Pandemic: lessons for today and tomorrow?

Abstract

A pandemic is currently grinding public life to a halt. Schools and universities are closed in many countries. Conferences are canceled or postponed. We empathize with people who have lost dear ones or turned ill, and with those who struggle to keep life going, for themselves and their dear ones. Organizers of many conferences have seen their huge efforts evaporate by one single decision, necessary to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Many participants had already booked flights and hotels-all gone. What will happen to all the research insights currently written down in ICME and PME papers?In this editorial, we raise the question, What are the consequences for mathematics education and for research, now and in the future? Informal email conversation with colleagues across the globe (including China and Italy) points to many challenges and concerns that relate to life and to education. Most of the challenges are transdisciplinary, but some have unique characteristics for mathematics learning. There is research on mathematics learning at a distance through non-traditional media, but we expect that the consequences of this pandemic will inspire more such research. Many of our conversations these days turn to deep reflection in an attempt to stay calm and clear-headed. In this editorial, we summarize a few experiences that people have shared with us, hoping that proper study will help people formulate lessons for today and tomorrow. This is particularly challenging in times where change is so rapid. As educators and researchers, we find ourselves in a tension eloquently formulated by Søren Kierkegaard: "It is perfectly true, as the philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards"

COVID-19 and Health Professions Education: A 360° View of the Impact of a Global Health Emergency

“…Thus, COVID-19 may provide opportunities but may also create impediments to research (e.g., Bakker & Wagner, 2020).…”

Will 2020 be remembered as the year in which education was changed?

“…There is concern that the hurried adoption of new technology will lead to falling back to a pedagogy of transmission of knowledge (Bakker and Wagner 2020 ). There are also concerns about assessment, about the absence of the obvious social benefits of face-to-face environments and about the disappearance of work-home boundaries—in essence we are social people and we need company.…”

“…Educators invent new approaches and educational games to address the needs of students. Some publishers have made their educational software and curricula available as open source online material (Bakker and Wagner 2020 ). Another luxury is that some people suddenly have the time to reflect and to spend quality time on their research, which often leads to creativity.…”

Overcoming challenges in teaching calculus remotely during COVID-19 pandemic

“…In the absence of peer group dynamic in a classroom setting, lessons can get mundane very quickly especially when students are left to learn in a laissez-faire manner [11]. In the second initiative, we examined the role of the instructor in trying to maximise engagement with the class remotely.…”