SARASOTA (WSNN) – Learning about COVID-19 gets easier with something called COVIDducation, an educational program developed by students for students.
Most tales have a knight fighting dragons and evil kings. This tale has Arthur the Knight fighting COVID-19.
“They go through these individual little lessons where Arthur tells them all about COVID-19 and all different sorts of safety-related issues to that,” Pine View High Schoool graduate going to Caltech University, Michael Gutierrez, said.
About a dozen student volunteers with the Student Community Innovation Program (SCIP) at the Suncoast Science Center / Faulhaber Fab Lab created a website about COVID-19. All in an effort to explain the virus to young kids as they go back to school.
Marketing director, Jenn Sams, says it’s designed for Sarasota County students of all ages.
“It’s been rolled out to the teachers through their district safety training. It’s been shared with the elementary school principals,” Sams said. “It will obviously go more public when school starts.
Assistant superintendent, Dr. Laura Kingsley, said in an email statement: “We are so grateful for the desire of these young people to be helpful during this pandemic. I believe this web-app will be the go-to, engaging resource for our families and teachers to use with younger children.”
The website has a lesson plan of three chapters teaching children about the coronavirus, its symptoms, and how to stay safe at school.
Pine View High School Senior, Naina Chauhan, worked on researching all of the content with a team of other students.
“They used different scientific sources, CDC and everything. And they translated that into a kid-friendly storyline with interesting pictures that kids could read with a few lines per page,” Chauhan said.
Team leader and Brown University graduate, Mimi Faulhaber, says she hopes this can have a real impact on students and teach kids about important COVID subjects.
“I feel like important things about COVID that they don’t necessarily get taught, like, ‘why is this happening? Or is this scary? Or is this important?’ Faulhaber said. “And give them a better understanding of the situation around them so that they can be safer at school at home, anywhere basically.”
Teaching kids about a big bad germ that won’t go away can seem overwhelming for parents.
“It was very tough to talk about coronavirus and kind try to keep things on the lighter side,” mom of four children, Kara Noreika, said.
Noreika says it’s a nice way to teach her kids about a serious topic.
”It’s a way for them to kind of go through and understand on a much nicer level what’s really happening and feel not so overwhelmed and intimidated by the rules, and the hand-washing, and the masks,” Noreika said.
You can access the website at coviducation.net.
There are two sections: FAQs for parents and the lessons for kids. You can create a free account on the site. And, the student developers are welcoming feedback.
