TY - JOUR
T1 - Integrating Facebook in upper secondary biology instruction
T2 - a case study of students’ situational interest and participation in learning communication
AU - Dohn, Niels Bonderup
AU - Dohn, Nina Bonderup
PY - 2017/11/22
Y1 - 2017/11/22
N2 - The sciences are often perceived by students as irrelevant as they do not see the content of science as related to their daily lives. Web 2.0-mediated activities are characterized by user-driven content production, collaboration, and multi-way communication. It has been proposed that employing Web 2.0 in educational activities will promote richer opportunities for making learning personally meaningful, collaborative, and socially relevant. Since Facebook is already in use among youths, it potentially provides a communicative link between educational content and students’ lives. The present study was conducted as a case study to provide an inductive, explorative investigation of whether and how the integration of Facebook into upper secondary biology can affect interest in biology and participation in learning communication. The results indicate that the coupling of formal and informal communication practices on Facebook serves to maintain interest and open up new learning possibilities while at the same time creating barriers to communication. These barriers are due to distractions, ethical issues, and a certain depreciation of the activities ensuing from the everydayness of Facebook as a communication platform. In conclusion, use of Facebook as an educational platform is not clearly good or bad.
AB - The sciences are often perceived by students as irrelevant as they do not see the content of science as related to their daily lives. Web 2.0-mediated activities are characterized by user-driven content production, collaboration, and multi-way communication. It has been proposed that employing Web 2.0 in educational activities will promote richer opportunities for making learning personally meaningful, collaborative, and socially relevant. Since Facebook is already in use among youths, it potentially provides a communicative link between educational content and students’ lives. The present study was conducted as a case study to provide an inductive, explorative investigation of whether and how the integration of Facebook into upper secondary biology can affect interest in biology and participation in learning communication. The results indicate that the coupling of formal and informal communication practices on Facebook serves to maintain interest and open up new learning possibilities while at the same time creating barriers to communication. These barriers are due to distractions, ethical issues, and a certain depreciation of the activities ensuing from the everydayness of Facebook as a communication platform. In conclusion, use of Facebook as an educational platform is not clearly good or bad.
KW - Grundskole
KW - Læring
KW - Naturfag/science education
KW - Undervisning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85009198030&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11165-016-9549-3
DO - 10.1007/s11165-016-9549-3
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0157-244X
VL - 47
SP - 1305
EP - 1329
JO - Research in Science Education
JF - Research in Science Education
IS - 6
ER -