EPFL’s Center for Learning Sciences (LEARN) has published a trilogy of picture books to help parents and educators talk to young children about the struggles of life under the lockdown – from the dangers of fake news to limiting screen time and keeping in touch with loved ones. The stories, written by a consulting company specialized in education in collaboration with a psychiatrist, are free to download and available in English, French and German.
EPFL’s Center for Learning Sciences (LEARN) was set up in 2018 to research and promote the use of digital technologies in education. The center is currently running a pilot project that looks at how teacher training programs in Vaud Canton prepare educators to teach computing and digital citizenship and to use technology in the classroom. As part of this initiative, the center has teamed up with the company Edit Change Management to design a series of fiction books to help teachers discuss the potential and challenges of the digital world with their pupils.
“We had planned to publish the books in September 2020,” says Prof. Francesco Mondada, academic director of the LEARN Center at EPFL. “But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and life went into lockdown, we realized that there was growing demand for age-appropriate stories to help parents and educators talks about issues such as isolation and social distancing with elementary-school children.” The trilogy of picture books, written by author Allison Ochs from Edit Change Management and her team specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic, was ready for publication in few weeks.
Source: “E-books to help families with children living under the lockdown”, Nathalie Jollien, EPFL
