The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Modes of Teaching Science in UAE Schools

Abstract

The pandemic of COVID-19 has affected most of the education systems around the world and changed the way schools conduct their daily activities. As a result, the learning activities changed to an online mode of delivery. This study explores the impact of Corona-virus pandemic on modes of teaching science in UAE schools. The qualitative method was conducted with a sample size of 62 science teachers. Questionnaires were deployed through an online platform.The study found that COVID-19 pandemic requires a different type of practice and competencies in teaching science in order to optimize the use of available resources and learning technologies. It also came up with a list of digital tools and applications that might help support teaching science, for instance: LMS “Smart Learning Gate”, Microsoft Teams, PhET Interactive Simulations. The result also showed that the main challenges for science teachers during the COVID-19 was the absence of hands-on activities, conducting experiments in wet labs, fostering interaction in the online classroom, and managing students' behavior. The results of this study found that most of the science teachers preferred teaching via the traditional classroom. Following the necessity to switch to a blended classroom, they now prefer it to the traditional classroom. According to these findings, it is recommended that MoE provide science teachers with specific training on using ICT in teaching science.

Keywords: COVID-19, Online learning, Virtual classroom, Traditional classroom, Science teaching.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-20-13

Publication date:July 31st 2020