Studying and Learning during Crisis Situations

Abstract

Catastrophes (floods, earthquakes, industrial accidents) require exceptional logistic, health, psychological, educational and social intervention in the areas they occur. In this paper, we present the results of a study carried out on University students in post-emergency conditions in the city of L'Aquila, Italy, two years after the devastating 2009 earthquake, in order to individuate the consequences that this catastrophic event had on student motivation and academic performance. This paper aims at outlining aspects of learning and studying in critical situations and defining a teaching intervention model to be adopted under such conditions. Studying is a complex activity involving an intentional application of the mind to the acquisition and memorising of knowledge and information needed to carry out a task or test. It may be associated with the perception of a threat to one's self- esteem, safety and way of life. Repeated failure can lead to conditions of learned helplessness in students, while success and progress in a scholastic setting can stimulate students' confidence in their abilities and develop a sense of empowerment allowing them to acquire coping strategies that can help to limit the debilitating effects of stress(1; 2; 3). Learning during emergency and post-emergency situations is conditioned by stress and trauma. Subjects being taught are facing high levels of stress and in 7-14% of cases suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If these conditions are not taken into consideration within the teaching strategies adopted, various types of learning disorders may arise(4; 5; 6; 7; 8). This theory has been verified in various studies conducted on students who experienced the 2009 earthquake in the city of L'Aquila, Italy(9). The results obtained are presented in this article, however, as we shall see, they cannot be generalised. It is, in any case, important to ask: how can teaching and education allow individuals and groups to regain hope for the future after having gone through a catastrophic event? Can learning represent a means of re-elaborating individual and collective trauma? How can we develop teaching strategies able to enhance the learning process under