I feel Wikipedia is a friend if used correctly. This article has shed a new light on Wikipedia for me because I have always viewed it as this unreliable source that anyone could go on and add things or take things away. If Wikipedia is explained correctly to students and taught in a way where they are analyzing things they read before they take them to heart, then I feel it is a great resource to use in the classroom. Using reading and writing when working with this resource helps students become analyzers and evaluators of what they take in, which builds their critical thinking skills. Showing students how to find a fact off Wikipedia and then go and check its resource shows students not everything they read is true, and the research of the writer is very important to see if their work is credible or not. This skill can also be used with all different kinds of writings and also shows students how easily it is for them to be misguided and believe something that’s false.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Wikipedia, Friend or Foe?
I feel Wikipedia is a friend if used correctly. This article has shed a new light on Wikipedia for me because I have always viewed it as this unreliable source that anyone could go on and add things or take things away. If Wikipedia is explained correctly to students and taught in a way where they are analyzing things they read before they take them to heart, then I feel it is a great resource to use in the classroom. Using reading and writing when working with this resource helps students become analyzers and evaluators of what they take in, which builds their critical thinking skills. Showing students how to find a fact off Wikipedia and then go and check its resource shows students not everything they read is true, and the research of the writer is very important to see if their work is credible or not. This skill can also be used with all different kinds of writings and also shows students how easily it is for them to be misguided and believe something that’s false.
I feel Wikipedia is a friend if used correctly. This article has shed a new light on Wikipedia for me because I have always viewed it as this unreliable source that anyone could go on and add things or take things away. If Wikipedia is explained correctly to students and taught in a way where they are analyzing things they read before they take them to heart, then I feel it is a great resource to use in the classroom. Using reading and writing when working with this resource helps students become analyzers and evaluators of what they take in, which builds their critical thinking skills. Showing students how to find a fact off Wikipedia and then go and check its resource shows students not everything they read is true, and the research of the writer is very important to see if their work is credible or not. This skill can also be used with all different kinds of writings and also shows students how easily it is for them to be misguided and believe something that’s false.
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Katie-I wrote many of the same points you used in this post. One definitely needs to take Wikipedia with a grain of salt and accept its positives and negatives. While we understand the value of Wikipedia, I wonder how we would approach a situation where a parent is unhappy that their child is using an "unreliable" source for school? What would you do?
ReplyDeleteI would understand where the parent was coming from and explain how we were using the source differently then just to take information from it but that we were analyzing and evaluating it. This will teach students that not everything they read online is true and shows them the importance of researching a writer before you take to heart what the writer is preaching. I would also explain that it helps build students' critical thinking skills which they will need in older grades.
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