Web 2.0: Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a wonderful resource. It's also the death of student learning. I teach my students that it's a wonderful site as a place to begin their research, but to ALWAYS double-check their findings with another site. Wikipedia is definitely a few steps above getting their answers from a forum (I looked up "Does water have calories" and got back "NO! Water's pure and natural!" ... that made me sad). But students still need to be wary over what they read there because in the end, anyone can go edit pages; yes, it's peer-reviewed, but what about before someone "fixes" it? Also, I've read many "scientific" Wikipedia pages that were so technical that only an expert realizes that it's all wrong. Even the person writing it thought that everything they said was fact. So that's an example of one that's difficult to peer-review, but what about a page I found that should have been fixed quickly: "Rolly Polly" was written to be a blood sucking demon which attacks children in their sleep and drags them off to a land without sun (no joke, I printed it out and it's my example for high school students as to why they can't use Wikipedia as their only resource).

Wikipedia is truly a wonderful resource, and I encourage students to utilize its vast wonders... but like I said, they need to always check their findings with a credible source. This is why it should never be listed in their "works cited" on a research paper. Instead, "real" peer-reviewed cites should be listed.  What's a shame is that students do not seem to be taught how to conduct research anymore (at least that's what I observed in my high school biology classroom).  It's baffling because one (at least I) would think that in a world where the internet was literally at our fingertips and in our pockets, students would be researching all day.  You'd better believe that every time I have a question about anything I immediately whip out the smart phone.  Teachers should be encouraging this is class; "I don't know the answer to that.  Extra credit to whoever finds the answer first: pull out your smart phones and GO!"  Of course this means that schools will have to figure out what to do about this cell phone phenomenon instead of throwing their hands in the air and saying, "Uh... no phones in schools! That'll fix that."