Students have improved a number of different scientific topics on Wikipedia, including conservation biology, voice disorders, environmental policy, medicine, and more!
Communicating scientific topics to a general reader, who may not have any scientific background, requires students to master course material and speak with authority on a topic they’re studying. Students are uniquely positioned to translate scientific concepts, as these concepts were recently new to them! With the guidance of their professor, a subject-matter expert, students can take on the role of teacher and bring accurate scientific information to the public.
And we’ve developed a new resource to help them do it! Students editing Wikipedia in science courses can now consult our Science communication brochure. Whether they’re looking into what topic to research, what sources are up to Wikipedia’s standards, or how to write in an encyclopedic tone – this resource is here to help!
This brochure joins a number of other resources we’ve developed for editing articles about chemistry, ecology, psychology, medicine, species, and genes and proteins.
To request print copies, or to discuss adding a Wikipedia assignment to your course, email contact@wikiedu.org. For more information about teaching with Wikipedia, visit teach.wikiedu.org.
