Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic posed an enormous challenge to the educational landscape – having been under consideration as an alternative option for decades, distance learning suddenly had to be implemented, in most cases, without any time to prepare. The enforced adoption of this method that has, potentially, multiple benefits revealed a number of challenges from the perspective of teachers, learners, curricula, schools and the educational system. In order to teach and learn mathematics effectively, especially in high school, well-thought-out explanations, materials and teaching-learning methods are needed. Also, the ability to use different ICT tools is required in order to do it successfully from a distance.

This study focuses on the views of Estonian high school students regarding learning mathematics during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Online interviews were carried out with 30 students of the 12th grade after the state mathematics exam.

While Estonia can be proud of its ability to use ICT (information and communication technology) tools, the country still experienced difficulties during the first wave of the pandemic. No increase was detected in the use of the specific ICT tools for teaching and learning mathematics. Instead, teachers stuck to the already established teaching methodologies. We observed a difference in students’ attitudes towards distance learning depending on whether they had chosen a narrow or a broad mathematics course. Also, students’ distance learning experience depended, to a large extent, on the pre-pandemic learning situation in the classroom.

Several studies have highlighted the challenges faced by teachers when implementing online learning methods but the students’ voice has garnered much less attention. This study adds insight into this field and provides suggestions on improving distance learning practices in mathematics education and developing the training curriculum of mathematics teachers.

Keywords:

K-12, distance education, pandemic, mathematics education, remote learning.