Learning about pandemics while living through one
Shruti Singhal
In the past year, terms like ‘epidemic’, ‘social distancing’, ‘flatten the curve’, ‘vaccination’, ‘lockdown’, ‘curfew’, have become a part of our everyday vocabulary. Like work, schools also went online, giving students and teachers very little time to adapt to the virtual setup. We learnt to mute our audio, to raise our fingers in front of the camera when needing to speak out of turn and to live (or exist?) while alternating between hope and despair.
Despite being unprepared for the challenges of digital learning, and facing personal losses, teachers ensured that students continued to learn. Classes and roll-calls, presentations and projects, exams and assessments happened online, with fewer differences between a school day, a holiday and a festival. Fears and losses from the ongoing second wave of Covid-19 are no less than the uncertainties of the first, with younger children getting accustomed to a virtual life and older ones becoming more anxious about their future.
This project seeks to applaud teachers everywhere. It is written as a classroom toolkit with suggestions on teaching, learning and supporting in unprecedented times.
Just checking in
Students and teachers can take turns to share their year-long experience of online classes. This activity can help instill empathy and is especially beneficial if the teacher shares her stories too. They could talk about any activities and hobbies that they or members of their families took up during this time.
Older students could be asked deeper questions. They could talk about how their families managed to live together the entire time. What were the comforts and challenges of spending so much time together? Was the experience of living through the first wave different from the ongoing second one? What systems did they put in place to make sure they could continue to study and work with fewer distractions?
A brief history of humanity
Teachers of history, biology and literature can work together for this section and divide their respective classes into groups for discussions or presentations.
Primary school students can be introduced to the topic through word-building activities. The teacher can ask students to list all the terms they have learnt in the past year. Under the supervision of an adult, students can refer to a dictionary and define the words and use them in sentences of their own. To further familiarize students with these words, their meanings and spellings, the teacher can create puzzles (such as crosswords, jumble and word search) for students to work on at their leisure.
At the middle school level, students could be asked to differentiate microorganisms (bacteria vs viruses) in nature and research diseases like polio, smallpox, HIV/AIDS. They could also be asked to read about inventions in medicine and healthcare (like antibiotics, anesthesia, vaccination) that brought about changes and improvements to public health. Is disease merely the absence of health? Or does it represent something more? What does it take to eradicate a disease?
For this topic, teachers could assign specific diseases to groups of students, asking them to compare and contrast previous pandemics in human history. They could explore some of the following questions: When does an epidemic become a pandemic? How is a symptom linked to a disease/diagnosis to result in a final treatment? What does it mean to treat the root cause of a condition as opposed to its symptom?
For older students, teachers could explore the topic of evolution and discuss the revolutions in technology (Stone Age, Iron Age), agriculture (from hunting and gathering to growing rice and wheat) and society (from wandering tribes to rooted cities and nation states and coins and currency notes as a far cry from barter). While the earth is home to millions and billions of plants and animals, humans now think of themselves as the master species. Is this arrogance or an example of missing something vital? If humans evolved from Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, what is the next identity on our path to evolution? Students could be encouraged to talk about evolution and the rise of technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. As the groups present their ideas, some questions could be posed. Is evolution (of humans or disease-causing organisms) inevitable? How is intelligence different from consciousness?
The class teacher could also encourage middle and high school students to form a book club where they could take turns to pick books to read and discuss afterwards. They could begin with books about pandemics like The Plague by Albert Camus, Blindness by José Saramago and Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. The teacher can moderate the discussions and encourage students to ask and answer questions, while also imbibing the habit of reading.
What’s “essential” when everything can put one at risk?
The class teacher can take the help of the school counsellor for these sessions.
While essential supplies like groceries and essential workers in healthcare and public safety have been more important during the Covid-19 pandemic, can we completely disregard the importance of physical meetings, the comfort of touch and the power of human connection? Can the “essential” (activity or worker) carry inherent risks and the “inessential” be necessary? How can the “inessential” portions of the population contribute in times of crises?
Older students can be encouraged to talk about how they and their families have been coping. Teachers can invite them to present ideas on tackling any issues that they may face. Can we ensure that we don’t undermine some issues while prioritizing others and ignore the distant while tending to the immediate? How can we balance health, public safety and survival during a pandemic, while issues like abuse, chronic disease and global warming continue to rage?
Teachers can also talk about the work of non-governmental organizations, cultural communities and everyday heroes that step up in times of crises to help people with food, water and medical supplies, regardless of any differences. Middle students can reach out to the support groups to learn more and contribute their efforts, under the supervision of older students.
Are we all in this together?
The class teacher could take up these concerns in three or more sessions.
