Making Science Social

Kane Chapman, science teacher at Peacehaven Community School in East Sussex, has found social media channels are boosting students’ interest and understanding of his subject. He began by using Twitter to showcase exemplary pieces of his students’ work and is now pioneering Snapchat, the mobile image and messaging app, as a revision tool. e-Learning Update issue 63/64

How did you get started?

Young people consume huge amounts of information on social media, constantly scrolling from one thing to the next. I thought that if I could scatter some bite-sized nuggets of science into their streams then it might help to get some important messages through to them.

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      string(5687) "e-learning UPDATE www.teachingtimes.comMAKING SCIENCE SOCIALHow one teacher is using social media to get students excited about science…Kane Chapman, science teacher at Peacehaven Community School in East Sussex, has found social mediachannels are boosting students’ interest and understanding of his subject. He began by using Twitter toshowcase exemplary pieces of his students’ work and is now pioneering Snapchat, the mobile image andmessaging app, as a revision tool.How did you get started?Young people consume huge amounts of information on social media, constantly scrolling from one thing to thenext. I thought that if I could scatter some bite-sized nuggets of science into their streams then it might help toget some important messages through to them.Helping teachers with today’stechnologyAn ICT Update Publicationwww.teachingtimes.come-learningUPDATEJanuary 2018Initially I used Twitter, posting images of diagrams that I’d displayed on the whiteboard. I then began sharingexamples of students’ work, partly to praise the student but also to showcase how well our young people weredoing to the wider community. This approach went down very well and our following has been growing eversince. We are attracting other schools and organisations, which is helping to build our reputation for science andtechnology.http://www.teachingtimes.comhttp://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’sFEATURESe-learning UPDATE www.teachingtimes.comWhy did you choose to trial Snapchat?I’m always looking for better ways to engage the students so I simply asked them what channels they used andwhich ones they thought would work best for science posts. Snapchat was the most popular suggestion so Idecided to run a pilot scheme to push revision resources for Key Stage 4. We launched it in October 2017 and sofar it has been proving very popular. It’s very easy to evaluate the engagement as I’m able to see who’s followingus, who’s looked at the post and who has screenshot the content to use later on. We’re currently gettingbetween 40-80 views per post and around 15%-25% of users will take a screenshot.What makes good content for posts?The key is to have something with instant appeal, otherwise they will just scroll on past. Whizz-bang demosare very popular and anything with a bit of drama. I try and find ways to illustrate complex ideas, so images ofequations and diagrams of processes work well. Video tutorials are popular – I film myself working through aprocess or problem which I speed up so it’s condensed into a 20 second film. Students seem to respond betterto a teacher they know rather than a random person – even if it is because they just want to see to what MrChapman is getting up to now!I also post work that our students are doing – it celebrates success and creates a real sense of excitement toshare a practical that has been carried out in one lesson with everyone else.What improvements in student engagement and performance have you seen?Students are definitely more engaged with science. I’m often stopped in the corridor by someone who isstruggling with a particular topic or idea and asked if I’ll put a post up about it. The students also like seeingtheir own work so I think they try harder so that I’ll choose theirs to showcase.In terms of performance, Year 11 students have just sat their first round of mock GCSE exams – I heavily pushedrevision content on Snapchat and got lots of positive feedback about how it helped them consolidate a topic.We will have to wait for the full results before we can say it had an impact but the initial impression is that thecalculation element is much stronger than in previous years.How can you ensure your students are safe when using social media?Our school has a very robust digital policy and teaching students about safety online is part of our curriculum.Our social media scheme has provided another opportunity to talk about safety so the science department haslaunched a digital awareness campaign about how to use social media and technology responsibly.Snapchat has an age restriction of 13 so anyone younger can only open an account by lying about their age.If we do find under-age users then we report them to the head of year who will make the parents aware. Ifyounger users want to see our posts they can find them on Twitter, which can be searched without an accountlike a news feed. We only follow schools and relevant professional organisations so there is no inappropriatematerial for us or our students to see. When posting we never use student names or show their faces and wemake sure all location settings are turned off. We make sure that we don’t post content late at night or duringlesson time and never contact or converse with students through social media channels. If students start aconversation on social media we point them to email or good old fashioned face-to-face.http://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’sFEATURESe-learning UPDATE www.teachingtimes.comHow much of much of your time does it take up?Most of my posts are content that I produce for lessons anyway so I just have to remember to take a device withme to class so I can capture work. The tutorial videos take up more time, but I really enjoy doing them and thebenefits definitely outweigh the extra work. I’m hoping to launch a YouTube channel soon, so watch this space!“The key is to have something with instant appeal, otherwise they will just scroll onpast. Whizz-bang demos are very popular and anything with a bit of drama. ”"
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Making Science Social: How one teacher is using social media to get students excited about science...

