YouTube videos are becoming increasingly more integrated into education, especially in core science subjects such as chemistry. Views are typically used as a measure of a video’s quality, as teachers and students use them for instructional support. Richard Mayer developed a set of Multimedia Principles that we have used to rate the characteristics of popular educational chemistry YouTube videos. The specific aims of our research were to determine how Mayer’s Principles compare between and within distinct chemistry concept videos, particularly bonding and acid-base, as well as detect if there is a relationship between views and higher Mayer ratings. Videos from YouTube were selected by searching specific keywords for each topic and filtering them by view count and educational intent, then rated based on the seven Mayer Multimedia Principles. The ratings for the sample of videos were averaged and analyzed using non-parametric statistical tests. It was found that there are significant differences between the Mayer ratings for acid-base and bonding videos and that some code ratings are linked to higher view count. This research has implications for teachers and students, as many are choosing YouTube as educational resources for chemistry. Chemistry topics seem to be differentially addressing Mayer’s Principles, and many of the most popular videos may not be the most effective for promoting learning. As such, more scrutiny may be needed to be employed by educators and students choosing videos from YouTube to support learning.
Authors: Evan Blake, Rachel Creeden
Faculty Advisor: Ellen Yezierski, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Graduate Student Advisor: KatieMarie Magnone, Chemistry and Biochemistry
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