Schools have been closed in many countries due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, but education continues online. Little is known about how parents cope with educating their children in this unprecedented situation. Here, we present the results of a rapid survey examining the experience of Czech parents of children in Grades 1-9 (Age ∼ 6-15; N = 9,810) with respect to home education during the COVID-19 lockdown. This survey was distributed widely, but only online and parents participated voluntarily. Mainly families with an internet connection and interested in their children's education (i.e., the majority of families with school-aged children in the Czech Republic) took part in the survey. The results show that these families tend to cope well with the current educational situation and view the overall schoolwork transferred to homes as useful. Most children spend 2-4 h a day studying, while parents help them at least half the time. Parents mostly explain task instructions, check the work their children have done, and teach new topics. To a lesser extent, they help their children solve tasks. Teachers appear to assign tasks more often than they provide feedback and/or interact with children. Some parents face difficulties, but those are generally not severe. These include, most notably, a lack of time, issues with technologies, and inadequate teaching skills and content knowledge. Altogether, this work maps the current educational situation in a large segment of Czech families and highlights possible pitfalls to be avoided: in the Czech Republic and beyond.

Schools have been closed in many countries due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, but education continues online. Little is known about how parents cope with educating their children in this unprecedented situation. Here, we present the results of a rapid survey examining the experience of Czech parents of children in Grades 1-9 (Age ~ 6-15; N = 9,810) with respect to education at home during the COVID-19 lockdown. This survey was distributed widely, but only online and parents participated voluntarily. Mainly families with an internet connection and interested in their children’s education (i.e., the majority of families with school-aged children in the Czech Republic) took part in the survey. The results show that these families tend to cope well with the current educational situation and view the overall schoolwork transferred to homes as useful. Most children spend 2-4 hours a day studying, while parents help them at least half the time. Parents mostly explain task instructions, check the work their children have done, and teach new topics. To a lesser extent, they help their children solve tasks. Teachers appear to assign tasks more often than they provide feedback and/or interact with children. Some parents face difficulties, but those are generally not severe. These include, most notably, a lack of time, issues with technologies, and inadequate teaching skills and content knowledge. Altogether, this work maps the current educational situation in a large segment of Czech families and highlights possible pitfalls to be avoided: in the Czech Republic and beyond.

Little is known about what design elements in digital learning games enhance learning; especially in the case of child audiences. This study examines the effects of a learning game’s visual design on perceived attractiveness and learning outcomes. We developed two visual designs for the game: one with supposedly high esthetic value and another with a low esthetic value. Participants (children between 9 and 11 years of age, N = 53) were randomly divided into two groups. Each group interacted with their assigned version for about 20 minutes and then evaluated its visual attractiveness without knowing about the other version. Then, they evaluated the attractiveness of the complementary version. As the next step, they evaluated both versions side‐by‐side. During the free‐choice period, children could continue playing one of the game versions or a different game. They clearly preferred the high esthetic version in evaluations (d > 0.86) and in the free‐choice period (62% preferred the high esthetic version of the target game), but this did not improve their learning outcomes (comprehension: d = –0.59; transfer: d = –0.16). Possible explanations of this effect are discussed in terms of cognitive load theory and cognitive‐affective theory of learning from media.

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Článek na základě kvantitativní a kvalitativní analýz y odpovědí 9810 rodičů zkoumá vnímání vzdělávání v domácím prostředí z pohledu rodičů v době uzavřených základních škol z důvodu pandemie COVID-19. Cílem empirického šetření bylo odpovědět na otázky, jaké bariéry ve vzdělávání doma v době uzavřených základních škol rodiče identifikují, jaká řešení by uvítali, ale také jaký je vztah mezi rodinou a školou v situaci vzdělávání doma. Analyzovaná data pocházejí z výzkumu Vzdělávání doma, který byl uskutečněn v dubnu 2020 za podpory České televize. Výsledky výzkumu ukazují, že existuje zásadní rozdíl mezi rodiči prvostupňových a druhostupňových žáků, kteří jednak vnímají odlišné bariéry a jednak jmenují jiná řešení nastalé situace. Význam výsledků tkví v tom, že nejenom upozorňují na bariéry ve spolupráci mezi rodinou a školou, ale naznačují i možná řešení problémů, které přinesla neočekávaná situace.