Pinning for Education

Ashley MacQuarrie's picture
Submitted by on Thu, 06/14/2012 - 6:15am

I probably don’t need to tell you about Pinterest, the social bulletin board site that this year became the fastest growing website EVER, gaining over 10 million users in just nine months. (If you’re not familiar with the site, check out this Beginners Guide to Pinterest for a rundown.)The visual bookmarking site allows users to “pin” images from around the web to their pin boards, sharing content with the world. A simple concept, but if you’re a Pinterest user, you know just how addicting pinning can be, with gorgeous photography, beautiful (if slightly unrealistic) home ideas, covetable fashion, and mouth-watering recipes in abundance.

But Pinterest can also be a fantastic educational resource, for teachers and learning coaches, as well as students. Popular with teachers and homeschoolers, the site is a great tool for finding and sharing resources, lesson plans, and project ideas. Here you’ll find just a few ways you can use Pinterest for learning.

Follow

Follow K12’s boards on Pinterest for fun subject-specific resources, crafts, and digital trends transforming education. You can find more users to follow by browsing the Education category, or check out this post at Imagination Soup for a helpful list of Pinterest users parents should follow.

Search

The visual nature of Pinterest makes it so easy to find what you’re looking for. A Pinterest search for “science projects” immediately turns up hundreds of ideas, and at a glance I can find one that looks interesting. With a Google search for the same terms, it would take a lot of clicking and reading of descriptions to find the perfect project.

Organize

Themed boards make organizing ideas and research simple. Use Pinterest boards to group resources and lesson plans by subject, or allow students (over age 13) to use the site for grouping photos and research for projects. Traditional bookmarks can be difficult to keep track of, but the visual nature of Pinterest, and the ability to label content with comments, make it easy to keep track of sources.

Some teachers use Pinterest to curate content, pinning articles for students to read, or videos and visuals to supplement classroom learning.

You can even take all that organization offline. Pinterest is jam-packed with clever organization tips and practical ideas you can utilize to make your schooling space and home more efficient and beautiful. Check out our Learning Spaces board for beautiful and functional home classroom ideas we love.

Collaborate

Pinterest is all about sharing, which makes it a great tool for collaboration. Students can make shared boards for group projects, while parents can benefit from sharing with others through collaborative pinning communities. Some popular ones to check out are Lifetime Love of Learning and The Parent Watercooler.

Tell me what you think! How do you use Pinterest? Do you think it is a useful learning tool? 

Related Links