Snow Day! Learning From Free Play

"After all is said and done, we can raise two cheers for the technology that enabled parents, educators, and even some students to avoid entirely losing instructional advantage during the long pandemic interval. The interactive videoconferencing, the ability to deliver content digitally, and the innovations in managing assignments proved close to miraculous in enabling the virtual classrooms that helped relieve the isolation that pandemic lockdowns imposed on kids. And then, for most, what alternative was there?"

"Imagine a sliding scale between pandemic-era compulsory e-learning and the voluntary, enriching play that kids get up to during a snow day, and you will see a range between duty and exuberance. Snow days begin with a buzz as weather reports gather and school administrations decide whether to cancel classes. Better forecast models now allow closure announcements a day in advance. And in that stretch, kids will listen for the wind and look out the window for the first flakes to appear."

Interactive videoconferencing, digital content delivery, and new assignment management tools preserved instructional continuity during the pandemic and relieved isolation for many children. Some learners thrived with independent, self-paced study and some families benefited from flexible schedules and novel collaborative methods. Many experienced significant downsides, including technical failures, distracting home environments, prolonged sedentary routines, emergent "screen fatigue," and general physical torpor from extended virtual learning. Snow days represent an opposite point on a spectrum: voluntary, exuberant play rather than compulsory e-learning. Improved forecasts allow early closures, generating anticipatory excitement as children listen for wind, watch for flakes, mentally prepare, and begin play before it begins.

Read at Psychology Today