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5 min read

COVID-19 Lockdown Explored: Creating Meaningful Change Through Education

Published on
January 1, 2023
learning

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Summary: The COVID-19 lockdown posed challenges for city kids, but it also led to opportunities for exploring education in new ways. One student in downtown Toronto took the chance to observe the changes in the environment during lockdown and created the Masked Scales project to measure sound levels, pollution levels, traffic, and economic activities. The project not only received recognition as a NASA SpaceApps COVID-19 Challenge Global Winner, but it also led to an invitation from NASA to visit a spacecraft launch in February 2023.

Takeaways:

🌱 The COVID-19 lockdown allowed for the resurgence of nature in city environments.

🧪 Embrace curiosity and passion for learning by undertaking projects and experiments.

🏙️ Utilize available resources, even items at home, to create innovative solutions.

📈 Use data and visualization tools to present findings and engage with the community.

🚀 Recognize and celebrate achievements, as they can lead to exciting opportunities in the future.

COVID-19 Lockdown: A City Kid's Journey

Introduction

COVID-19 lockdown was a difficult time for city kids living in small apartments. It confined them to small spaces and kept them away from school, after-school activities, and their friends.

Embracing Change

While COVID-19 closed my school doors, it opened up newer windows of education based on curiosity and passion. Even though I was waking up later, I could still hear the birds chirping in downtown Toronto in the morning. This usually never happened before. I was intrigued as it meant that slowing down in human activities gave space for nature to come back.

A Curious Mind at Work

I like to learn by building new things, setting up experiments, doing fieldwork, and then demonstrating results to others. I could not resist the call of the birds. It gave me the idea to create a project to measure how the environment around us is changing because of the COVID-19 lockdown. This was the origin of the Masked Scales project.

The Masked Scales Project

Using old stuff found at home and with sensors, I assembled an instrument to measure changes in sound levels, pollution levels, and traffic in the neighborhood of my house. I combined it with NASA satellite data to measure changes in the night-light levels to quantify the slowdown in economic activities in downtown Toronto during the COVID-19 lockdown. I presented the data using the usual charts and figures. However, to reach out to other youths and my community, I ended up sonifying the data to create a musical on the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Recognition and Triumph

This project became a NASA SpaceApps COVID-19 Challenge Global Winner, beating 1,600 teams and more than 20,000 participants. I have been invited by NASA to visit a spacecraft launch in February 2023.

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https://healthydebate.ca/2023/01/topic/the-masked-scales-a-nasa-winner/