Abstract:

During the last trimester of the academic year 2019-2020 students in Spain could not attend schools, high-schools or universities due to the covid-19 pandemic. The whole country went through an intensive lockdown that altered everything, including teaching and learning environments. The traditional in-person classes switched suddenly to distance learning leaving both, students and teachers in an awkward situation. In this study, 9th grade students’ experiences, opinions and perceptions regarding learning of mathematics were analysed qualitatively. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 students. The main results indicate that students shared several feelings during this process. Results show a progressive decrease in students’ positive attitudes towards learning along the trimester. Although most of them indicated that during the first weeks they tried to keep up with the online classes, virtual tasks and online exams, as weeks passed they were less motivated. Moreover, the fact that it was their first distance learning experience was also an added difficulty. Uncertainty and lack of motivation among students increased as the weeks passed. The announcements made by the Spanish government regarding students’ assessments and the fact that students knew they were not going to return to the classrooms were pointed as the main reasons for students’ lack of motivation.

Keywords:

Distance learning, covid-19, mathematics students, lockdown.