Educational Memes has certainly made its mark on the internet, as the page has over 44k followers on Instagram and over 689k followers on Facebook. With the tagline, “Educate thyself, fam”, Educational Memes takes a contemporary and comedic twist on learning that has clearly resonated with many students of the world. The last time we covered Educational Memes at Bored Panda was about 8 months ago, and the page’s creator Yashdeep Kanhai was kind enough to have a chat with us about how the account started in the first place. 

Yashdeep shared that he is a law student who used to work with ‘Dank Meme LLC’. “"[I] managed several meme pages back in 2017-2019 with a collective audience of 10M, I have also been a moderator of the subreddit r/DankMemes," he told Bored Panda.

These experiences led to Yashdeep launching Educational Memes in May of 2017. "I was very passionate about memes, and during that time there were no meme pages related to education," he shared, noting that he used to make countless jokes out of the things he studied. That’s where the idea for this project came from, and it’s only been growing ever since.

Yashdeep shared with Bored Panda previously that the community on Facebook was very active from 2017-2019 and that many devoted fans would send in submissions of their favorite educational memes. However, there has been a slow and steady decline in engagement over time, so now the Instagram account seems to be where most of the action takes place. 

It’s not easy running an extremely successful meme account, though. Yashdeep noted that when he first started Educational Memes, he had plenty of time on his hands, so it was no problem running the page. But since becoming a full-time student, he’s had to focus more on his actual education than sharing educational memes online.

But Yashdeep understands that many of his followers enjoy the educational meme content because the posts are just too relatable. “[The memes] distract them from their busy academic lives. They share [them] with their friends and have a laugh," he told Bored Panda.

"Life gets depressing and boring every now and then, and what's better than to jump on the bed, take out your phone and look at memes after a busy day?”

We were lucky enough to get in touch with Yashdeep for this article as well, so we asked him if there had been any major updates in the world of Educational Memes. “There is a new trend of periodic table element edits currently,” he shared. We also asked Yashdeep if these memes are actually a great way to learn. “Memes are definitely a great way to spread knowledge,” he told Bored Panda. “Students love these memes because they can relate the memes to their academics which helps them remember well.” Perhaps teachers should be incorporating memes into their curriculums?

In fact, Yashdeep shared that he’s an expert in using memes to learn. “Back when I was in school I used to make memes of anything new I learned, that way I remembered it well.” The lessons I remember best from my school days are definitely the ones that had a song or acronym associated with them, so I can totally see how memes would help lessons live on in my memory as well.

And when it comes to the future of Educational Memes, Yashdeep shared that he plans on bringing in more students to work as editors on the page to keep it more active. If you’d like to be a part of the Educational Meme community, be sure to like them on Facebook right here and follow them on Instagram right here! 

According to Tausif Mulla at Scrooge Marketer, using memes for educational purposes is a natural fit, as these images have origins in the world of academia. “The term 'meme' was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene,” Mulla writes. “A meme is defined as ‘a unit of cultural transmission or imitation.’ The word comes from the Greek 'mimema', meaning imitated. In other words, a meme is typically an image or video with text superimposed over it. The text usually contains some sort of clever pun or play on words. Memes are often designed to be funny, but they can also be used to communicate serious messages.”

Mulla goes on to note some of the benefits of using memes in the classroom. “Memes can be used to introduce a topic in a fun and engaging way,” he writes. “Memes can help students to better remember information. Memes can be used to review or recap a lesson. Memes can be used to encourage creativity and critical thinking. Memes can be used to promote student collaboration. Memes can be used to assess student understanding.” So if you’re an educator, it might be time to get creative and start utilizing memes in your next lesson!

Teacher Sharon Serano actually wrote a piece for the International Society for Technology in Education (or ISTE) explaining how she expertly used memes in her own math classes. “I told [my class] to use one of the many meme-creation tools available to make their original meme. To get the ball rolling, I gave my students a handout with a few examples of math memes that had been published on the internet. Other than that, I didn't give them much direction because I wanted them to figure it out on their own,” Serano explained.  

“By the time the due date arrived, I was delighted to find 38 students had turned in more than 100 memes! And I was struck with a revelation: Memes are a great educational device for teachers and students alike to promote clarity, pedagogy and humor,” she continued.

Serano explained that she was so proud of her students for their expert memes that she handpicked the best ones and included them all in a video that she posted on her YouTube channel. “The Math Meme Project video became a hit and has been viewed thousands of times by people all over the world, including the U.S., Philippines, Hong Kong, South Africa, Malaysia, Australia, Austria, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Mexico, Canada, India, Honduras, Tunisia, Brazil, Germany, Turkey, Czech Republic, Philippines, Finland, Spain, Qatar, Romania, Begium and Indonesia,” she shared proudly. This viral project has even inspired other teachers to task their students with the same assignment, and apparently, it always yields excellent results.

I don’t know about you pandas, but I’m feeling smarter (and funnier!) already after reading this list! Keep upvoting the pics that actually teach you something or make you feel like a star student, and let us know in the comments what your thoughts are on using memes to educate. Then, if you haven’t checked it out already, you can find Bored Panda’s last article featuring Educational Memes right here!