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(2017) Measuring impact and the scale-up of educational innovations: a working paper (London, UCL IOE).■ Brown, C., Daly, A. and Liou, Y-H. (2016) Improving Trust, Improving Schools: Findings from a Social Network Analysis of 43 Primary Schools in England, Journal of Professional Capital & Community, 1, 1, pp. 69-91.■ Carley, K. and Krackhardt, D. (1999), Cognitive inconsistencies and non-symmetric friendship, Social Networks, 18, 1, pp. 1-27.■ Day, C. and Sammons, P. (2013) Successful leadership: a review of the international literature (Reading, CfBT Education Trust).■ Earl, L. and Katz, S. (2006) How Networked Learning Communities Work, Centre for Strategic Education Seminar Series Paper 155.■ Earl, L. and Timperley, H (2008) Understanding how evidence and learning conversations work, in: Earl, L. and Timperley, H. (Eds) Professional Learning Conversations: Challenges in Using Evidence for Improvement, (Springer).■ Earl, L. and H. Timperley (2015) Evaluative thinking for successful educational innovation, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 122, (OECD Publishing, Paris).■ Earley, P. (2013) Exploring the school leadership landscape: changing demands, changing realities, (London, Bloomsbury).■ Earley, P. and Porritt, V. (2013) Evaluating the impact of professional development: the need for a student-focused approach, Professional Development in Education, DOI: 10.1080/19415257.2013.798741■ Fielding, M., Bragg, S., Craig, J., Cunningham, I., Eraut, M., Gillinson, S., Horne, M., Robinson, C. and Thorp, J. (2005) Factors influencing the transfer of good practice, available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/RR615.pdf.pdf, accessed on 21 May, 2016.■ Flórez, M. T. and P. Sammons (2013) Assessment for learning: effects and impact (London, CfBT).■ Flyvbjerg, B. 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      string(5113) "mean for evidenceinformed practiceWhilst there are strong arguments in favour of evidence-informed practice (e.g. see Brown, 2011; 2013)consideration now needs to be given to how such practiceis determined. What has also become abundantly apparentfrom my experience of working with schools in order tohelp them to identify and scale-up best practice is that anykind of school improvement initiative will only ever besuccessfully implemented when:there is a clear focus on tackling the issue inquestion;there is clarity and confidence as to the approachthat will be applied; andthat this approach is administered consistently andunstintingly.This must also be true practitioners’ use of research. If thecentrally prescribed course of action to be taken is not clearand a school’s staff, from the senior leaders downwards, cannotsee the connection between the ideal of the research and theirreality, then initiatives based on such studies are likely to beeither ignored or implemented only half-heartedly. So, if weare to ensure practitioners use evidence that can help them dealwith the day to day practical issues they face in their setting,localised research production must also exist as a cultural norm.In order to achieve this it must become standard practice thatall are expected to reach. This means we must move beyondvolunteerism and towards compulsion. It must be expectedof teachers (by the Teaching Agency, schools, parents andpupils) that they employ research methods to improve theirpractice and it must be the expectation of teachers that theyare supported to do so.Dr. Chris Brown is a John Adams ResearchFellow at the Institute of Education, Universityof London. Currently working within theLondon Centre for Leadership in Learning,Chris leads various projects which seek tohelp practitioners identify and scale up bestpractice.■■■http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkithttp://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_280http://www.rcgp.org.uk/gp-training-and-exams/gp-curriculum-overview/~/media/Files/GP-training-and-exams/Curriculum previous versions as at July 2012/curr_archive_3_6_Research_v1_0_feb06.ashxhttp://www.rcgp.org.uk/gp-training-and-exams/gp-curriculum-overview/~/media/Files/GP-training-and-exams/Curriculum previous versions as at July 2012/curr_archive_3_6_Research_v1_0_feb06.ashxhttp://www.rcgp.org.uk/gp-training-and-exams/gp-curriculum-overview/~/media/Files/GP-training-and-exams/Curriculum previous versions as at July 2012/curr_archive_3_6_Research_v1_0_feb06.ashxhttp://www.education.gov.uk/nationalcollege/index/support-for-schools/teachingschools/teachingschools-programme-details.htmhttp://www.education.gov.uk/nationalcollege/index/support-for-schools/teachingschools/teachingschools-programme-details.htmPolicy andpractice31……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………!Thinking Together??In today’s full curriculum, there is only so much time teachers can devote to the teaching of language and reasoning skills. Thinking Together has been specifically designed to develop these skills across the KS2 curriculum. The book is presented as a series of structured lesson plans to help teachers initiate and build upon a programme that can be adapted for use in every subject area. This is an excellent guide for teachers who may never have taught thinking skills before.All of the ideas and materials have been successfully trialled in UK schools, and standardshave been raised as a result. Ideal for introducing at the start of term, the book suggestsways of creating an ethos of co-operation within the classroom.An invaluable resource for developing thinking skills at KS2A programme of lessons and activities for developing KS2children’s communication and critical thinking skillsBy Lyn Dawes, Neil Mercer and Rupert WegerifAs seen andacclaimed onTeachers TV –Primary CPDResources.Price£22.95Order Hotline: 0121 224 7599or visit www.thinkingonlinecatalogue.co.ukReferences: Cartwright, N. (2013) Knowing what we are talking about: why evidence doesn’t always travel, Evidence & Policy, 9, 1, pp. 97-112 ■ Department for Education (2012) Teachers’ Standards, (London, DfE). ■ Flyvbjerg (2001) Making Social Science Matter (Cambridge,Cambridge University Press). ■ Hargreaves, D. (1996) The Teaching Training Agency Annual Lecture 1996: Teaching as a research basedprofession: possibilities and prospects, available at: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Portals/0/PDF%20reviews%20and%20summaries/TTA%20Hargreaves%20lecture.pdf, accessed on 14 January 2013. ■ — (2010) Creating a self-improving school system, (Nottingham, NationalCollege for School Leadership). ■ — (2012) A self-improving school system: towards maturity, (Nottingham, National College"
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Professional Development

Growing your own evidence!

1 Aug 2013