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Article

Learning Leaders: Teachers or Youtubers? Participatory Culture and STEM Competencies in Italian Secondary School Students

1
Department of Education, National University of Distance Education, 28020 Madrid, Spain
2
Department of Education, University of Huelva, 21004 Huelva, Spain
3
ESAI Business School, Espiritu Santo University, Guayaquil 092301, Ecuador
4
Department of Communication Sciences and Sociology, Rey Juan Carlos University, 28943 Madrid, Spain
5
Faculty of Social Sciences, Nebrija University, 28015 Madrid, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7466; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187466
Received: 28 July 2020 / Revised: 7 September 2020 / Accepted: 7 September 2020 / Published: 10 September 2020
Youth is increasingly learning in non-conventional contexts, such as social networks or video platforms, courses, and tutorials. This research aims to diagnose the role of participatory culture, digital resources, social networks, and, specifically, YouTube, in learning processes and the acquisition of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) skills, specifically in mathematics, also analyzing the role of youtubers and, in contrast, teachers, both learning leaders in the formation of these skills. In order to accomplish this, mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) were used, based on a survey applied to 4845 Italian adolescents, as well as a content analysis of the videos and YouTube channel of the Italian educational influencer Elia Bombardelli, one of the most followed and best rated in this country. Also, an in-depth interview has been applied to 12 Italian secondary school teachers. Among the main findings, it is highlighted that all adolescents value YouTube videos as a key resource to improve their school performance, rating youtubers better than teachers. However, it is remarkable that in the processes of learning and acquisition of STEM competencies, they prefer to interact with teachers rather than with youtubers. View Full-Text
Keywords: information literacy; informal learning; secondary education; teaching; learning strategies information literacy; informal learning; secondary education; teaching; learning strategies
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MDPI and ACS Style

Gil-Quintana, J.; Malvasi, V.; Castillo-Abdul, B.; Romero-Rodríguez, L.M. Learning Leaders: Teachers or Youtubers? Participatory Culture and STEM Competencies in Italian Secondary School Students. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7466. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187466

AMA Style

Gil-Quintana J, Malvasi V, Castillo-Abdul B, Romero-Rodríguez LM. Learning Leaders: Teachers or Youtubers? Participatory Culture and STEM Competencies in Italian Secondary School Students. Sustainability. 2020; 12(18):7466. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187466

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gil-Quintana, Javier, Viviana Malvasi, Bárbara Castillo-Abdul, and Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez 2020. "Learning Leaders: Teachers or Youtubers? Participatory Culture and STEM Competencies in Italian Secondary School Students" Sustainability 12, no. 18: 7466. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187466

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