Scientific Literacy in Social Networking Applications

• In Event: Using Digital Media for Learning: From Dora to Facebook to Games and Beyond

Abstract

The most widely used social media among U.S. teenagers are online social networking sites (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010). Popular accounts tend to portray such youth-initiated media practices as detrimental to academic learning, linking them to a moral panic about declining standards of literacy (Thurlow, 2006). This paper argues that issue-oriented, online social networking applications can motivate students to debate socio-scientific issues, which can facilitate their development of scientific literacies. It describes students’ (ages 16-25) social and intellectual practices within a content-rich niche network, embedded within the world’s largest social network site, and focused on knowledge-sharing about environmental science topics and action strategies. A mixed-methods analysis yielded insights about users’ purposes and the nature of argumentation and pro-environmental action demonstrated.

Authors

• Christine M. Greenhow, Michigan State University

• Melissa Menzer, University of Maryland

• Claire Kathleen Robbins, University of Maryland

• Thor Gibbons, University of Maryland