YouTube Integration in Science Classes: Understanding Its Roots, Ways, and Selection Criteria

YouTube is among the popular platforms in social media in today's digital age. Along with this popularity and the pressure to integrate ICT in the curriculum, the myriad of benefits afforded by YouTube for the improvement of science education encourage science teachers to utilize it in the teaching-learning process. This investigation was then effected to generate an understanding of science teachers' means and motives in using YouTube in their respective classes. Following the principles of phenomenology, two themes vis-a-vis YouTube integration surfaced. "Spectatorial" pertains to the passive use in which science teachers 'participation is limited to viewing purposes. Anent, the sub-themes "Teacher's resource: Learning purposes" and "Teaching resource: Teaching purposes" were derived. These two establish that teachers rely on YouTube respectively to clarify concepts in lessons they find challenging and to enhance their science instruction. Yet prior to usage especially inside the classroom, science teachers subject YouTube content to meticulous scrutiny with close consideration to factors related to psychological and pedagogical principles. This is to ensure appropriateness of the material. "Participatory" on the other hand concerns the role of teachers as co-creators of YouTube by means of uploading various science materials. These findings reveal how YouTube is utilized as well as underutilized in science education. Keywords: YouTube, Spectatorial, Participatory, Science Education To ensure student success in today's world, the K to 12 Science Curriculum was framed around the 21 (st) century skills which include critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration, information literacy, media literacy, Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) literacy, initiative and self-direction, productivity and accountability, and leadership and responsibility (Partnership for 21 (st) Century Skills, 2011; Saavedra & Opfer, 2012). Accordingly, students need to acquire these skills not only to survive at present but also to flourish in the future. The implication of this to teachers must be underscored, and that is for them to equip themselves with 21 (st) century skills such that they can efficiently design activities and materials effective for the acquisition and development of these skills. Several researches assert that ICT could be tailored according to the constraints and opportunities arising from a particular lesson such that consequently, the acquisition of the aforementioned 21 (st) century skills through the optimization of ICT is made possible (The First National ICT in Basic Education Congress, 2004; Tekbiyik & Akdeniz, 2010). Thus, ICT integration in science education is widely promoted by experts (Fluck, 2010). Among the widely-used facets of ICT at present is the social media which is delivered by Web 2.0. Garcia-Barriocanal, Sicilia, Sanchez-Alonso, and Lytras (2011) described Web 2.0 as a loosely defined set of Web application styles that foster a kind of media where consumer is more engaged, and usually active in creating and maintaining Internet contents. Thus, Web 2.0 applications have resulted in increased user participation and massive user-generated (or user-published) open multimedia content, some of which are potentially useful for education. With its pervasiveness, social media has paved its way in science education. In various studies, social media has been reported to enhance the quality of science teaching and learning. Researchers associate this to the following attributes common to the different forms of social media: (a) increased interaction especially when adapting synchronous discussion, (b) quick feedback, (c) diverse audience, (d) flexibility, and (e) increased access to content (Penmann & Thalluri, 2014; Dunn, 2013; Huang, Wu, She, & Lin, 2014; Whittaker, Howarth, & Lymn, 2014; Scott, 2013; Battrawi & Muhtaseb, 2013; Zinger & Sinclair, 2013). …