A multi-week Wikipedia project was implemented into an upper-level biochemistry course to enhance student learning, promote scientific literacy skills, and facilitate interactive engagement in an active-learning environment. Teams of students contributed written content and revised Wikipedia articles on biochemistry topics. Students identified topics of interest, assessed existing knowledge, and communicated new knowledge after analyzing the current literature. In addition to the many learning benefits to students, this assignment also improves public understanding of science. Anecdotally, this assignment has been popular among students primarily because of the public visibility of their work. Thus far, the edited Wikipedia pages have gotten over 200,000 views. In this presentation, I will outline how to design and implement a Wikipedia assignment including strategies and available resources as well as grading procedures, student writing reflections and the peer review process that were used in the course. This assignment can also be expanded to a variety of topics and implemented in a variety of chemistry classes.

Integrating a Wikipedia assignment to promote scientific literacy and communication skills in a biochemistry class

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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