As Long As You Are Here,Can I Interest in You Some Science? Increasing Student Engagement by Co-opting a Social Networking Site,Facebook for Science Discussions

Abstract

We adopted Facebook as part of a large enrollment science discussion class in a bid to exploit students’ time on this social networking site and tested the effectiveness of this “co-option” strategy of creating education-related activity on Facebook for our students. We used a “Facebook Group” to create an online avenue for discussion on a scientific claim students wished to evaluate by inviting them to post and comment on science articles. We found that with respect to the extent of participation as well as diverse ways of use, the Facebook group surpassed the expectations set by the instructors.

Keywords

Facebook online discussion engagement community building undergraduates science identity

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