The new classmate: An exploration of how CoVid-19 affected primary schools activities in Italy

Among all the others, one of the groups of persons most affected by the restrictions applied to contrast Corona-Virus spread is surely represented by children. In particular, closing school has been an action applied by several countries (195 at the beginning of April 2020), involving 1,600,000,000 students all over the world. In Italy, distance learning activities have been adopted all over the country, at each educational stage, but with substantial differences (i.e., in terms of modalities and digital platforms). With the aim of investigating the most adopted technologies, didactic methodologies, as well as the impact on schools population, we have involved families of more than 1,000 Italian students, asking them to fill a survey. This paper presents the analysis of the results we have obtained, focusing on a delicate group of students: the ones attending primary schools, where kids learn fundamental knowledge and basic skills.