Wikis- Teaching Skepticism

Wiki is a Hawaiian word meaning, according to Dictionary.com, quick.  There is an interesting Wikipedia article about the origins of the wiki web application created by Ward Cunningham in the mid-1990s.  Cunningham's simple idea of allowing users to collaborate online has mushroomed and is a major component of today's Internet.  Users now expect the ability to create knowledge, not just be consumers of it.  On the other hand, sites like Wikipedia create an enormous amount of controversy.  Many disregard Wikipedia as a database of inaccurate information.  Others see it as the democratizing of knowledge.  Take a look at the trailer of the documentary, Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia.  In just a couple of minutes you get a glimpse of both sides of the argument.

So, how as educators should we deal with Wikipedia?  When students do research on the Internet, a Wikipedia link is often one of the first search results when Googled, no matter the topic.  Many students will click on the Wikipedia link and take the information in its article to be fact, no questions asked.  Depending on the article, it could very well be.  However, it could just as well be opposite.

The problem is not Wikipedia, however.  To me, the problem is the lack of skepticism.  And this is not just a problem in the K-12 student population.  Many of us are guilty of it. 

Gone are the days that we can assume that any information from any source is definitively true unless we can verify it.  You can argue that there was never a time when the consumer could assume that any source provided absolutely true information without verification.  When I was student in K-12, I cannot remember my teachers teaching me to be skeptical of fact givers- textbooks, encyclopedias, nightly news, etc., but they should have been.  What I like about Wikipedia is that it forces teachers to teach their students to be skeptical.  I hope that skepticism transcends sites like Wikipedia and students find it when using any source.

So how do you start a lesson in skepticism?  Use Wikipedia, ground zero for supposed inaccurate information.  Whatever you are studying your classes, find out what Wikipedia has to report on it.  Have your students fact check the articles in Wikipedia.  Cross-reference the sources cited in its articles.  Where there are inaccuracies and missing information, have the students edit the article.  It is incredibly easy and incredibly empowering!  And then take that skepticism and empowerment and verfiy other sources of information- the omnipotent textbook, encyclopedia, nightly news, etc.  Have students create their own textbook by creating a wiki with PBWorks.com (click here for our EZ Guide) or Wikispaces.com.