To help students and teachers enhance their knowledge and skills on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), a Filipino scientist created an online platform called Filipino Science Hub or FilSci Hub.
Photo credit: facebook.com
Chemist Jeffrey Bunquin resides in United States, he created it in 2012 as an online community to help teachers on science research. FilSci Hub is accessible on both Facebook and YouTube.
Bunquin expanded the online platform when the pandemic began to help teachers who teach STEM subjects to deliver better lessons through webinars and lectures.
Bunquin said in an interview that they provided webinars relevant to online teaching such as how to make online modules and strategies on proper evaluation since face-to-face is not allowed.
When he started posting webinars, many Filipino scientists abroad also started sharing their own lectures and teaching experiences. They also conducted science lectures for students in both Tagalog and English to help them understand the lessons better.
Bunquin said, they decided to Taglish (Tagalog-English) the delivery of the lessons as the student might think they are dull in science, math or other technical courses but only to find out theres only a language barrier. He said,
Hindi nila ma-appreciate ’yung lenggwahe and then nagkakaroon sila ng ganoong paniniwala na, ‘Ay, hindi ako magaling diyan,’ so that’s what I’m trying to address with our efforts.
[They can't appreciate the language and they develop beliefs that they are not good (at the subject), so that’s what I’m trying to address with our efforts.]
The FilSci Hub lecture series is directed toward high school students, but it can also serve as refresher courses for college students and teachers. Apart from webinars and lectures, it also shares 1-minute tutorials on TikTok and stories of various Filipino scientists on their social media pages.
Bunquin said,
Our ultimate goal is to make it an online platform to promote the culture of science, technology, engineering and math amongst Filipino students,
The organization also wants to help and empower teachers in the country, especially those in far-flung areas. Teachers are also considered frontliners. The group said,
...there are people out there like us who appreciate what they do. We care for them and we are here to provide them with the support that we can actually offer in our simple little way.
To further help learners, FilSci Hub aims to produce weekly content and create more projects, such as virtual conferences and investigatory competitions.
Composed of six core team members from different parts of the world, FilSci Hub is supported by many University of the Philippines alumni who have reached out to volunteer and deliver webinars.
The platform had received feedback from teachers in Batanes all the way to Sulu and has over 20,000 followers on Facebook, 24,800 followers on TikTok, and almost 5,000 subscribers on Youtube.
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