Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The COVID-19 pandemic forced an unprecedented global shutdown that closed schools for months. In many nations, schools were closed to students, and teachers directed educational activities remotely via digital devices or homeschooling resources. This article explores how these months of homeschooling have affected the physical activity of Norwegian students in Grades 1–10. All Norwegian students are supposed to have at least 60 min of physical activity every day in school. We draw on data from two surveys, one with parents (N = 4,624) and the other with teachers (N = 726), to provide an indication of the daily physical activity students engaged in during the period of homeschooling.

In 2020, Norwegian society was in lockdown for seven weeks due to the rapid spread of the corona virus. During this period, young people (YP) aged 13–20 years participated in a survey investigating risk perception and experiences related to COVID-19. Participants (n ¼ 244) were recruited from a popular website for youths in Norway. YP’s experience of risk was related to their concern about spreading the virus to close loved ones. They worried about their future with regards to education and social life. They called for more information directed at young people. Being informed and trusting the information received, decreased anxiety.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been experienced differently in and within individual countries and thus has had a different impact on the individual researchers in the child–computer interaction studies. There were several challenges that our research group experienced during the pandemic period, with a rapid transition to digital working conditions and a society managing altered living conditions. The changes happened on all levels of the society, and they affected our key participants — children, teachers, designers of children’s digital books and publishers. In this Viewpoint article the lessons learnt from the changes in our study designs and data collection processes due to lockdown and other restrictions related to the pandemic have been highlighted.

The COVID‐19 pandemic has resulted in negative consequences for children exposed to violence and abuse. Domestic violence refuge staff were greatly concerned about children both living outside and inside refuges. Domestic violence refuges have played a pivotal role during the COVID‐19 pandemic and should receive wider acknowledgement and greater support for their work.