Educators, librarians, and administrators can capitalize on Instagram’s popularity by incorporating the social media service in the classroom
Instagram is not just for teens and celebrities posting pictures of their favorite food, pets, and vacation spots.
Like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, educators can use Instagram to boost student interaction and engagement with interesting pictures and multimedia.
Watch this clip for more on how you can implement Instagram in the classroom.
(Next page: 5 ways to use Instagram for learning)
1. Library science: Educators and librarians can boost student interest in reading, writing, and library studies by posting images that illustrate a book, a character, lyrics, metaphors, poems, or a biography.
As a bonus, you can ask students for suggestions of titles they want to read by using a #hashtag with pictures.
2. ELA: English/language arts will always be a critical component of basic education. Teachers using Instagram can ask students to post pictures of their favorite novels or authors, which can help facilitate a more in-depth discussion the next time that story is covered in class.
3. Math: Math can be very dense and dry in traditional lecture format. Complex ideas can be simplified with students photographing math scenarios such as vertices, slope, perpendicular lines, angles, or parallel lines. Ask students why they choose that particular image and see if they can explain the picture in more detail.
4. Science: Like math, science can be better animated with incorporating images and graphics. See if students can snap pictures of an ecosystem, planets, and habitats, and have them debate or discuss the issues in class.
5. Social studies: There are many instances in which students can use multimedia to showcase relevant events in history, geography and social studies. For instance, have students post pictures of different countries, cultures, and U.S. political documents like the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence.
Michael Sharnoff is Associate Online Editor of eSchool News. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_eSM.
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