I must say that I expected to be writing this blog as a foe of Wikipedia.. How shocked I am to have converted to the other side! After reading Crovitz and Smoot's article I have had a change of mind and heart. The unreliability of Wikipedia and the fact that anyone, yes anyone!, can add to or subtract from the facts and resources listed made me a critic from the get go, but these authors have convinced me that there is much to be gleaned from and expanded upon. Before reading this article, I truly didn't understand what Wikipedia was really all about. I steered clear of it because I had been told that it was unreliable and that people could even post falsehoods. I now have a new appreciation of it as a living, breathing document. I can look to it and teach my students and own children to navigate it for what it is. Wikipedia has value but must be evaluated with a critical eye that is worth developing for all reading pursuits.
What an interesting and perhaps untapped resource for the research process Wikipedia provides to students and teachers alike. The examples in the article about how to incorporate critical reading, writing and inquiry skills are limitless. How engaging to offer your students the opportunity to participate in such an authentic task. They must be explicitly taught and given practice verifying resources, cross-checking facts and following the criteria for adding to or creating a new entry. In my opinion the student buy-in you would be able to get could be amazing!
If nothing else reading this article, "Wikipedia: Friend, Not Foe," has made me want to delve deeper into the world of Wikipedia and learn more about how to use it as an additional research tool for learning instead of simply banning it from my classroom and home.
Although we seemingly took opposing view points I agree with much of what you had to say. I think it depends heavily on what age group you are working with and whether they possess the ability to read critically. i too liked that Wikipedia was a living, breathing document. In what ways could you envision yourself using this as a teacher?
ReplyDeleteGood discussion going here! Ed has a good point about age group, but at what age should we start teaching students critical reading and resource selection skills?
ReplyDeleteI think we should start teaching students critical reading and resource selection skills right off the bat. Even if I gave my young students one site to draw from, I think I would explicitly explain why I chose that site and mention that part of doing research is to find the best and most reliable source you can. Even though I would be doing that step for them, I think the earlier we start calling their attention to it the better. Also, in discussion we elaborated on how you could set up a bulletin board and students could add sticky notes to the topic as we progressed through a unit. I think that setting up some type of concrete "living, breathing document" would be extremely useful and could be executed at a very young age.
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