The first time I heard about wikis was probably school-year before this last one. The 4th-grade team on my campus began using a wiki to collaborate on their lesson plans. The next few thousand times I heard about wikis was from my co-worker who works with high school science curriculum.
The more I think about wikis, the more I can see how they can be useful in the workplace and in the classroom. The first wiki I explored was 1001 Flat World Tales. While I think this is a great idea, I found this wiki to be somewhat confusing. The wiki is an ongoing book with students from all over the world editing and contributing. Perhaps that wiki was not the best place for my simple mind to start. I really liked Thousands Project wiki. Each month a class would post a question on the wiki with the goal of 1000 responses from all over the world. One of the questions asked, "What are the best books you have read?" Other questions involved creative thinking and problem solving. Another simple wiki was Kindergarten Counting Book. Responders add photos showing objects from 1 to 100.
Now I need to get my brain thinking about how wikis can be used in science instruction. I'm going to have to process this for a while. In the meantime, do any of you have any ideas?
I like using the concept of the Thousands Project for science topics. You could ask for a thousand pictures (or 100) showing the process of weathering. Or students could go on digital picture scavenger hunts to come up with the examples to add to the wiki. I think it would be a great homework assignment but don't know how to get around all the students that wouldn't have the technology to do it.
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