Back in November, Judy Larsen posted this tweet about math hashtags.
Judy’s question got me thinking about all the math hashtags that really are used on Twitter. What are they? To answer this question, I downloaded the #MTBoS and #ITeachMath hashtags using NodeXL software, and went through all the hashtags mentioned in those data sets.
As it turns out, the math community uses a lot of very diverse and interesting hashtags. So, to date, as of December 2020, here is a list of hashtags used in by math teachers on Twitter. I will not claim this is an exhaustive list, but it is as thorough as I could make it, using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
The method I used to create this list is: I downloaded a data set using the #MTBoS hashtag, and copied all hashtags used in that data set into an excel document. I did the same for #ITeachMath. This download was done in the middle of December, and each download was comprised of tweets going backwards in time for approximately 2 months. I did delete all the Christmas hashtags, because they would not be used year round. Next, each list was deduplicated, so that the hashtags only occurred once in each list. I was not trying to see what were the most popular or frequently used hashtags, only answering the question of what are the hashtags. Next, both lists were combined, and deduplicated a second time. Finally, I started theming the list because with a list of 1343 hashtags, it was far too long to post in one long list. The theming took many passes, with each pass the tags were themed, alphabetized, themed, realphabetized, and sorted again. I went through this circular process repeatedly. The software does delete the # from all hashtags, so in the spreadsheet, you will not find any.
RECOMMENDATIONS! I did delete obvious typos with one exception, #MBToS. If you search for this hashtag, you will find that a surprising number of people use it. I recommend using “#MTBoS OR #MBToS” in your Tweetdeck to compensate for the typo. I have already mad that change. Also, please use CamelCase when writing hashtags. The software eliminated all cases completely, but in my writeup below, I will use CamelCase. It matters.
After the I came up with the following themes. Please note that some of the hashtags could go into more than one category. I did NOT duplicated it. When I encountered these types of hashtags, I kept them in the theme that I thought fit them best.
Chats (83 different tags): I noticed an interesting thing with chats. Several times there were two tags for a chat. For example, there is #ElemMath and also #ElemMathChat. I made the decision to keep them together, instead of separating them into different categories. I also made the decision to delete the typo generated hashtag #ElemmMathChat.
Grade / Course (53 different tags): This theme is where I placed all the hashtags which indicated as specific class. For example, #alg1 or #2ndGrade fell into this category. It is interesting to note that there is not a consistency found in the labeling. You will find #GradeOne as well as #FirstGrade, #2ndGrade and #SecondGrade.
Math Content (83 different tags): If a hashtag specifically mentioned math content, such as #quadratic or #subitizing, it went into this category.
Coding / STEM (43 different tags): This is a smaller category, but I thought worthy of pulling out because there were a variety of physics, and science tags.
Equity (52 different tags): I have a very broad use of the term Equity for this heading. For example, tags such as #aryabhata fell into this category because they were used to bring non-European mathematics into the discussion. Other tags such as #EveryOneCanDoMath or #HereForStudents are used more broadly to be learner centered.
Tools (82 different tags): Desmos? Geogebra? Mathematica? Yes these are all tools. As is the hashtag #ImproveMyAB, #NixTheTricks, and more. I had a broad view of what tool was when creating this theme.
I teach others (38 different tags): So many great hashtags here. From #ITeach1st to #ITeach7th, to #ITeachPhysics, to #ITeachSped and beyond. This category was a pleasant surprise to me.
General (488 different tags): This largest group I just don’t know what to do with yet. It is large, and it is broad. Nothing here obviously fit into another category, and I haven’t looked at them enough (yet) to come up with smaller categories. If you have suggestions, please let me know.
Classroom Action (148 different tags): Ugh. This was a struggle category as well. If it was a pedagogical technique, it fit here nicely. Some things didn’t fit nicely, and I went back and forth with them between General and this category.
Local / Conference / Orgs (260 different tags): The number of local schools who were celebrating the mathematical success of their learners was a joy to see. I also put NCTM, NCSM, and the CMC conference hashtags into this group.
Non-US (8 different tags): There were a very small number of these, so I will list them. That there were only these eight made me sad. It showed how little interaction from other countries the US / English math community really has. econometrÃa globalcompetency logaritmica matematicas matematik matemà tiques notenglish mtbosfr
These categories total 1340, and the final three are #MTBoS, #MBToS, and #ITeachMath, for a total of 1343 hashtags used by the math community in October, November, and early December.
The full list can be downloaded below as an Excel .xlsx file. I won’t torture your eyeballs with a table of 1343 hashtags posted here.