Lessons in the Use of Technology for Science Education during COVID-19 Age under a Teachers’ Collaboration Cluster

Abstract

The COVID-19 confinement has represented both opportunities and losses for education. Rarely before has any other period moved the human spirit into such discipline or submission—depending on one’s personal and emotional points of view. Both extremes have been widely influenced by external factors on each individual’s life path. Education in the sciences and engineering has encountered more issues than other disciplines due to specialized mathematical handwriting, experimental demonstrations, abstract complexity, and lab practices. This work analyses three aspects of science education courses taught by university professors in a collaborative teacher cluster, sharing technology applications and education methodologies in science over three semesters when the COVID-19 lockdown was in effect. The first aspect was a didactic design coming from several educational frameworks through adoption or sharing. The second one was an analysis by discipline of multiple factors affecting student engagement during the health contingency. The third analysis examined the gains and losses in our students caused by the university closure and the pandemic’s intrusions. The report explores the correlations of the exiting student perceptions with their academic performance in the courses and survey results about the impact of decisions or happenings during the crisis. This work’s value lies in the lessons for the future of education concerning the teacher dominions of didactic design, support, and collaboration in a broader sense than only for teaching.

Comparative study between delivery modalities in higher education during emergency remote teaching due to COVID-19

“…The differences in favor of the remote modality could be explained by the availability of the class session records and the students' positive perceptions of online material. These results are similar to the studies of Chhetri (2020), Potaliya andGhatak (2020), andDelgado et al (2021) who found that Medicine students preferred to watch several times the recorded classes for studying theoretical topics but attending face-to-face sessions for their practical subjects. Furthermore, remote classes have been reported to be the best way for continuous learning in ERT situations, as they promote engagement when students are autonomous, there are specific purposes in the activities, and there is interaction between professors and students (Binks et al, 2021;Yu-Fong Chang et al, 2021).…”

Education Services for Students during the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Evaluation can be conducted in all stages. The results of the evaluation provide important recommendations for the next decision-making or strategies to maintain, modify or improve what is no longer relevant (Attfield, 1999;Campbell-Patton, 2016;Chouinard & Cousins, 2009;Delgado et al, 2021;Lumino & Gambardella, 2020;Stufflebeam 2007).…”

Post-COVID-19 Transition in University Physics Courses: A Case of Study in a Mexican University

“…In addition to the overall technology used to forecast and manage online courses, many applications have been deployed to share, deliver, and receive educative materials, integrating services not always included in a unique service. More critical, concrete applications were used to supersede the absence of experimental practices, including simulators and smartphone applications that integrated sensors for straightforward physical measurements to set up experiments [7,16]. Despite the limitations, the effective use of such technologies produced changes in each student, who acquired new competencies to approach the learning of physics concepts.…”

“…In addition, using a scientific calculator on a smartphone shared on the screen and some other elements easing visualization (such as Mathematica, Matlab, and Desmos) promoted an enriched learning experience (traditionally absent in the pre-pandemic approach, but now inherited in the 'New Normal' practice). The complementary series of teaching videos solving additional physics problems was published on the Learning Management System (LMS), commonly used by the institution in the form of a virtual classroom (which is now included in the new face-to-face course version in the 'New Normal' period) [7,15]. We wanted to analyze student transitions through the different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and consider the teacher learning inherited from the online teaching experience.…”

“…The dismantling of the entire national, institutional, familial, and personal aspects of education has caused a poor and less agile return than the initial establishment of the system. In this context, it is regrettable that the lessons learned and sustained by the health emergency are not being assimilated if they are only being dismantled to return to the old practices and the same pre-pandemic scenario [7]. It could be said that this critical stage has not been worth experiencing and has not taught us anything.…”