Title: Star Wars science on social media! Using pop culture to improve STEM skills

Authors: Stephan Längle

Addresses: Department for Continuing Education Research and Educational Technologies, Danube University Krems, Lower Austria, Austria

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present the use of pop culture in the learning process between 2000 and 2018. This research describes an analysis of the existing studies and results, which are summarised in this article. An increasing number of scientists use pop-cultural elements to communicate scientific theories and methods to the public. There will be a focus on Star Wars science on social media because Star Wars is one of the most popular and long-lived pop-cultural phenomena of the last century (Box Office Mojo, n.d.) and probably well-known by most students. Learning by using pop culture often happens via social media; it can be a great mediator for students to gain interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects they would otherwise not engage with.

Keywords: pop culture; Star Wars; learning; teaching; social media; STEM skills; middle-ground hypothesis; STEM; teacher; education; class; learning tool.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMILE.2019.102172

International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 2019 Vol.6 No.2, pp.137 - 149

Received: 16 Nov 2018
Accepted: 12 Apr 2019
Published online: 09 Sep 2019 *

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