CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED BY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN LEARNING SCIENCE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The COVID-19, a disease caused by the 
SARS-Cov2 virus, had its first cases 
recorded at the end of 2019. Since then a 
health crisis has set in on the planet. 
According to the World Health 
Organization the COVID-19 pandemic has 
already caused the death of more than 6 
million people and caused the routines of 
the entire population to change completely, 
or partially. In the educational field, with 
social distancing being one of the measures 
used to reduce the number of cases, classes, 
activities, tests and most of the activities 
related to education started to take place 
remotely. As a result, the discipline of 
science, which requires practice, 
investigation and experimentation for the 
content to be better understood by students, 
has become considerably more difficult to 
experience with social distance. As a 
number of sudden changes have emerged, 
so too have new challenges, which teachers 
need to manage. In this context, the present 
research aimed to ascertain how the 
teaching-learning process is being carried 
out and the challenges faced by the target 
audience the learners in the subject of 
Science in the context of the pandemic of 
COVID-19. The research targeted primary 
school students aged between 11 and 15 
years old living in a rural community in the 
municipality of Salgueiro/PE, Brazil. It was 
found that students' learning and mindset 
were negatively affected by remote 
teaching and social isolation during the 
pandemic. The most suitable didactic tools 
for the target audience of the research were 
identified, and better results regarding 
learning would have been obtained if 
complementary activities that stimulated 
empathy and care of the students' mental 
health were also used.