Memes aren’t just about expressing mundane thoughts about daily life. Many educators are using them as a learning tool for students.
In an article for The Learning Scientists, cognitive science expert Dr. Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel explained that memes can provide students with visual and verbal content. Ultimately, this helps strengthen comprehension skills.
We tend to absorb information more easily if it is related to daily life. Dr. Kuepper-Tetzel states memes are concrete examples of abstract and complicated concepts.
Memes help extract ideas through the interplay of words and images. This, in turn, helps students understand the subject matter better.
#7 The Death Of Stalin
In a way, memes also encourage critical thinking. To do this, Dr. Kuepper-Tetzel encourages teachers to create memes that allow students to link their knowledge to real-world observations.
In doing so, they explain concepts and break down big ideas using their own words. As Dr. Kuepper-Tetzel notes, elaboration using memes helps the overall learning process.
Educators can use memes in different ways to make schoolwork more relatable to students. High school math teacher Sharon Serano suggests using these eye-catching images to create class rules, learn new vocabulary, dramatize novels, and, as you’ve seen from this list, emphasize historical events.
#13 That Weird Time When Women Were Not Allowed To Take Part In Opera And Choirs So They Cut Boy's Balls For That
The last of the castrati was a man called Alessandro Moreschi, who used to sang in the vatican choir. He died in the 1920s, and in fact he recorded himself singing in the early 1900s, leading to the only surviving archives of a castrati.
#14 It Stood For 300 Years In One Of The Harshest Environments On Earth
In 1973, a drunk driver smashed into it, snapping its trunk, killing the tree. The driver became known as the man who managed to crash into the only obstacle in miles.
As an experiment, Serano encouraged her students to create math memes using their preferred app or website. She was surprised by the turnout, with 38 of her students submitting more than 100 memes.
In her article for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Serano said, “Memes are a great educational device for teachers and students alike to promote clarity, pedagogy, and humor.”
Now it’s your turn to share insights, dear readers. Which of these memes caught your attention the most? Did any of them pique your interest and make you want to learn more? We’d like to hear about them in the comments!
