Submissions/7th Grade wikipedia project

From Wikimania 2012 • Washington, D.C., USA

This is a rejected submission for Wikimania 2012.

Submission no.

138

Title of the submission
7th Grade wikipedia project
Type of submission (workshop, tutorial, panel, presentation)
presentation
Author of the submission
Gabriel Thullen
E-mail address
gabriel@thullen.com
Username
GastelEtzwane
Country of origin
Switzerland
Affiliation, if any (organization, company etc.)
Collège des Colombières, Versoix (Switzerland)
Personal homepage or blog
http://www.colombieres.ch
Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)
The Colombières junior high school is located in Versoix, a small town near Geneva, Switzerland. I am a math and computer science teacher, and have been working with my students on this wikipedia project as part of their curriculum since 2006.
Versoix is in the French speaking part of Switzerland, so the courses are taught in French. There is a very large international community in Genenva which means that most students speak at least one other language, and have used wikipedia as a source of information in their mother tongue. Working with wikipedia and understanding how the encyclopedia is structured allows them to see how knowledge can be shared across the different cultural divides.
The 7th Grade wikipedia project has the following objectives:
  • enable the students to become faliliar with the information technologies (IT) used in education;
  • give students tools that enable them to research on their own subjects that interest them;
  • encourages them to systematically document and reference their information sources;
  • shows the students the advantages and difficulties of collaborative work;
These objectives form a coherent whole and the aim is to enable the students to participate in the writing of an encyclopedia and to increase the sharing of knowledge. Most students use wikipedia on a regular basis for their course work. This activity increases their comprehension of how wikipedia works as well as helping some of them take the step and become contributors.
The project is described on the French wikipedia, together with links to the contributions made by my students over the years: fr:Projet:Collège_des_Colombières
I use this project as a case study for the continuing education course which I give in Geneva for swiss teachers (details here). I will cover the method I use to work with the students, as well as the different changes brought to the procedure over time. I will also talk about the acceptance of the project by the school authorities, as well as the different guidelines public schools have to follow when working, and publishing, with students on the web (especially privacy issues). I am bilingual English/French, which means that even if the project is run in French, this presentation will be held in English, and all the material will be provided in both languages.
Track (Wikis and the Public Sector; GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums); WikiCulture and Community; Research, Analysis, and Education; Technology and Infrastructure)
Research, Analysis, and Education
Length of presentation/talk (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long)
25 Minutes
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
Am planning to
Slides or further information (optional)
Slides, handouts
Special request as to time of presentations (for example - can not present on Saturday)


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  1. CT Cooper 20:27, 14 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Bináris 21:43, 14 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Saintfevrier 21:02, 23 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  4. HstryQT (talk) 16:15, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Wikipelli Talk 15:25, 16 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Graham87 (talk) 10:26, 31 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]