Scientists Who Selfie in the Classroom!
Ryan Becker is incorporating Scientists Who Selfie in the classroom, to change students' perceptions of scientists.
“I’m fairly active on Twitter, following other scientists and teachers,” Ryan said. “I also often use Twitter in the classroom. I found out about the Scientists Who Selfie project through the hashtag (#ScientistsWhoSelfie). It seemed like it might be a means by which students could encounter scientists in real-time, and in different ways than they might have encountered or thought about scientists before.”
Ryan teaches 8th grade physical and earth sciences. He had already thought about starting off the year by exploring his students’ perceptions of scientists, so the #ScientistsWhoSelfie hashtag stood out to him as a way to have his students "meet" real scientists and perhaps change their perceptions as a result. Ryan’s overall goal is to have students internalize the idea that science is something that is done, not just memorized.
“I try to point out to my students the multidimensionality of that idea, and we explore who does science, how, where, when and for what purposes. These are huge questions; you don’t just cover them in a single unit and move on. I try to have this be a theme that I visit in different ways throughout the year, and Scientists Who Selfie seemed to be a meaningful and new way to tie together these ideas for my students.”
Ryan has his students create Twitter accounts so that they can follow scientists throughout the year. He has also explored other ways that students can encounter scientists, including the Skype-a-Scientist program. But he also enjoys showing that social media can be successfully used as a tool to promote learning and engagement between young students and scientists.
Ryan got his PhD from the University of Vermont, where as a part of his dissertation he studied students’ experiences through #SciStuChat interacting with scientists. “One of the main outcomes was students’ change in perceptions of scientists," Ryan said. "Scientists seemed more like people to them [after participating in the chats.]”
This year, Ryan had his students follow scientists through the #ScientistsWhoSelfie hashtag. In one activity, he had his students start by drawing scientists, or what they thought a scientist would look like. Students then browsed the hashtag #ScientistsWhoSelfie on Twitter, and wrote reflections comparing and contrasting the scientist selfies they saw to their drawings.
“I feel like there are narrow conceptions of who scientists are, among students,” Becker said. “I was familiar with the Draw-a-Scientist test, and I was intrigued by the persistent nature of the stereotypes that emerge from that. It seemed like a manageable but engaging activity to have my students do. I often notice that my students’ conceptions of scientists and what science is, and the possibilities within science, are really narrow. As a science teacher, I want to counter those conceptions.”
The outcomes of the activity were encouraging and exciting for us here on the Scientists Who Selfie research team. When Ryan had his students draw scientists, their drawings mostly reflected stereotypical images of scientists – white males in lab coats, often at a table or lab bench with glassware, indoors. But when Ryan’s students browsed the #ScientistsWhoSelfie hashtag on their Chromebooks in class, they commented on the greater diversity of gender and scientific environments (e.g. outdoor fieldwork) represented in scientists’ selfies as opposed to their own and their classmates’ drawings. “They dress like normal people,” was a common student reaction, Ryan said. The students also commented on how the scientists in #ScientistsWhoSelfie tweets often took pictures of themselves with other people, whereas classroom drawings often focused on lone scientists.
Check out some of the examples of 8th grade students' reflections on #ScientistsWhoSelfie below!
Student #1: "There are many differences between what our class portrayed as a scientist and what the scientists were actually doing when they tweeted pictures of themselves using these two hashtags- #ScientistsWhoSelfie and #ScientistsInHabitat. Many of our classmates drew white men in lab coats, using measuring tools, in a laboratory including myself. Many tweets were nothing like that. Most weren't in a lab. Most weren't wearing white lab coats. Half of them were woman. There were multiple different races of people doing science. Science can be done by anyone, anywhere."
Student #4: "I noticed that the scientists that our class drew were mostly in a lab with chemicals around them. In the [#scientistswhoselfie] tweet, the scientist wasn't in a lab with chemicals. The scientist was doing something interesting and different. [...] This tweet caught my eye because it was unlike what I usually think of science. I've never seen this type of science before. I think that neuroscience is a very interesting topic, but I didn't really know how people studied the brain. In this picture the girl that is sitting in the chair has electrodes placed on her head that will read the messages in her brain. [...] Although some scientists do wear lab coats and have learned big equations, I know that is not what science is all about. Science is a lot more than that. Science is people studying brains, science is people studying things outside, science is in space and in the ocean, science is more than just a person in a lab coat."
Student #7: "The tweets and the drawings couldn't have been more different. They were like night and day. First of all, the drawings from class showed very few scientists working outside, whereas the tweets had pictures of scientists in all kinds of environments. Secondly, the drawings were of both genders, which is good, but only one ethnicity and race. Not a single one of our drawings were of a scientist who wasn't white. The tweets show scientists of all races, all genders, and all ethnicities. I think the hashtags are very important to look at because they show that the 'white male in a lab coat" stereotype couldn't be farther from the truth.'"
Student #8: "I thought my classes' drawings were accurate from like lab coats to potion bottles and goggles. When I looked at the Twitter hashtags, I thought to myself, 'This is nothing I pictured!' I was just so amazed by how it was. There were different things."
Student #10: "When we reviewed all of the drawings in the class, the vast majority of the pictures included a white male, in a lab coat, inside, with a table and beakers containing differently colored liquids. We came to the conclusion that this is a stereotype of what a scientist does daily. However, our perception was quickly changed when we looked at the #ScientistsWhoSelfie and #ScientistsInHabitat tweets. Many of these tweets include people who are not white, male, inside with a lab coat, or holding differently colored liquids. For example, my picture shows a woman outside (in Rwanda) with a t-shirt, vest, glasses, and head lamp, who is setting up nets to catch bats. Many of the other tweets include people who are a different ethnicity, in places other than a lab, working with tools other than glassware, and wearing something other than a stark white lab coat. The people in the tweets are setting up nets to catch bats, working on bluebird reintroduction projects, studying folded sediments in Carboniferous rock, and many other interesting ventures/experiments. Overall, the tweets broadened my understanding of what a modern scientist does. "
Want to incorporate social media into your science classroom? Here are Ryan's top tips for doing so!
by Ryan Becker
Identify for yourself and your students the essential objectives for using social media as part of the classroom experience. Once identified, clearly communicate these objectives to all stakeholders (students, parents, administrators, etc.). I believe that the use of social media should be optional for all students and that securing parental permission is a must for those under 18.
Reflect carefully on the parameters/boundaries that need to be established and upheld related to the use of social media as a pedagogical tool. Again, communicate these boundaries to all stakeholders and, especially, revisit them regularly with students. Once established, be sure you can follow through on whatever consequence(s) for misuse you've identified.
Understand how to use the particular form of social media you plan to use with students. Sometimes it is appropriate to learn the basics of an app or program along with students. I would not recommend this approach when using social media. The inherent public, connected nature of social media presents enough variables as it is (with many being positive). It is important to be able to predict, anticipate and respond to students' use of social media in a timely and knowledgeable manner. This can only happen when you are comfortable with the platform and able to model and monitor its use.
Solicit student perspectives and feedback. Students can offer valuable insight prior to, during and after using social media in the classroom. This can include having a small group of students pilot aspects of using social media prior to using it with all students, actively gathering feedback during use, and surveying students after you've finished.
Go for it!
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