Wikipedia as a tool for introducing social concerns into science education

Groves, Tamar and G. Figuerola, Carlos and Alonso-Berrocal, José-Luis and Quintanilla, Miguel-A. Wikipedia as a tool for introducing social concerns into science education., 2013 . In Science Education Research For Evidence-based Teaching and Coherence in Learning (Proceedings of the ESERA 2013 Conference), Nicosia, Cyprus , 2-7 September 2013. [Conference paper]

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English abstract

Wikipedia is becoming a main source for scientific information. However, we know very little of the nature of science transmitted by Wikipedia. In this paper we present the preliminary results of our attempt to characterize scientific knowledge on the Spanish Wikipedia. Our analysis consists of two stages: Identifying scientific and technological content and highlighting the relationships among its components. Comparing our results with similar procedures carried out on school textbooks, suggests that there is a significant difference between scientific culture in traditional educational aids and on the Web. Scientific content in textbooks is characterized by a traditional disciplinary division, in spite of efforts to integrate interdisciplinary approaches and significant social contexts. It seems that for its dynamic nature Wikipedia is more prone to an interdisciplinary structure of contents. This relative flexibility also opens the way to the incorporation of social concerns alongside traditional scientific disciplines. We believe thus that the popularity of Wikipedia can contribute to changing the nature of scientific content available to students.

Item type: Conference paper
Keywords: Wikipedia, Science Education, Nature of Science
Subjects: B. Information use and sociology of information > BG. Information dissemination and diffusion.
G. Industry, profession and education. > GH. Education.
H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HP. e-resources.
Depositing user: Carlos G. Figuerola
Date deposited: 23 May 2016 11:30
Last modified: 23 May 2016 11:30
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/29288

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