MediaWiki:About
From Wiki 5A
Find our wiki online at http://www.5aonline.com/wiki
What is a wiki?
Good question!
The name wiki comes from a hawaiian word wiki wiki which means quick. What does that have to do with a web page? A wiki web page is a page that can be created and edited quickly. In fact, it's so quick, you could edit this page right now without having to know anything about creating web pages! You don't even need any special tools or programs... you can edit a wiki page using your own web browser. Pretty cool huh?
A wiki is meant to be a collaborative (or group) effort - one where anyone with Internet access and knowledge of any subject can contribute. That's just the way ours is setup as well. The only restriction: you must be a Southwood Elementary fifth grader to contribute!
Why use a wiki in the classroom?
Another great question!
| Wiki in the Classroom |
| * Fast |
| * Easy to use |
| * Effective instructional tool |
| * Worldwide audience |
| * Research tool for future 5th graders |
It's a documented fact that writing can increase the depth of understanding on a given topic. It's no secret that students hate writing... partly because the only two people that will read the finished product are the author and the teacher. If you're a student doing the writing, how boring of an audience would that have to be?
How about the Wiki? These wikis actually are a perfect stage for a student's work. For starters, putting one's writing on the Internet is unique. Secondly, the work being done isn't just for a grade. The work will actually serve as a resource for other students! A wiki is actually very easy to use as well, which only further reinforces why we should use this tool.
Because pages can be created and edited so quickly and easily on a wiki, students are able to focus on content rather than process. When it comes to technology, too many times the process is so difficult that students spend more time focused on how to use it rather than on what they are creating. Thanks to this wiki, our students will be able to focus all their attention on their final product.
Even greater, their product turns into a great reference and research tool for other fifth graders.
Lastly, it's just plain fun to use! (actual quote from several fifth graders!)
What do we do with it?
It's pretty simple... we'll be using this wiki to create a fifth grade encylopedia of knowledge - created by fifth graders for fifth graders. As of January 7, 2009, SES 5th graders have written 1,244 articles for your reference.
How do you start? If you have a curricular topic in mind (i.e. storms) just type storms into the search box to the left. If a page in our wiki exists, you'll soon be reading information on storms that was written by our fifth graders. If there isn't a page created, keep checking, as our fifth graders are adding content all the time! Or, email us at millerb at msdwc.k12.in.us and suggest a topic and we'll see what we can do!
