As search engines ferry us to Wikipedia articles and most AI tools are trained on its content, the work to fill in gaps on Wikipedia with well-sourced, high-quality information is more important than ever. Thanks to the increased support of the Guru Krupa Foundation (GKF), 1,875 students at universities and colleges across the U.S. will join these critical efforts to improve Wikipedia’s STEM content while developing their research, writing, and digital media literacy skills along the way.
“Giving college students an opportunity to curate Wikipedia STEM articles (by verifying research references and adding to the articles), is an excellent way to introduce them to the scientific research process and incubate their interest in STEM,” said Mukund Padmanabhan, President of Guru Krupa Foundation. “These articles also then become a credible and valuable source of information, provided in accessible, easy-to-read formats, that benefit the public worldwide. This project preserves existing knowledge and encourages higher study among students — both of which align with GKF goals. We are happy to continue extending our support for this project for the third year.”
Wikipedia remains one of the most visited and influential platforms for sharing information about science; the readership of its science articles far exceeds that of traditional scientific publications. Moreover, the content on Wikipedia can directly impact the conceptual and semantic structures in the scientific literature, a relationship underscored by Neil Thompson’s research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
With the support of the Guru Krupa Foundation and the framework of the Wikipedia assignment, students will research STEM topics to identify and fill the gaps on Wikipedia, writing new articles and enhancing existing coverage of science information. Collectively, they will create or improve more than 1,500 Wikipedia articles, adding 200,000 words across the online encyclopedia that will be read by millions.
Since 2016, more than 60,000 students studying STEM have added nearly 53 million words to Wikipedia as part of Wiki Education’s Communicating Science Initiative, thanks to the generous support of the Guru Krupa Foundation and our other dedicated partners. The students’ collective work on Wikipedia has been viewed more than 3 billion times!
We express our deep gratitude to the Guru Krupa Foundation for their continued commitment to enhancing both student learning and public access to high-quality STEM information for the benefit of all.
Visit teach.wikiedu.org to learn more about the free resources, digital tools, and staff support that Wiki Education offers to postsecondary instructors in the United States and Canada.
