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COVID-19’s Effect On Education
By Devin Soohoo

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WELCOME TEACHERS, PARENTS AND CHILDREN!!!
This website is here to inform you of how the COVID-19
pandemic has affected our way of learning. This topic is

important because it affects everyone (teachers, parents and
children). This website is designed to help you understand the

impact that the recent crisis has had on our educational
learning/teaching.

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Science Behind the Topic

As schools across the US make the decision to shut down for the rest of the
academic year, students and teachers continue to undergo a crash course in
remote learning. The pandemic disrupted the education system so abruptly.
Teachers and students to figure out how to adapt to a new learning environment
on the fly. Teachers and students have more difficulty reaching out to each
other online especially since students tend to leave their cameras off and
emails aren’t always ideal for quick responses. The pandemic has been hard on
children and there have been increased depression and anxiety among children
and their parents.

Valerie Strauss mentions in her Washington Post article, when frightening or
threatening situations occur too frequently (such as COVID-19, the lockdown
and sudden shift to remote learning), or when they are not mitigated by
sufficient protective factors, the hormonal response can become dysregulated
and toxic. Also, when a stress response becomes toxic, it can result in
decreased performance. Students usually raise their hands or walk over to their
teacher’s desk when they need help with their work. In an online learning
environment, however, students may have to fend for themselves if they don’t
understand the material. Strauss (2019)

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Cultural Relevence

Within every learning environment there is a culture that influences
all the other components. In most learning environments, culture is
often considered even beyond the consciousness of learners or
even teachers. Whether culture is a good or bad influence in a
learning environment will depend on whether you share or reject the
values and beliefs of the dominant culture.

As technologies allow us to develop new learning environments,
instructors now have a rare opportunity consciously to create a
culture that can support those values and beliefs that they consider
to be important for today’s learners. The pandemic created an
opportunity for educators to rethink their approach to online learning
and explore how this educational environment can expand access
while increasing and building on diversity.

With the shift to online education for students and teachers, we
created a new sense of belonging, community, and culture in the
classroom, the greatest challenge has long been a sense of
disconnection, given that they are separated from campus life and
activities. Looking past the pandemic, we can bring cultural content
to light, overcome biases, and actually build on diversity. We can
design new learning platforms for our course offerings and increase
access to education.

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Various Developmental Theories
Another massive consequence of distance learning is how it has impacted the
mental health of students. Nearly 3 in 10 parents said that their child was already
“experiencing harm to their mental health” because of closures. Bjorklund’s article,
“A Metatheory for Cognitive Development” states that w early environmental
deprivation affects the development of particular parts of the brain. Anxiety and
mental health issues can also have an impact on entire families. Students may act
out, seclude themselves, and not communicate with their families as much. If
students and schools are to continue surviving and succeeding through the
foreseeable future, then there needs to be a large increase in the communication
that students receive. Bjorklund (2018)

Bronfenbrenner recognized the multiple aspects of a developing child’s life that
affects the child. He looked beyond individual development, considered wider
influencing factors and the context of development. Because the five systems are
interrelated, the influence of one system on a child’s development depends on its
relationship with the others. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s theory, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, many people are barely able to interact with those in their
Microsystems (Schools, friends, family, health services etc.), which is the very first
level beyond the individuals themselves. Bronfenbrenner (1993).

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There are many ways for teachers and parents to
engage with children remotely during the pandemic.
virtual activities can be used for specific well-being
lessons or advisory classes, or can be woven into
other curricula you are teaching, such as English,
Art, Humanities, and Physical Education.
One activity can be:
Positive primer: to energize your students at the start
of class to kickstart learning, prompt them to think about
their well-being in that moment, get them socially
connected online, and get their brain focused for
learning.More activities can be found on this site:

https://www.connectionsacademy.com/support/resourc
es/article/coronavirus-and-teaching-from-home-ten-way
s-to-engage-remotely

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https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/five_tips_for_teaching_advisory_classes_at_your_school

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References
Bjorklund, D. (2018). A Metatheory for Cognitive
Development (or “Piaget is Dead” Revisited)

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1993). Ecological Models of
Human Development

Strauss, V. (2019). The Washington Post: The
Effect Chronic Stress Has On Children At School
— and Why Policymakers Should Care

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