english, science and social media

Dana Crăciun

Teacher Training Departament, West University of Timișoara 4 V. Pârvan, Timișoara, Romania

Monica Oprescu

Teacher Training Departament, West University of Timișoara 4 V. Pârvan, Timișoara, Romania

Mădălin Bunoiu

Faculty of Physics, West University of Timișoara 4 V. Pârvan, Timișoara, Romania

Promoting an English and Science

Summer Programme through Social

Media

English plus Science Summer School

July 2014

voluntary students (7 students in English, 1 in

Physics);

Waldorf Secondary School and Moisil Secondary

School Timișoara pupils– mostly 6th graders;

organized in collaboration with Romanian Society of

Physics, Timișoara Branch .

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Why

English plus Science Summer School ?

For students

Experiential learning ;

A new approach;

Volunteering.

For pupils

Learning English and Natural Sciences in a pleasant

and creative way;

Opportunity to socialize .

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Why

English plus Science Summer School ?

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For organizers

Activity which promotes CLIL ;

A way to support the study of science through creative

activities;

Opportunity to experiment with Social Media in

education.

Activities

English workshops based on science topics;

Science workshops based on experiments on the topics;

Craft activities;

Day-trip in Timisoara to reproduce the planetary system at

scale 1:870.000.000;

Games.

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Theoretical approach:CLIL

Content and Language Integrated Learning

Umbrella term, used for: bilingual education, language

immersion, CBI -Content Based Instruction, EAL - English

as an additional language, LAC - language across the

curriculum, intercultural language teaching and learning in

practice etc.

6 https://www.flickr.com/photos/luigistrano/3472312255

Learning English

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Teaching language and content;

Focus on linguistic aspects;

Communication;

Creativity;

Game-like activities.

Science and games, crafts and experiments, role play or creative writing can be braided to form the scientific thinking of children and to acquire specific concepts.

Learning Science

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdontowhatyoubelieve/6228111799

A Plea for learning physics

The possible positive impact of CLIL on learning science!

Change in methodology:

Experiments performed using tools handcrafted by the

pupils;

Learning concepts through activities which are not

dedicated to teaching science - creative writing, role-

playing, games.

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Using Social Media and technology in

education

Why Social Media and technology? (A pupil’s perspective)

Pupils/students use Social Media in everyday life.

Pupils/students are familiar with:

Receiving / sending information through Social Media;

Communicating with colleagues;

Sharing their activities.

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Using Social Media and technology in

education

Why Social Media and technology? (An academic perspective)

pupils/students are open to the use of Social Media in education

(Zaideh,2012),(Dunn,2013),(Roblyer,2010).

The Social Media most commonly used by Romanian students:

Facebook, Youtube and Google+ (Iordache,2013), a tendency

revealed at an European level (Dunn,2013).

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Using Social Media and technology in

education

Benefits of using Social Media in education

atractivity, motivation, engagement;

meaningful communicative practice, collaboration;

flexibility, accessibility; (Zaideh,2012)

expanding teaching and learning out of classroom;

(Ractham,2011)

21st Century skills. (Dunn,2013)

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Using Social Media and technology to

sustain the summer school

Students opinions

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30

4

17

3

English students Physics students

Use of Social Media as Learning Environment

SM is/can be an important tool in education

SM is not an important tool in education

Using Social Media and technology to

sustain the summer school

Facts

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45

7 2 0

English students Physics students

Student Facebook account

Has an active Facebook account

Has not an active Facebook account

Using Social Media and technology to

sustain the summer school

We used Social Media and technology in our activities for

Communication

Collaboration

Popularization

Visibility

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Internet based activities

Teaching involved the use of Youtube videos, songs, experiments

– proved very interesting and motivating for pupils;

Links (examples): http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/101-videos/solar-system-sci (solar

system)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmTh0ECGPCY (watercycle experiment)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzOoTPfcUBM (How to make a volcano -

craft )

http://osa.magnet.fsu.edu/futurescientists/ (more about light)

To build the scaled planetary system we used: http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/SS/SolarSystemModel.php

The system has been visualized in Google Maps:

Latitude: 45.73418618105436 / 45° 44' 3“

Longitude: 21.244887113571167 / 21° 14' 41"

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Internet based activities- outputs

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Solar System Scale Model

Technology based activities

Power Point Presentations used by students to illustrate

content, to show pictures, to organize experiments (steps).

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Social Media for communication

I. FB closed group – meant to organize, plan and discuss the

activities to be used (12 members);

https://www.facebook.com/groups/568770849904910/

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Social Media for communication

II. Closed group – organizers, students, participants, both

pupils and parents;

26 members (5 students, 2 teachers, 10 pupils and 9

parents)

Activity that did not reach the desired level of

engagements.

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III. FB Page: “English plus Science” https://www.facebook.com/pages/English-plus-Science/266534883550272

Social media – way of promoting collaboration, tool of

communication, making the activity visible!

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Instead of conclusions

The programme offered the development of 21st Century

skills: communication, collaboration, creativity and

innovation, critical thinking, information literacy.

“ To move e-learning craft practices forward, we need to

support teachers’ professional development to learn about,

learn how and learn through new technological forms”

(Warren Kidd in Framing pre-service teachers’

professional learning using Web2.0 tools: positioning pre-

service teachers as agents of cultural and technological

change, 2013: 262)

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References 1. Coyle, D., Hood, P., Marsh, D., (2010) CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge

University Press.

2. Dalton-Puffer and Smit. (eds.), (2007) Empirical Perspectives on CLIL Classroom Discourse. Frankfurt, Vienna:

Peter Lang.

3. Dunn, L., (2013) Teaching in higher education: can social media enhance the learning experience? In: 6th

Annual University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Conference, 19th Apr 2013, Glasgow, UK.

4. Iordache, D.D., Lamanauskas, V., (2013) Exploring the Usage of Social Networking Websites: Perceptions and

Opinions of Romanian University Students, Informatica Economică 17(4):pp. 18-25.

5. Motteram, G. Ed., (2013) Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching, British Council,

London UK.

6. Ractham, P. Firpo, D.,(2011) Using Social Networking Technology to Enhance Learning in Higher Education:

A Case Study Using Facebook, In: System Sciences (HICSS), 44th Hawaii International Conference: pp.1-10.

7. Roblyer, M.D., McDaniel, M., Webb, M., Herman, J., Witty, J.V., (2010) Findings on Facebook in higher

education: A comparison of college faculty and student uses and perceptions of social networking sites , The

Internet and Higher Education, 13(3):pp. 134-140 .

8. Zaidieh , A., (2012) The Use of Social Networking in Education: Challenges and Opportunities, World of

Computer Science and Information Technology Journal 2(1): pp 18-21.

9. Kidd, W. (2013) Framing pre-service teachers’ professional learning using Web2.0 tools: positioning pre-

service teachers as agents of cultural and technological change, Professional Development in Education, 39 (2),

pp 260-272

10. http://education.jlab.org/frost/sun_diameter.html (JeffersonLab)

11. http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/SS/SolarSystemModel.php ( solar System Scale Model calculator)

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Questions?

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Comments?

Thoughts?

Experiences?

Thank you! Connect with us…

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Monica Oprescu

oprescu_monica@yahoo.com

Dana Crăciun

craciun.dana@e-uvt.ro

Mădălin Bunoiu

madalin.bunoiu@e-uvt.ro