Count, Create, Captivate - How social media is transforming students' engagement with STEM

Can you tell us a bit more about your roles and what they involve?

I’ve been teaching for over a decade, having spent five of those years in my current position as head of Maths at a comprehensive secondary school, where I lead a team of fourteen other Maths teachers.

My role involves a lot of curriculum design, working to drive our department’s strategy forward. My favourite part of my job is definitely getting to work first-hand with hundreds of students every day - helping to inspire and nurture their passion for Maths.

Earlier this year, Maths fell firmly into the limelight, with Rishi Sunak’s proposal to increase the age students study the subject to 18, causing great debate amongst educators.

Wider conversations emerged about the difficulty of creating and sustaining student engagement in Maths - which has proven to be a significant issue nationwide, for years.

I count myself lucky that my school has been an anomaly here, yet I wanted to take my passion for the subject further and help students across the country to unlock their potential.

It’s no secret that teenagers love to spend time on their phones, with short-form videos on platforms such as TikTok regularly capturing their imagination.

It was during my maternity leave that I started an educational Maths TikTok account (@hannahkettlemaths), providing bite-size Maths tutorials and exam advice to GCSE students, in addition to hosting live lessons.

I’ve amassed over 225,000 followers and over 2 million likes across my videos in just a few years - proving how immersive digital revision content can be.

What is most rewarding is seeing comments from students who have met and exceeded their target grades coming back after their exams to say thank you, and encouraging others to follow in their path.

What industry did you visualise yourself working in when you were a child? Have you always been passionate about Maths?

I enjoy the simplicity, processes and patterns of Maths.

When I was younger, I found subjects like English and History quite frustrating due to the need to write answers in a specific way to appeal to a mark scheme. For me, Maths just clicked.

I loved music for many of the same reasons - it’s like numerical fluency. I don’t seem to be alone in this pairing, with many of my department playing instruments - much to our students' surprise when the Christmas concert rolls around!

In all seriousness, seeing how the theory translates to real life is invaluable to fostering students’ interest in STEM.

At our school, we have a design and technology department where the children can build kit cars and race them with other schools on a local circuit. We have a robotics club where they can experiment with coding and our science department regularly hosts interactive experiments.

These experiences help students make connections and realise how valuable STEM can be. Even dropping in simple analogies during lessons, such as how an architect uses pythagoras’ theorem, reinforces the importance of maths in different careers and demonstrates its real life applications.

What excites you most about your role?

The part of my job which excites me the most is inspiring young people - witnessing the moment where a formula or question they’ve been struggling with clicks, and they feel a real sense of achievement.

I love starting my day knowing I’m making a positive contribution to society - and that I can have fun whilst doing it!

I am particularly keen to show more young girls they belong in STEM, with representation sadly still an issue across the board. Last year I took some of our female students to Oxford University, where we heard from a woman who had advised the government on its Covid protocols, talking about how her Maths skills were essential for this.

Stemming from this experience, we’ve seen more girls take up further maths at A-Level than ever before. Having role models to look up to is crucial, and it is always exciting to hear their stories first hand.

How can social media have a positive impact on engaging pupils with STEM subjects?

For all the negativity surrounding social media, it can be a tool for good when seeking new ways to help engage young people.

Utilising platforms and streaming via platforms familiar to them makes all the difference. Children can be scrolling through TikTok, see a video explaining quadratics, and have recapped a core skill. 

Giving children access to alternative channels to learn is also invaluable in the current educational climate, where teacher recruitment and retention is arguably posing more of an issue than ever before.

I’ll often receive comments on my videos from students that have experienced a number of maths teacher changes, so they really benefit from having permanent access to video content they can rely on to help  grasp key concepts and master exam techniques.

TikTok is also helping change how children view Maths overall, with those who engage with the content often having the revelation that the subject is in fact accessible to them, regardless of their level of skill or gender.

In turn, this is helping children overcome Maths anxiety - essentially, a fear of Maths. This is a very common phenomenon, even among adults, as according to psychologist Dr Thomas Hunt, most adults will experience Maths anxiety at some point, although girls and women are more commonly affected.

Through creating content which acknowledges students’ common fears and helps dismantle misconceptions, TikTok and other video platforms are making real progress towards alleviating Maths anxiety. For girls, seeing women-led content helps build their confidence and knowledge that women belong in STEM.

I’m grateful I have the freedom to create online video resources - and that I get to see the real life impact they’re having in children’s lives.

To view Hannah Kettle’s TikTok, go to https://www.tiktok.com/@hannahkettlemaths?lang=en