While the current Covid-19 pandemic is affecting everyone, teachers could discuss with older students if it is affecting everyone equally. Are some regions, countries or communities at a greater disadvantage than others? While everyone has been asked to stay at home, what about those who cannot afford to do so? Middle school students can be asked to take a closer look at the statistics that are often shown in newspapers and magazines. Can we ignore the individuals behind the numbers? Can graphs and statistics be humane?
The teacher can set an assignment on this topic, where students are divided into groups that represent different countries and research how their country experienced and tackled Covid-19. The group can further divide the timeline of Covid-19 (from its outbreak in late 2019 to the present) among individual members and present their findings to the class in a coherent manner.
Humanitarian crises like wars, earthquakes, floods and pandemics are said to affect everyone. But do they affect everyone equally? Does access to privacy (studying or working without distractions), technology (possession of individual mobile devices with internet connection) or information (regarding healthcare or other practices) count as privilege? How else might one consider themselves privileged during this time? Teachers can begin this session by recounting their own privileges and engage in dialogue about what it means to acknowledge them. Is it enough to be aware of one’s advantages? Can students think of ways to use their opportunities for the benefit of others?
Higher classes could discuss the debates around vaccination. While vaccination has been seen to eradicate fatal diseases, some sections of the population remain opposed to it. When misinformation becomes a pandemic, what is the role of public intellectuals or experts? What happens when well-intentioned but unverified information seems more credulous than scientific facts and figures? The teacher could assist diverse groups in researching and presenting their arguments clearly and respectfully.
Now more than ever
Teachers can organize regular sessions with experts in mental health and infectious diseases so that students can get the opportunity to clarify their concerns. Older students can take turns to summarize these interactions for younger ones in simpler words and more concise formats. These interactions should be left open-ended where both teachers and students can check on each other, especially the more vulnerable ones in their vicinity. The burden of reaching out should not be left to those who are suffering.
Some thoughts that can be addressed in these sessions: How can we support a recovering friend or another who lost a loved one? It may be easier to tell one who is grieving to cheer up, but can we sit with them in their grief and share their loss for a few moments?
Mental health experts should also bring up topics like coping mechanisms and mindful use of social media. While the Internet has been a source of support for many, it continues to be a polarized space and especially unsafe for the youth. Younger students can be asked to maintain diaries and keep track of their usage of social media and other digital devices. They should be introduced to the practice of cyberbullying and advised to inform a friend, trusted senior or staff member when faced with inappropriate behaviour online.
Older students may experience stress about exams, anxiety for the future, fear for their loved ones and even guilt for surviving when so many others did not. The teacher and mental health expert should regularly check on students, while also sharing their own struggles.
Unlearning and relearning
While Covid-19 is one pandemic in the long history of humanity and human health, it is one we are experiencing, even as we attempt to study, work, give and assess exams, as usual. Can we expect or be expected to function efficiently and optimally when everything around and about us has changed? Perhaps we need to unlearn the pre-pandemic approaches of experiencing education and even life, in isolation and relearn the importance of kindness and empathy in “the new normal”?
Five worst pandemics in human history 1. Bubonic Plague: Caused by the plague bacterium (Yersinia pestis), the Bubonic Plague resulted in the Black Death in the 14th century, killing an estimated 50 million people in Asia, Africa and Europe. This bacterium caused two other plagues – septicemic and pneumonic – with several recurrences. Today, the plague affects fewer than 5,000 people each year. 2. Measles: Caused by the measles virus, Measles is known to have first made its appearance in the 11th and 12th centuries. A highly infectious disease, it affects an estimated 20 million people each year. And yet, the vaccine is a preventable cause of death. 3. Tuberculosis or ‘consumption’ (1882): Tuberculosis is a highly infectious airborne disease caused by the spread of a bacteria, Mycobaterium tuberculosis. The spread of droplets from an infected person through coughing or sneezing, and the increasing resistance of the bacteria to treatment drugs makes it difficult to control. It was estimated that 10 million people worldwide were infected with tuberculosis in 2019. 4. Chickenpox: Caused by the Varicella zoster virus, chickenpox was not separated from smallpox until the late 19th century, although the first documented use of the term was in 1658. An infectious illness, chickenpox caused blisters on the upper body parts, sometimes leading to neurological complications and pneumonia. After the development of the vaccine, the spread and severity of the infection came down, causing death of one in 60,000 people. 5. The Influenza Pandemic: Influenza was caused by an H1N1 virus, infecting an estimated 500 million people around the world between 1918 and 1919. Although the exact origins of the virus were unknown, it caused inflammation of the lungs and led to severe pneumonia. Press reports from Spain as being gravely affected by the illness caused it to be called the ‘Spanish flu’, despite the first cases being detected in the United States. The H1N1 Influenza A virus caused pandemics in 1977 and 2009 as well. |
The author is a content specialist based in Hyderabad, India. She can be reached at shrutisinghal.ss@gmail.com.