professors and parents like me – it’s for elementary, middle and high school students from low-income families. They rely on schools for <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/03/09/shut-down-by-coronavirus-schools-scramble-to.html">food</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/schoolhealthservices.htm">health services</a> while their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1574-0692(06)02020-4">parents are at work</a>. Those students also face <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543075003417">significant barriers</a> to academic success, and their families can’t easily set up a school-like environment – with computers, quiet spaces to work and hands-on support – to keep them learning while they’re stuck for weeks at home. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dmeBMvGhf1g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Robert Kelly’s BBC interview about North Korea’s political situation became an internet sensation for reasons unrelated to his expertise.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Relying on parents</h2>
<p>While it’s unclear what most schools will expect of students during this health crisis, I suspect that teachers will <a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/4a733e3fa8afb12733e65c1f262b5417/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=29704https://search.proquest.com/openview/4a733e3fa8afb12733e65c1f262b5417/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=29704">depend on parents</a> to help kids do their schoolwork.</p>
<p>That would be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122420905793">consistent with my own findings</a> from spending nearly three years observing and interviewing students, parents, teachers and administrators in a socioeconomically diverse, suburban public elementary school outside of a large, East Coast city. </p>
<p>Even on routine schooldays, teachers expect parents to be their partners in helping children learn. That includes pitching in with homework and staying in touch with the school. Teachers also criticize parents who provide less support, despite acknowledging that those families might be struggling to make ends meet. </p>
<p>“I feel like there’s a pocket here – a lower-income pocket,” a fourth-grade teacher I’ll call “Mr. Cherlin” to protect his privacy told me. “If they don’t have that support at home, there’s only so far I can take them. If they’re not gonna go home and do their homework, there’s just not much I can do.”</p>
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<h2>A struggle for some parents</h2>
<p>While it’s hard to predict how families will deal with this situation, evidence suggests that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13668803.2015.1023699">low-income parents</a> will have a harder time helping their children keep learning if <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/summer-learning-loss-what-is-it-and-what-can-we-do-about-it/">schools remain closed for weeks</a> or longer. </p>
<p>Encouraging kids to complete their homework, for example, is often tough for families managing full-time work and family obligations on a tight budget. That’s true no matter what’s going on.</p>
<p>Consider the situation faced by “Ms. Marrone,” a low-income white mother, who works as a home day care provider and also cares for her ailing father. Her son Shawn, who just finished fifth grade, “does know how to do the homework. It’s just finding the time,” she explained, sighing. “I can’t even blame him completely. It’s the way our household is. It’s a little crazy.”</p>
<p>Homework is also hard for low-income parents who never excelled at school. </p>
<p>“Sometimes you just feel…stupid,” said “Ms. Compton,” another low-income white mom who didn’t finish high school but later got her GED. Close to tears, she told me how difficult it is to help her fifth-grade son with math homework.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320309/original/file-20200312-111223-cano.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320309/original/file-20200312-111223-cano.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320309/original/file-20200312-111223-cano.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320309/original/file-20200312-111223-cano.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320309/original/file-20200312-111223-cano.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320309/original/file-20200312-111223-cano.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320309/original/file-20200312-111223-cano.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320309/original/file-20200312-111223-cano.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All schools in the New York City suburb of New Rochelle were closed after the state’s governor declared part of it a ‘containment zone.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-New-York/f96aa3c001e34c04a832762f38bc065e/11/0">AP Photo/Seth Wenig</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Digital divide</h2>
<p>Low-income families might also have trouble keeping their children learning because <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2020-03-10/coronavirus-school-closings-expose-digital-divide">they can’t afford the necessary technology</a>. That digital divide – a measure of inequalities in access to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650218796366">reliable computers or tablets and high-speed internet</a> – becomes much more problematic when kids need digital devices to learn at home.</p>
<p>While some <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316628645">schools</a> give students laptops or tablets to use, those programs are <a href="https://nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/elementary-and-secondary-mathematics-and-science-education/instructional-technology-and-digital-learning">far from universal</a>. Instead, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650218796366">low-income students</a> are significantly less likely to have the equipment and bandwidth they need to livestream classes from home.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320313/original/file-20200312-100527-1q20eeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320313/original/file-20200312-100527-1q20eeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320313/original/file-20200312-100527-1q20eeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320313/original/file-20200312-100527-1q20eeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320313/original/file-20200312-100527-1q20eeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320313/original/file-20200312-100527-1q20eeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320313/original/file-20200312-100527-1q20eeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320313/original/file-20200312-100527-1q20eeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What do little kids learn when their classrooms are off limits?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.jessicacalarco.com/">Jessica Calarco</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>About 15% of all U.S. families with school-age children <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/26/nearly-one-in-five-teens-cant-always-finish-their-homework-because-of-the-digital-divide/">lacked high-speed internet</a> as of 2015. Among families with incomes of US$30,000 or less, the share without that access was more than twice as big. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, even elementary-aged children who have access to digital technology may need <a href="https://chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2020/03/03/amid-coronavirus-fears-the-cdc-told-schools-to-plan-for-remote-learning-thats-harder-than-it-sounds/">considerable help</a> from parents to use those devices for learning at home.</p>
<h2>Consequences for students</h2>
<p>Although closing schools may <a href="https://www.pps.net/cms/lib8/OR01913224/Centricity/Domain/70/pandemic/schoolclosures.pdf">slow the spread of the new coronavirus</a>, widespread, prolonged closures may deepen inequalities in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0034654316669821">students’ test scores</a> and <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/unequal-city">in how teachers treat individual students</a>.</p>
<p>It’s often challenging for low-income students to get their homework done correctly and turned in on time. Those students are also more likely than more affluent kids to face consequences related to homework – losing points due to missed or late assignments, being deprived of recess, being chastised in front of their classmates and getting their grades docked. </p>
<p>Similarly, low-income students without access to technology <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.17.4.85">lag behind their wealthier peers</a> in reading and math. Those students are also more likely to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/26/nearly-one-in-five-teens-cant-always-finish-their-homework-because-of-the-digital-divide/">fail to complete their homework</a> because they lack a reliable computer or internet connection at home.</p>
<p>As school leaders decide how to proceed, I encourage them to be mindful of the unequal burden closures will place on students and their families. That means accepting that not all parents are equally able to help their kids keep up academically during this disruptive time.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Calarco has received funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, from the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, from the University of Pennsylvania, and from Indiana University. </span></em></p>Encouraging kids to complete their work can be tough for families managing full-time work and family obligations on a tight budget. And that’s true even when schools are operating normally.Jessica Calarco, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.