What if... punctuated equilibrium?

What if COVID-19 has presented us with a moment of “punctuated equilibrium”?

If so, evolution teaches us that in this moment of massive change, natural selection will work rapidly. In such a context, there is a significant increase in the value of experimenting with [1]:

  • “innovative behavioral strategies” (eg, mastery-based assessments, team teaching, etc.).

  • “new associations between various organisms” (eg, partnering with an educational organization that provides things you don’t, like Global Online Academy, OneSchoolhouse, Expeditionaries, et al.).

  • “novel phenotypes” (eg, outdoor classrooms, extended school years, etc.)

There is a lot of loose energy in the system right now.

Are you trying to rein it in to protect the status quo?

Or are you riding it toward adaptation?

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[1] These adaptive strategies are quoted from “Catastrophes and Calms,” by Renée A Duckworth, associate professor at the University of Arizona and associate editor at The American Naturalist. 

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Christian Talbot