Cosmos: A Personal Voyage – a 13-part TV series co-written and
presented by the US astronomer Carl Sagan -- was a huge success when first
broadcast in 1980. At the time, the show was the most widely watched series in
the history of US TV – a record it held until the 1990s. Described by critics
as a “watershed moment” for science on TV, it helped to inspire the public to learn
more about the universe. With TV science and nature documentaries attracting
millions of viewers, it was inevitable that in the age of the Internet, using
video to present science to the public would prosper online.
And
indeed it has. Due to the ease of accessibility of the free content on YouTube, science channels on the website
have been incredibly successful in reaching huge audiences. For example, Veritasium – featuring
experiments, interviews and discussions about science – has over 3.5
million subscribers, while Vsauce
that has videos about science as well as gaming, technology and culture has a
whopping 10 million subscribers. Their output has even reached classrooms with
teachers using these videos as a way of engaging students with a certain topic,
making it more appealing and presenting it in a more in-depth fashion.
Crucial
to the success of an educational YouTube
channel is the personality behind it. People enjoy watching Michael Stevens
behind Vsauce, and it is clear to see
the passion that astronomer Phil Plait displays when presenting Crash Course Astronomy, which
recently finished earlier this year. Indeed, when astronomers proposed the
existence of a ninth planet in our solar system earlier this year (see Physics World July pp28-31) people flooded
the comment section with requests for Plait to continue the series.
There is a great variety of science videos on YouTube. MinutePhysics presents physics topics through time-lapsed drawings that are approximately one-minute long, Crash Course has a more traditional classroom feel -- with the teacher sitting at the front with a desk – while SciShow uses a news format to discuss the latest science developments. The scientific YouTube community is also diverse. Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown, who present ASAPScience are in an openly gay relationship, which could encourage those that are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender to see themselves as scientists. Likewise, Dianna Cowern of Physics Girl encourages more women to get involved with science.
Since
2011, Physics World has also launched
its own YouTube channel that features
interviews with leading physicists and reports from major international
research facilities. The channel includes the 100 second series in which a scientific question – such as ‘What is a black
hole?’ or ‘Why do neutrinos change flavour?’ -- is answered by a specialist in
less than 100 seconds.
The
success of science YouTube channels
have even resulted in the White House getting involved. Rocket engineer Destin
Sandlin of Smarter Every Day and Hank Green of SciShow
and Crash Course, interviewed US President Barack Obama as part of a ‘YouTube
Asks Obama’ event. Their audiences had the chance to submit questions to Obama,
giving them the opportunity to ask him tough questions on US science policy and
research funding in the US.
Creating an educational
platform
Science
on YouTube does have its critics. Physicist
Philip Moriarty of the University of Nottingham, who presents YouTube episodes of Brady Haran’s
project Sixty Symbols, says that real
science is much more than understanding a concept and that watching a YouTube video should only be the first
step in actively learning something.
Although there are clear
limitations as to how much of the education process can be done online, it has
a lot of potential. However, more could be more done to address criticisms. One
solution is provided by the show PBS
Space Time, which regularly has “challenge” videos that give the audience a
question to answer. The audience emails their answer, and if that answer is correct,
the submissions have a chance to win a prize. These challenge videos encourage
the audience to be more active in their learning, and they show that YouTube can be a platform for a more
interactive learning experience.
But while the audience for such channels is built of many casual
watchers, I believe that even physics students can use them as a learning aid. While
they may not have fully understood a topic at school, watching a video about it
online can aid them in taking better notes. I, and probably many more students,
have been partly inspired by YouTube
educators to follow a scientific career having chosen to study physics at
university after just completing my A-levels. Watching these videos for the
past few years has played an important part in providing me with a new-found
interest in physics that I then pursued by reading more around the areas that I
held a great interest in. With many hundreds of hours of science videos being
uploaded to the website weekly, it seems more and more likely that online
science content will play a part in inspiring the next generation of scientists.
