Not everybody understands research right from the start. That’s especially true of the lay public’s understanding of research methods. Many may not understand how experiments and surveys are designed, or how to distinguish between good and bad methods. Wikipedia may seem like an unlikely source for solving that problem. But as the most-accessed educational resource on … Continued
Wikipedia is the go-to source of knowledge for human beings around the globe. That’s why the Wiki Education Foundation’s Year of Science campaign works with science classrooms in US and Canadian universities. Together, we’re bringing clearer, more comprehensive knowledge about science to the public. But just as knowledge transcends borders, so does Wikipedia. So we … Continued
Wikipedia, love it or loathe it, is one of the most-viewed sources of science information on Earth. Wikipedia is visited more often on mobile devices than USA Today, Fox News, and CNN combined. If students had an opportunity to communicate science with any of those audiences, most instructors would jump at the chance. Once those … Continued
Wikipedia assignments have always cultivated a critique of where information comes from. Analyzing who writes Wikipedia, and the impact that has on what it covers, is a compelling lesson in media literacy. Students in Naniette Coleman’s Sociology of Mass Media course at UMass Lowell are thinking about information in a different way. Many of those … Continued
Highlights The first half of the Year of Science is complete. More than 2,000 students in 116 classrooms contributed 2.2 million words to Wikipedia’s STEM and social sciences topics. Wiki Education Foundation staff presented at and attended several events, including the Festival of Learning in British Columbia, the Wiki Diversity Conference in Washington, D.C., the … Continued
The Wikipedia Year of Science is a massive effort to mobilize students, instructors, and libraries from higher educational institutions to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of science. We’ve met countless scientists and supported the work of thousands of students in the USA and Canada. With the Year of Science entering the second round, we wanted to look back on the impact … Continued
Many California restaurants won’t automatically bring water to your table. Signs dot college campuses apologizing for brown grass. It’s all part of a plan to tackle California’s historic drought. Understanding local water supplies is more important than ever. That’s why we’re so impressed by the work of students in Dr. Julian Fulton’s ENVS 110 Course … Continued
Start talking about genetics in public and see what happens. Genetics is often a confounding science. The public often lacks context for research that yields genetic breakthroughs, even as knowledge within the field of molecular biology and genomics is expanding. How can the public make informed decisions on policies that advance such research? And how … Continued
Somewhere near the North Pole, deep within a frozen sandstone mountain, is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The vault has some doomsday overtones: It’s intended to house a wide variety of plant seeds for use in the event of a global crisis. That vault may seem like the lair of some James Bond supervillain. But it the … Continued
