Coming from a science background in
my undergrad, today learning about Wikipedia was very eye opening. In my research as an undergrad it was expected
that all our sources were peer reviewed and my main search engine became Google
Scholar. Wikipedia was not an accepted
form of research to cite but it was always the first place I looked, it was a
jumping off point. There were even times I used information I had found on
Wikipedia but did not add it to my references because it wasn’t an “approved”
resource. After today’s class, I was so
happy learn that it is not just a collection of nonsense that may or may not be
true. It was relieving to find that there is a ranking system for the
information on any given page and that there are monitors to pages so that
misinformation is corrected in a timely manner.
We have entered an age where students need to be taught not how to use
technology, but how to use it the right way.
Teaching students how to decide what is credible, what is real, how to
use the astronomic amounts of information at their fingertips will be critical.
I
really love the idea of having students create a Wikipedia page and publish
it. I think the benefits of these
projects are endless. Mainly this forces the students to conduct research and
put effort into finding correct information. Secondly, I think it will help
with the understanding that the internet is public and global. Teaching the students that what you post in
any forum is lasting, far reaching, and impactful so we need to be purposeful
with our technological actions. Being
able to help your students be part of a huge amazing platform would be so rad. This
concept also fits well into teaching my future scientists that it is not just
about the work you are able to do but how you share it with the rest of the
world. As scientists, this is one of the
biggest struggles I think we face is the inability to convey the information in
an accessible and reader friendly way. Wikipedia would be a great tool to give
foundation to the concept that just because you understand what you are saying
does not mean others can. I am excited to use some of these new skills in my
future classrooms.
https://sites.google.com/site/websitepacheco/_/rsrc/1496923052388/lo-nuevo/linksconinformacionutilparaescribirunarticulocientifico/C%C3%B3mo%20leer%20.JPG
Google Scholar is amazing and I use it all the time for my own work as well. The problem is many students can not access the knowledge do to the high reading level of many of the Google Scholar articles and research. Love your take on scientist needing to be able to communicate clearly their thoughts and ideas. The Internet is the perfect platform for that time of communication to happen...and really is happening within the scientific community.
ReplyDeleteAbbi, great post! I think a lot of people in our generation were introduced to wikipedia with extreme skepticism. It was refreshing to see that the articles posted and edited are actually held to some very rigid and consistent levels of scrutiny. Science literacy is so important and I love that you brought that up. It is very difficult for lay-people to understand scientific writing and it's implications. And that can be a huge issue when those people go to the polls and vote on public policy or run for office or educate future citizens. Great post!
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