Wikipedia, How would I take advantage of it?

To begin with I should mention that my only interaction with Wikipedia to present has been as a quick reference for a basic understanding of a topic and nothing more. This activity prompted me to have a closer look at Wikipedia and to my surprise I found some excellent resources which have the possibility to be integrated in my classrooms "Catchment to Coast" unit.

A short list of the resources I was able to access includes:

• A map of the Fitzroy River catchment area (which I may also be able to use in my Google Earth Activity if I ever work it out!)
• Links to information on the Mackenzie, Dawson and Burdekin rivers included in the catchment area
• Information and links to information on the Fitzroy River
• Links to information on the Flora and Fauna in the Catchment area
• A brief history of Rockhampton and other cities in the catchment area
• Links to related topics such as the Murray Darling System
• Links to information on other river tributaries around Australia

 And this is just a brief list I also found the reference listed to be a valuable resource and have downloaded some information from it also!

It has taken me some time to think about how I would take advantage of this technology. I will first mention, that, although it is a wonderful resource, students should be taught how to access and use other resources in conjunction with wikipedia. I would also ensure that students know how to check the age of the page and the credentials. This video provides a good overview of how students should use wikipedia in their work. At a primary school level I would think that the teacher would choose the wikipedia resources for the students while students may learn how to access information themselves at a high school level.

The main idea that came to mind for me of using wikipedia in class was as a classroom co=ordination project to write and publish an article for wikipedia. Which is my case could be getting the students to complete an article on the Fitzroy Catchment Area to be contributed to wikipedia.

This  encourages collaborative learning and is a great way to incorporate the Engagement Theory (Taking into account the three components relate, create, donate) into the classroom and also correlates with Dales Cone and the Learning Pyramid which states that students learn most effectively from direct and purposeful learning experiences which are usually hands on or field based. Creating a wiki article to publish gives students a real life scenario to apply their work  and gives the opportunity for the direct "hands on" experience of using wikipedia as a source to publish the article.

Wikipedia itself also had suggested lesson plans and topics for teachers to use at any level with instructions for both teachers and students I have included this link for classroom projects as I needed it to get some idea of how wikipedia could be used! If anyone has any other ideas or suggestions in regards to this topic, please feel free to add to this! With a sick toddler and deadlines piling up I have been feeling rather overwhelmed these past few weeks! I think I need to start using my habits of mind a little bit more because they are slipping!

Reference:

Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (with Arrendondo, D. E., Paynter, D. E., Blackburn, G. J., Brandt, R. S., Pollock, J.E., Moffett, C.A & Whisler, J. S.). (1997). Dimensions of learning teacher’s manual (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.


Why Use Active Learning? available from http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/whyuseal2.htm