- Investigate what is known about how the virus is transmitted and what steps and strategies hold the greatest promise for protection.
- Explore ethical issues related to vaccination prioritization and distribution and who should be first.
- Explore how the medical community decides who should receive priority health care support when the system becomes overloaded.
- Research why some parts of the population appear to be more vulnerable to the virus than others.
- Research and develop models showing how unprotected coughing can aid in spread of the virus and germs in general.
- Explore the role of air quality and circulation, and research local efforts to manage air quality. Measure and analyze air circulation and quality in school and at home.
- Research how the latest vaccinations differ from the way vaccinations have been developed and tested in the past.
- Analyze and compare how modern society is responding to the virus compared to how societies have responded to global viruses in the past.
- Track how what is known about the virus has shifted and grown throughout its existence and how advice related to the virus has changed.
- Explore how the pandemic has led to increased mental health issues and what might be effective strategies to address them.
- Review, analyze, and construct graphs and infographics to capture the presence, spread, and impact of the virus.
- Construct mathematical models to explain the of direction, scope, and intensity of virus spread.
- Explore how to sort and verify various beliefs, rumors, and facts about the nature of the virus and its mutations.
- Research the implications of science and politics becoming intertwined.
- Analyze the effectiveness of various public policy initiatives and propose alternative policies with promise.
- Explore how the virus has improved the general population’s understanding of science and how it may have led to confusion.
- Research which communication messaging strategies have been most effective in helping people understand the virus and what made the messaging effective.
- Research the factors that make some information sources more credible than others.
- Identify information about the virus that is not yet known and needs to be learned.
- Explore which behavior changes necessary during the virus are likely to remain once the virus in contained.
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In Your Corner, Leadership and Change Management
Twenty Ideas to Use COVID for Learning
There is no question that for many students the virus has exacted a learning cost. It has disrupted routines, resulted in isolation, created fear and distractions, and slowed the pace of learning progress. Educators are working valiantly to help students to cope and continue learning despite the challenges.
However, the pandemic does not have to be a complete distraction or have an exclusively negative impact. In fact, the virus is creating myriad opportunities for real time, authentic learning. Volumes of data are being produced that can be studied and analyzed. New ways to display and explain information are being developed. Changes in society are emerging that may or may not be permanent. Each of these elements and others offer rich opportunities for learning if we choose to leverage them.
Of course, we need to be mindful of political perspectives and personal sensitivities surrounding the virus and its impact. Nevertheless, with care and planning there is much to be mined for learning.
Here are twenty ideas you can use to stimulate your thinking, adapt for your students, and move their learning forward, while remaining in alignment with important curricular goals and standards. Feel free to add your own ideas and design additional learning opportunities.
In Your Corner, Student Learning
Enlist the Most Powerful Influence on Learning
Who has the greatest influence on whether students will learn? Some say it is the teacher. This statement recognizes the powerful impact educators can have on the conditions, direction, and focus of learning. Teachers bring knowledge, experience, and strategies crucial to learning. Teachers create the environment, design activities, monitor progress, provide feedback, and offer many other supports for learning.
However, close examination reveals that it is not accurate to say that teachers have the greatest influence on learning in the classroom. It is learners who hold the most powerful influence. They choose whether learning will occur. A simple test of this premise can be made by considering who must be present for learning to happen. If learners are not present in the classroom, learning cannot occur. If the teacher is not present, learners may still choose to learn. Although, the learning may be less intentional, less focused, and even lead in undesirable directions.
To be clear, this is not an argument intended to discount the influence and status of teachers in this crucial process. Rather, it recognizes that learning is an autonomous act. It is intentional and self-constructed. It is a personal process. As educators, we can have significant influence on students’ choices to learn and provide crucial guidance and support to the process, but learning is the work of students. We might say that while learners are the most important resource for learning, teachers can be the most powerful stimulators of learning.
We know that learning begins with what students know and are ready to learn. Learning grows when students make connections and integrate new understanding with past knowledge and experience. Learning tends to stick best when it is driven by purpose and students understand the usefulness of what they are learning.
Unfortunately, the traditional approach to formal learning has been to develop curriculum, plan lessons, and present instruction based on what we believe students should know and be ready to learn, rather than what students are ready to learn. The system often features pacing guides based on the assumption that learners will learn at a predetermined rate. Meanwhile, instruction is often delivered to groups of students with varied states of readiness. Some may already know what is being presented. Others may not have the background knowledge and skills to benefit fully. Still others may be ready to engage and learn from the experience. This is a serious system design problem with which educators constantly struggle as they attempt to engage and support the learning of individual students.
So, how can we activate this too often underutilized classroom resource? How can we significantly increase the level of learning and ensure that a much larger portion of students learn at high levels? We can start by rethinking the traditional approach that is driven almost exclusively by instruction and prioritize learning as the core and driving activity. This shift invites us to ask a new set of questions and consider learning conditions that will activate students as key influencers of their learning:
- Rather than starting by asking what I am ready to teach, we can ask what our learners are ready to learn.
- Rather than focusing on whether students are complying with our directions, we can ask whether we are building their commitment and capacity to learn.
- Rather than expecting all students to progress at the same learning rate, we can design approaches that respond to student readiness to learn and their optimal pace for doing so.
- Rather than expecting students to depend on predetermined paths for learning, we can nurture in students the skills and inclination to become increasingly independent learners.
In Your Corner, Student Learning
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Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.
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