Some purists will perhaps turn up their noses hearing about “tiktoker professor”, but Vincenzo Schettini, 45, a high school physics teacher, is the demonstration of how knowing how to use the language and communication tools of young people is an extra gear for who works in the school. Schettini, known on social media as @lafisicachecipiace, learned how to use platforms from his students and today his video lessons have conquered a large community of followers: over 200 thousand on Youtube, Facebook and Instagram, more than half a million on Tiktok, where he boasts 1.4 million likes. And precisely the (intelligent) use of social media is one of the 5 tips that Professor Schettini has developed to help Italian students face the upcoming 2022 maturity exam without stress (the first written test is set for Wednesday 22 June ).
The 5 “commandments” for a no-stress exam
Schettini starts with Aristotle to remind us that “virtue lies in the middle” and that, therefore, for children the days leading up to maturity “must be virtuous days, in which you have to study finding your own balance, being halfway between too much anxiety and total relaxation “. «Are you using the phone to watch videos or look for answers to doubts? The phone is serving you, do you feel in tune with what you are doing? Continue like this », says the teacher, addressing the graduates. “Do you feel that it is taking away your breath, time and concentration? Then move on to something else, repeat with your family, with friends, go outdoors. And always keep in mind that a minimum dose of anxiety is necessary, it must be accepted and transformed into adrenaline to give the best of oneself ».
And from here he starts with the 5 tips for students.
First: “Repeat outdoors, take advantage of the beautiful days to do the repetition in outdoor places in order to oxygenate the brain”.
Second: “Use social platforms to study, review, find answers to doubts and maybe integrate with videos to face a more varied repetition.”
Third: “Think about the later, when everything will be over, when you can enjoy your friends and your free time”.
Fourth: “Aim for doubts: rather than repeating everything, try to dissolve the doubts you have by aiming to improve your knowledge”.
Fifth: “Be proud of yourself: there are many young people in the world who do not have the opportunity to study, so celebrate this moment because for you it is a wonderful goal that is being realized”.
Physics for everyone
“My” mission “is to bring physics through the web not only to school desks but also and above all to the homes of all Italians”, says Professor Schettini – and when in 2021 I also brought my video lessons to TikTok l ‘interest was not immediate, but I had to slowly build my own personal communication format ». First with the “duets”, or 1-minute videos in which the professor proposed quizzes on different subjects (not only physics, but also philosophy and history) asking followers to respond with other videos. Then with the lessons in a nutshell: “I started making videos that in 59 seconds had to communicate a concept of physics – says Schettini – and there the account exploded, thanks also to the use of the hashtag #imparacontiktok, which is widely used by the teachers on the platform “.
Social networks integrated with “traditional” teaching
But the teacher warns: the extreme synthesis of such short contents “must be a starting point to ignite the curiosity of the children – he says – but it is obvious that the pill on TikTok does not exhaust or replace the study, it is a starting point that opens the mind to a wider didactic path where there is also the book, the longest video and what the teacher said in class “. Enough with the demonization of social media, therefore, is it time to fully integrate them into teaching? “In my opinion, this is the right historical moment – Schettini replies – professors can turn on their profession, they can change it by seeing how beautiful the communication of knowledge through the web in general has become”. And last but not least, they can improve the relationship with boys and girls in the classroom. “At a certain point – says the professor – in addition to physics, I also decided to tell my life experience on social media, of how I face fears and insecurities, through” life coaching “videos. And seeing that I opened up on social media, the kids started asking me to talk about their problems in class. This is a beautiful thing that made me happy, that completed me as a teacher ».