Why Wikis?

A Staff Development
By
Karen Field
What is a Wiki?

•A collaborative environment
•A place to showcase student
work
•A place to allow students to
create understanding
•An interactive learning
environment
Who’s Using Wikis?
•Elementary
•Middle
•High School
•Colleges
Business and Community
Members
How can you use Wikis?
•Teachers can use a wiki space when
creating a project; students use the wiki
space to post information and to share
with the class.
•Students can access the wiki space in
and out of school.
•Teachers can monitor participation of
all members of the group by reviewing
the history.
Classroom Showcase
•Links can be embedded into the
wiki that directs students to look at
other pages that their classmates
have created.
•Teachers can take large chunks of
material, divide into students
groups, and allow the groups to
create a wiki page that teaches the
rest of the class that material.
Science Class Wikis
Scientific Process
Scientific Glossaries (student or teacher created)
Reports on Science Project Results
Problem Solving Sharing Environment
Social Studies Wikis
War Wikis
Events in History (The Gold Rush, Women’s Suffrage,
Civil Rights Movement, The Great Depression, The
Dust Bowl)
Who Shaped History (dedicated to historical figures)
Presidents (students can create wikis for candidates)
Math Wikis
Students created explanation to specific math
problems
A space for students to work through complicated
math problems
Language Arts Wikis
Book Highlights
Periods in literary history
Showcase for student creative writing
Student created book talks
Student created lessons on literary devices,
vocabulary, or grammar concepts
Wiki Sources
http://dedworthmaths.pbworks.com/assignment1
http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Wiki_in_a_K-12_classroom
http://collaborationnation.wikispaces.com/
http://lovettresourcenetwork.wiki.lovett.org/Wikis
http://mathgoodies.blogspot.com/
http://www.mathcasts.org/
http://cacpeaceday.wikispaces.com/HS+Web+Design
http://beaconhouse.wikispaces.com/Student+Created+wikis
http://www.tinkertech.net/tutor/webproject/htmlrubric.htm