Abstract:

“When you're at home… you're not gaining any smartness, like brain cells because …learning from home there's just something to it that you don't really get anything. There's lots of problems to learning online, and face to face is easier.”

~A 5th Grader

Could a 5th grade student have the key to surviving another pandemic? Recent research conducted in the aftermath of the global Covid-19 crisis revealed numerous educational failures. These included, but were not limited to, learning loss and increased marginalization of at-risk and low-performing students. As the pandemic progressed, studies sought to identify critical areas of concern. Thus, in the context of COVID-19, school closures may pose a significant barrier to students' learning and future opportunities. While the body of research concentrated on technical issues, mental health, and student well-being, a limited number of studies exposed the core causes of disruption from a student perspective. In a narrative study, a fifth-grade student in the oil-rich Arab region (despite favorable conditions and equitable access) slipped from above-average to below-average performance in school. The Arab world is well-known for its innovative educational systems, which incorporate 1:1 iPad classroom, tablet use, SMART boards, and other forms of technology integration. If a student could perform so poorly in excellent settings, what would be the case in developing countries? This student narrative has global implications for the phenomenon of learning loss, which can be extrapolated to various groups. The study's findings suggested that there were over ten areas of concern that harmed the learning process. This student discovered that many of the tactics he had developed over time in a face-to-face context were no longer appropriate or beneficial when learning online. Some of these highlighted risks are consistent with earlier findings, while others are novel. Additionally, this fifth-grade student offers advice to schools, governments, and nations in the event of another pandemic.

Keywords:

Online learning, face to face learning, Covid, Covid-19, Pandemic, learning loss, elementary, student, disruption, performance.