The Hub and social media: How can we help?
Science is dynamic, collaborative and constantly evolving – what was a promising hypothesis last month may no longer be relevant this month. Here at the Science Learning Hub, we recognise the need to be responsive to changes in science and current events. We actively engage educators, scientists and other STEM practitioners to utilise and contribute to our resources. We’re also about building authentic relationships between the science and education communities and supporting those communities with real-time interactions. Social media is an important tool for us to connect with communities and disseminate science and education information.
Are you on Facebook?
We are very active on Facebook. Follow us for events, Professional Learning Development (PLD), support and more.
The channels we are presently active on are Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.
Connecting the community with science experts
So what’s special about our social media use? We get to work in the space between learners, educators and experts in both science and education communities. For example, a class found an unusual frog and tweeted us: “What’s this frog we found in the Waitakeres?”. Within 24 hours our networks had not only identified the frog but noted that it was in poor shape and should not be out and about at this time of year.
Pinterest boards
The Hub has many boards on Pinterest – these are collected under many themes and concepts. What resources would you like us to collate for you?
Importantly, these interactions become the starting point for a relationship between the Hub and our communities.
Some time back, we were Facebooked by Wilbur’s mum. Young Wilbur and his classmates at a small inland rural school were perplexed by a shell fossil he’d found on a hill. What was this fossil about and why was a shell on a hill nowhere near an ocean? Within a day we’d got Wilbur some answers to his burning questions, including an extensive email from a GNS/Victoria University palaeontologist. Going a step further, we curated some fossil resources for Wilbur and his school – a similar curation can be viewed on our Pinterest fossils board. And 2 years later, we reconnected by alerting Wilbur’s mum to a family fossil event in their area.
This is what we do. We connect people – schools, kids, teachers, scientists, those looking for answers, those seeking experts to visit or video conference with and teachers and students looking for ideas. We look for ways to deepen the connections – curating content, posting information, providing professional learning development (PLD) and STEM-based events and experiences.
In return, our social media facilitates ongoing active engagement with scientists we’ve featured on our site and organisations we work with – CRIs, universities, museums, research labs, schools and individual educators. It also allows us to share some of the excellent third-party resources and ideas that you all have.
Third-party resources
There is so much excellent stuff out there, and educators need resources, but we know they don’t have a lot of time to be trawling through materials to create a class plan or lesson. Being active on social media means we’re up to date with the new resources (and old goodies) coming through. We assess and add these to our curated content on Pinterest or to collections using our website's collections tool, or we add it to the ‘Useful links’ box that you’ll find at the end of many of our resources.
If you’ve found a resource valuable or have created an activity that went off in class, let us know. Being able to repost and curate educator/expert trialled and tested materials is a win for all of us working in STEM education.
Resource curation with our collections tool and Pinterest
Our collections tool and Pinterest allow us to curate collections of resources grouped by concepts and themes – seasonal studies for each term, science happening in particular regions, grouping by science concept, curriculum thread or weird science that will hook the kids in.
This allows us to be dynamic and responsive. We do curations of resources to support Conservation Week, Seaweek, Primary Science Week, our upcoming PLD webinars or if we see something trending in the news, for example as weather events, scientific breakthroughs, the Great Southern Bioblitz or Rocket Lab. These curations are added as links to event listings and resources on our site so you can easily find them.
Curation of media articles
The Science Learning Hub uses social media platforms like Pinterest to curate content specific to the needs of educators. Here, we set up a board to collect media articles around the Rocket Lab Electron rocket test in 2017 for a class at Napier Central School.
The Hub's Collections tool
The collections tool on our website enables us and you to curate and share content. The tool is also freely available for those of you who have registered so you can curate your own content, add notes, collaborate and share with others. The helpful Creating collections article includes a handy how-to video.
Take a look at this collection one of our team members put together Physics – force and motion or see these examples below:
Opportunities for using te reo Māori – science is a wonderful context for promoting and using te reo Māori. The resources in this collection are ordered by pedagogy and planning, introducing concepts and specific topics with supporting articles and activities.
The periodic table of elements – this collection curates content related to the periodic table of elements. Use this as a starting point to develop your own collection about this topic.
Climate change – the resources in this collection help to unpack the science of climate change and associated socio-scientific issues.
Flight and the science capabilities for NZC levels 1–3 – this collection matches resources with specific capabilities. Notes provide information about key science ideas, pedagogical advice, probing questions and more.
We have many more collections – and when we publish new content, we ensure we add it to the relevant collection(s). A full list is in our Creating collections article here.
Curation with the Hub collections tool
The Hub has a useful and easy to use collections tool that allows you to save resources, add notes and order the resources. There is a public/private setting that then allows you to collaborate and share the collection with others should you so wish.
The Hub has a selection of public collections using this tool, and we’re happy to collate resources for you! This is from our Autumn science collection.
Need a set of resources on Pinterest or via our collections tool? Just direct message us through any of our social media platforms or email – we’d love to help! See the various ways of contacting us here.
What exactly can our social media do for you?
If you want to reach an audience, source class materials, meet a STEM expert, connect with a particular group of experts or educators or promote a project or an event, we have the infrastructure – a digital platform/website and active social media channels to do this for you. Most importantly, we have dedicated time set aside to do this work.
Are you looking for experts or scientists to seek advice from or to organise a video conference session or school visit? We have broad networks, and they really do want to help. To date, we have always been able to find a connection when asked – thanks in the most part to the remarkable generosity of the New Zealand STEM community.
The Science Learning Hub prides itself on connecting the education and science communities and social media plays an import part in this. Learn more about the different platforms and what we offer here – we really are here to help.
Science Learning Hub social media links
Come and join us on one of our social media channels. We’re active on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
Acknowledgement
This article is based on one originally written and published on New Zealand Science Teacher website here.
New Zealand Science Teacher is published on behalf of the New Zealand Association of Science Educators (NZASE) as their primary voice to bring educators of science together with the latest scientific ideas and pedagogy.
