Countering the Coronavirus Slide: Ken Pugh comments in WKNY 40 feature
Dr. Kenneth Pugh was interviewed on WKNY 40 -TV, discussing research that investigates the efficacy of game-based reading software in offsetting “coronavirus slide” in younger students’ reading skills.
The phenomenon, named after the well-documented “summer slide” refers to a loss of academic skills among students as a result of time away from school. With lengthy school closures due to coronavirus, it is an area of significant concern for parents, educators and communities. According to Dr. Pugh, “The expectation is really for a potentially devastating impact on kids.”
With funding from the National Science Foundation, Kenneth Pugh, co-investigator Dr. Fumiko Hoeft and other Haskins researchers, have designed a study to ask: whether research-based, remote-learning tools can strengthen reading-related skills in the youngest learners; which aspects of learning to read are amenable to remote technology; and whether game-based digital tools can overcome the decline in reading skills over lengthy school closures.
The researchers are distributing a game-based reading skills app – GraphoGame – free of charge to American parents, for the duration of 2020. Parents of students in Grades K, 1 and 2 are invited and encouraged to sign up for the research study, where data about each student’s play pattern and usage is relayed to researchers, and researchers provide feedback about each student’s progress.