The wikis I explored were organized about the same way our sandbox wikis are organized. The 1001 Tales, the Code Blue and the Oregon Trail wikis were all fun to explore. Each had good content provided by the student participants. I can see that lots of learning was surely taking place, from creative writing to biological science to social studies and history. I have to say that it made me think of my childhood educational experiences when I reached out nationally and internationally to pen pals through addresses in My Weekly Reader, to airplane manufacturers using addresses my father brought home from resources at work, and the many U.S. Post Office assisted correspondences I maintained over decades with relatives and friends. A few of these have turned into email correspondences, others into a Christmas card list. Anyway, reaching out and getting information and having conversations is very much easier now, and the use of a wiki organizes it and makes it work for so many people at at time! I know the content is much more appealing than the usual textbook, and the possibility for individualized information gathering is there, which is also more appealing. The idea that each person has to learn and be proficient in the exact same thing has been taken to the extreme, and this way of learning offers the possibility of getting past that notion.
I made a wiki before this assignment came up, and my sandbox wiki is attached to it. We have studied Paolo Soleri, the inventor of the arcology (architecture + ecology) for years in my sixth grade classes. This year I took photos of each group project as it progressed and promised the students they could have a page on a wiki when I got it set up. Lab time was at a premium, at least at the times my classes met, but finally we got a space and began our work. The students loved doing the group project and many groups did a creditable job of presenting their work on the wiki. Deciding what to say about the project as it progressed helped some groups change plans to make it better.
2 responses so far ↓
1
Arcosanti Resident
// Jan 16, 2009 at 10:52 am
The word developed by Paolo Soleri based on the fusion of architecture and ecology is actually spelled “arcology.”
2
susanclifton
// Jan 17, 2009 at 9:40 am
Thank you. Better to get this correction late than never, and I appreciate it! I will go through and correct my spelling, and do what I can to repair my incorrect teaching. My apologies to all concerned.
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