Hi there. In this short education post, I cover student fatigue near summer vacation.
Online Learning & Too Much Screen Watching
This school year is another school year that is unusual for students, teachers, educators, tutors and for parents. Much of the learning has migrated from in-person learning to online learning. All this online learning is a bit too much for students and teachers. There is so much screen watching involved. Add this to the after-school hours with possibly even more screen watching on TV, phones, tablets and computers.
No Recess, Less Time Seeing Friends
In this school year with so much online learning, there is pretty much no recess for younger students due to social distancing. Recess is one of the best ways to enjoy breaks in the school day.
Friends don't really see each other often unless they have each others contact information. The learning experience is a bit isolating as it's the student and a computer. Yes, students can see the teacher and other students in a video call but it's on screens.
Faster Courses
From a small sample size of students from my online Mathnasium work in the Toronto & surrounding area, some of them have reported a faster pace in teaching and in courses. It is mostly from Toronto's quadmester system. This quadmester system splits the school year into 4 periods where each period is called a quad. Each quad contains two subjects for a student. Quadmesters are a new thing for many students versus the traditional two-semester system for high school students and the typical learning all subjects for the whole school year in elementary schools. There are a few (private) schools that do not use quadmesters.
As each quad focus on two subjects, the teaching and pacing of the courses is much faster. For courses that require previous knowledge and skills such as English, grammar, language subjects, science, and math if you fall behind it is hard to catch up. Faster paced courses can be a bit overwhelming for younger students and for weaker students.
I have heard some cases where math exams are not held. This could be due to time constraints or maybe online cheating concerns. I had one high school math student in grade 10 not have a final exam but do a project that summarizes what he learned in grade 10 math.
About Student Fatigue
Student fatigue near summer vacation does happen regardless of lockdowns or regular in-person learning. There are students that do not like school. They feel that school feels more like torture than fun. Even bright and hard-working students can feel fatigue or burnout. Sometimes courses can be too fast, demanding or confusing. Personal life events for students can have them distracted from school which can lead to lower grades. Causes for student fatigue can vary for students.
Modern times are tough and strange at the same time. For teachers and educators, it is best to not judge but to help the students. Humans are not perfect and neither are students.
There could be cases where the student fatigue gets really bad that the student does not want to do anything even if you help them out. Unfortunately, there is nothing much you can do here. You could contact the parents about the student. It is the student's choice whether he or she wants to learn or not. Some do not realize the long-term benefits of learning and education.
