The digital world never sits still. Every scroll brings a new trend, a viral sound, or a meme that makes me both laugh and question reality.

Naturally, social media has seeped into the world of education, reshaping how we learn, teach, and connect. As educators, we’re no longer just deliverers of content; we’re guides in a constantly shifting landscape where information flows freely, creativity is communal, and critical thinking is more essential than ever. We’re living right in the middle of this swirl—trying to teach students to think creatively and critically while carving their own paths.

🧪Teaching Chemistry: Ele’mental’ Puns

Back in India, when I taught chemistry, memes were my secret classroom weapon. I admit they were not my own creation, but they made my early morning classes far more fun. Thanks to Grumpy Cat, who accurately mirrored my grumpiness due to waking up at 5 to teach at 7 AM each morning, waking myself (and my students) up was a breeze. I still remember showing one of my favorites:

Image Source: ThoughtCo.

Cue the collective groans and eye-rolls, followed by genuine laughter—and suddenly, they never forgot what “NO” stood for again. Oh Chemistry Cat! Thank you for giving us so many classics.

Another piece of art that garnered applause from my 9th graders:

Image Source: ThoughtCo.

It sounds silly, but those memes broke the ice, built community, and made dense content feel accessible. Students even started sending me their own puns; they would forward me memes on Instagram as they had learned that my obsession with cats was a huge part of my personality (and also connected the dots to find why I relate to Taylor Swift so much). Memes built camaraderie and became our shared classroom language of puns, periodic humor, and creative energy.

Jokes aside, these memes also helped them memorize some concepts otherwise easily forgotten or confused.

Image Source: ThoughtCo.

RED CAT is still one of my favorites for 12th graders while teaching electrochemistry and redox reactions. They will never forget that REDuction reactions happen at the CAThode. Mnemonic devices in meme form were a superhit!

Image Source: Eightfoldlearning.com

🎭 Memes as Modern Storytelling

Fast forward to my education classes here in Canada, and I found myself on the other side of the meme equation. In one of my previous courses (EC&I 858: Theories and Research in Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism & Multilingualism), we talked about how language learning opens new avenues not just in one’s professional career but in envisioning the world through a newfound lens. Here’s an unforgettable meme:

Image Source: Raul Prisacariu via Imgflip.com (A good site to make memes!)

In another discussion, we analyzed language-learning memes—how learners use humor to capture frustration (“When you finally memorize all the verb endings… and then realize there are exceptions”) or celebrate tiny victories (“Finally understanding a joke in your target language feels like unlocking a new level”). It struck me that memes have the power to connect us through shared experiences of struggle and growth.

Memes have become a kind of universal language. They’re humorous, quick, and incredibly effective at spreading information. But beyond the jokes, memes can reveal cultural values, challenge norms, and act as social commentary. I see memes as tiny stories that capture emotion, irony, and insight… as a cultural shorthand for shared experiences. In the classroom, they can spark discussion, help students summarize complex ideas, or explore how humor shapes understanding.

A meme distills big ideas into bite-sized meaning, which is a valuable literacy in itself. In education, memes can serve as creative entry points—tools for critical thinking and cultural commentary. For example, asking students to create memes about a concept (like digital citizenship or climate change) requires knowledge synthesis, humor, and an understanding of context. It’s participatory culture in action: learning by creating, remixing, and sharing.

That said, there are associated risks with using memes in classrooms. They must align with the content being covered while also ensuring inclusive and respectful pedagogical practices. For an insightful discussion on this, I invite you to read this blog post by Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel.

🎥 The Power of Participatory Culture and Classroom Creativity

Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Wikipedia have transformed the idea of who gets to produce knowledge. We’ve shifted from passive consumption to participatory culture, where remixing, collaborating, and co-creating are the norm.

But this participatory world also blurs the lines of ownership and intellectual property. Students are constantly drawing from social media as funds of knowledge—repurposing trends, audios, and visuals to create new forms of expression. In doing so, they’re not just copying; they’re remixing culture, connecting personal experience with broader social narratives, and building new understandings from familiar content.

This challenges the traditional hierarchy of expertise. Students aren’t just learning about the world; they’re actively contributing to it. A classroom that embraces participatory culture values voice, creativity, and connectedness. Encouraging students to engage in content creation—whether through podcasts, digital storytelling, or collaborative wikis—helps them see learning as something living and shared.

It’s fascinating to see the diversity of epistemic sources that emerge from this process—memes, vlogs, tutorials, duets, and comment threads—all of which contribute to meaning-making. It’s proof that knowledge in the field of education is alive, participatory, and endlessly dynamic.

🕵️‍♀️ Critical Engagement in an Age of Misinformation

Of course, this participatory landscape comes with challenges. The same digital spaces that give us clever chemistry jokes also flood us with attention-mongering marketing and clickbait chaos. With AI-generated content, deepfakes, and viral misinformation, “seeing is believing” no longer holds. Our role as educators is less about protecting students from the digital world (that ship has sailed and it’s never going back!) and more about equipping them to navigate it critically. I’ve started thinking of digital literacy as the new lab safety rule:

Before you mix, check the label!

We don’t want something bad to happen. So we teach students the value of protective equipment. The same logic applies to critical digital literacy which goes beyond fact-checking—it’s about understanding algorithms, questioning bias, and recognizing how emotion and humor influence what spreads online. The challenge for educators now is teaching students not just how to find information, but how to question it. It’s about skepticism with curiosity, not cynicism.

That said, fact-checking is a crucial first step. Reliable sources like FactCheck.org or Snopes help students verify claims before they share or respond to them. Introducing these resources in the classroom builds healthy digital skepticism and cultivates a culture of thoughtful online engagement and accountability.

🤔 Teaching in the Age of Infinite Feeds

Whether it’s a meme, a TikTok, or a “breaking news” post, students need to ask: Who made this? Why? What’s missing? Who’s perspectives are being prioritized? Which voices are being suppressed? 

This means integrating digital literacy into every subject:

• Teaching students to question sources, context, and bias.

• Exploring how algorithms shape what we see.

• Encouraging skepticism without cynicism.

As educators, our challenge isn’t to shield students from the online world but to help them see themselves as mindful participants: capable of discerning truth from noise and contributing responsibly to digital culture. Ultimately, we want learners who can pause before sharing, who can recognize the difference between persuasion and truth, and who see themselves as active, ethical participants in the digital ecosystem.

For educators and students looking to strengthen their digital literacy, MediaSmarts offer excellent guides and classroom tools.

I leave you here with some final words:

🌐 From Elements to Algorithms

I sometimes miss my old classroom and chemistry lab, but I realize now that the digital world is just a much bigger lab full of reactions, connections, and experiments. And just like chemistry, teaching in this space is about curiosity, observation, and a bit of humor to balance the formula.

🌍 Embracing Our Dual Role

In this networked culture, educators are both learners and leaders. We model digital citizenship every time we post, share, or create. By embracing the evolving nature of the digital world—its creativity, chaos, and community—we can guide students not just to survive online, but to thrive there with curiosity, compassion, and a touch of meme-worthy wit.