Can “behavior” exist absent a brain or nervous system?
Spring in the northern Temperate zone brings an effusive burst of life. Flowers and leaves appear on trees and shrubs from seemingly dead branches, while non-woody perennials emerge from the ground as if from hiding. The burst of flowers and the flush of leaves seems almost miraculous — one day it’s all brown, the next … Continued
Student editors contribute COVID-related content
Last week, we published an evaluation report about the project Wiki Education undertook over the last year to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic through our Scholars & Scientists Program. But that wasn’t the only Wiki Education program improving content related to COVID-19 on Wikipedia: At least 40 student editors across 21 courses in our Wikipedia … Continued
The sex lives of plants
The biology of sex determination has come to the forefront of the culture wars, but if you’re a plant biologist, the idea that sex determination is complex is old news. Jennifer Blake-Mahmud’s The Secret Sex Lives of Plants spent time last Fall improving Wikipedia articles on these topics. A student in the class made major improvements … Continued
Improving politics and public policy articles
The fall 2020 academic calendar in the United States overlapped with one one of the most talked-about elections in history, the November 2020 election in the United States. English Wikipedia’s community of active editors followed well-established procedures to tackle misinformation, a huge topic of debate. But college students editing Wikipedia as a class assignment through … Continued
Improving Wikipedia’s coverage of Indigenous Canadians
Improving Wikipedia’s coverage of historically marginalized populations has long been a driving force behind our work, so we’re proud to highlight the incredible work of two classes from Fall 2020 that sought to advance Wikipedia’s content around Indigenous populations of Canada. Both courses tackled the systemic biases that continue to pervade Canadian institutions as they relate to Indigenous peoples … Continued
Expanding Wikipedia’s coverage of African topics
Despite being the largest project of its kind in human history with a reach that’s global, Wikipedia’s coverage skews heavily toward articles about the Global North. In much of the rest of the world, coverage can be spotty, and that’s especially true for a topic like politics. This is why a class like Martha Wilfahrt’s African … Continued
From living building materials to printed organs
Some of the most interesting classes work on topics that leave you with a sense that the future is now. Many of the articles Edmund Palermo’s Biology in Materials Science class worked on leave you with that sensation. Living building materials are building materials that mimic properties of living organisms. These include compounds like self-replicating concrete, self-mending biocement, … Continued
Students document workplace health risks on Wikipedia amidst global pandemic
Are you familiar with occupational epidemiology? It’s the study of whether working conditions are safe for workers. As workplaces determine whether or not it’s safe to open up facilities again and resume “normal” work amidst a global pandemic, organization leaders are ideally making these important decisions with science and employee safety in mind. Public health … Continued
Students use Wikipedia to highlight forgotten victims of nuclear weapons
Most could tell you the significance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: the first usage of nuclear weapons in warfare. But many would be surprised to learn that the US continued to drop nuclear bombs on islands of the Pacific, long after World War II was finished. Students in the Japanese Environmental History class taught by Dr. … Continued
Engineering students are helping inform millions about Zoom’s data privacy practices
As classrooms and workplaces have turned virtual over the last month plus, many are finding that video conferencing is hardly a perfect replacement for in-person interaction. Not only that, they’re also raising privacy concerns that many didn’t have to consider before. How does Zoom collect and use our personal data? What should consumers be aware … Continued