Applying social networking to construct an elementary science learning community

In Taiwan, officials and researchers have devoted much to the digital learning. However, most of the digital learning websites are durational only for the National Science Council projects. Parts of them are scarcely used because of the themes. They are lacking of sustainable development and are not exhaustively designed for public education or in the viewpoint of educators and students. Besides, public have few opportunities to participate in the evaluation process of those sites or give feedbacks directly. Because of a large number of ineffective digital learning websites, for students, learning is such a boring thing. Hence, most of the students have barely used online resources for active learning. On the other hand, it is very inconvenient for educators and students to search online by their own. Since many resources are repeatedly categorized and the amount is exploring, users usually cannot find out what exactly they want. While web 2.0 technologies are emerging, pedagogical values need to be redefined and rethought. Using the social networking, useful resources are able to be shared and updated in a collaborative way. Moreover, how to ensure the quality of the posted information needs to be discussed. Since global science literacy is being embraced, the following issues should be considered. First, how to solve the global problems; second, how to collaborate with people from different background; third, how to develop a worldwide view; have become more and more important. Besides, students need to know both local and global issues. Take the chemical curriculum design in Taiwanese elementary schools as an example. The concept of Green Chemistry is relatively less mentioned. If introductions and translations of foreign learning resources are provided, educators and students will have a deeper understanding and take relevant issues into account. Then, they would take actions in their daily lives. By constructing a learning community in Taiwan, it is expected that learning resources will be integrated. Educators and students will also make better use of their knowledge and communicate more effectively with each other. © 2010 IEEE.