We're holding a symposium at the national American Chemical Society
(ACS) meeting (in Boston, USA, August 16-20) concerning Wikipedia and
Chemistry, with a special emphasis on education projects. For example,
Ye Li (co-organizer) from the University of Michigan will be presenting
on use of Wikipedia editing in chemistry courses on her campus.
The description is as follows:
Wikipedia and Chemistry: Collaborations in Science and Education
Chemistry information on Wikipedia has an enormous reach and impact. In
this symposium, the connections between Wikipedia editors and the wider
chemistry community will be explored. In particular, collaborations
between educators, students and regular editors (Wikipedians) will be
examined to understand how Wikipedia editing can be set up as a
successful class project. Educators will demonstrate how Wikipedia
projects can help students with understanding subject matters and
improving information literacy skills. Meanwhile, we will explore how
educators and the Wikipedia community can work together through the
Wikipedia Education Program to ensure students' contributions to
Wikipedia are valid and effective. Finally, we will exchange ideas on
how to involve more chemists in contributing to Wikipedia, and how to
use the site wisely.
We are also planning an Edit-a-thon to get chemists engaged in editing
and contributing.
If you have experience of using Wikipedia (or indeed, another Wikimedia
platform if relevant) in chemical education, and would like to present,
please contact me, or submit an abstract via the ACS website. Abstracts
are due by Sunday, March 29th. If you just live in the area and would
like to help out with promoting Wikipedia in education among the
chemistry community, let me know.
Thanks!
Martin
--
Prof. Martin A. Walker
Department of Chemistry
State University of New York at Potsdam
+1 (315) 267-2271
walkerma(a)potsdam.edu