In the post Covid-19 world, schools will be able to choose both excellence and equity when it comes to teaching STEM
If the equity gap in education was a concern before the Covid-19 pandemic, it has become an urgent one as schools have rushed to adapt to distance learning. As school districts try to bridge the equity gap, they often have to make choices that compromise the quality of the tools available to students. However, when it comes to implementing 1–1 access to STEM learning, school districts can and should adopt solutions that do not compromise on excellence. This is actually possible, and is what we strive for at Wonder Workshop, and even more so in the post Covid-19 world this fall.
The school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic have pushed schools into a world where students depend on electronic devices and broadband access for everyday learning. This shift has exposed the digital divide and it risks widening the equity gap in education even further. Common Sense reports that right now 12 million students do not have access to the technology they need to participate in distance learning. This presents a significant hurdle for students who are now required to depend on Internet access for their daily instruction. Bridging the gap on equity in a digital world has to take in account the quality of tools that students depend on — only then can we truly bridge the digital divide.
The equity gap in education in younger grades has far reaching implications. The German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, recommended that reopening of schools post Covid-19 focus first on elementary school students. School closures result in unequal distribution of quality of education, and for elementary school age kids the gaps are greater since they are more dependent on teachers and parents. At a younger age, children pick up foundational skills and love for learning — and the equity gap at this age will have implications that become far more discernible years later.
While schools bridge the equity gap in connectivity and devices, they must look to preserve the quality of education that all students can access. The US education system has constantly strived to create equity, often resulting in a compromise in excellence. This is not new and historically we’ve even tried to create equity by balancing per-student budgets across wealthy and poorer districts and states. Criticisms of the No Child Left Behind policies and Common Core Standards often highlight the tradeoff between equity and excellence.
In fall 2020, students are going to return to a changed classroom. Post Covid-19, students of all ages will use digital tools for their everyday learning. As schools solve the above challenges, they will also have the opportunity to help every student use these devices and Internet access to learn STEM skills that have been out of reach for most students. This opportunity can be squandered if the tools that school districts choose compromise excellence. True equity in STEM learning can only be delivered if districts refuse to compromise on the quality of tools they make available to all students. It leads to the question, however: how can schools evaluate the quality of tools they choose for STEM learning?
In the world of blended and distance learning, student engagement is a key metric to judge the quality of the tools. Tools that put students in the center of learning, are age-appropriate, are easy to get started with, and are designed for an extended learning curve will continue to engage students when learning from home or from school. Coding on a screen can be isolating, and we must look for tools that are collaborative in nature, thought provoking, and have a seamless integration with hands-on learning in the classroom — such as programming robots. The tools must come with standards-aligned learning content that teachers can use effectively and easily. This is the bar on excellence we must not compromise if we are to deliver on the goals for equity.
At Wonder Workshop, we believe that excellence and equity in STEM are intertwined, and we must deliver on student engagement, depth of learning, and the ease of use for teachers if we are to deliver on the goals of equity. We found this year during the Covid-19 lockdown that students participating in the global Wonder League Robotics Competition were able to continue to engage and collaborate with their team members remotely from home using Dash’s Neighborhood, a virtual robot programming environment. Such tools provide a bridge between accessibility and learning even outside the classroom walls. This is a blueprint for school districts to affordably implement 1–1 access to the best coding and robotics tools for all students.
In the 21st century, bridging the equity gap will require us to hold firm on the bar for excellence. The good news, for a change, is that we can deliver on both.
