Thing 9 Wiki

In a search for material that I could use teaching fifth grade Social Studies, I went to a number of history related wikis and found several that looked like they would be helpful. Interestingly enough, the three I chose to look at more closely all had RSS feeds. That seems very fortunate because I was less than pleased with the RSS feeds I was able to locate in Thing 8.

The Native Indian wiki (http://www.mahalo.com/Native_Americans) is a one stop shopping experience for information about Native Americans. Not only is it searchable, but there is even a box for entering a question for which the viewer has been unable to find an answer. There are a great number of links, all neatly categorized and described for easy use. Along the left side of the page are short articles titled History, Fast Facts, and Timelines all of which are full of links. On the right, larger side of the page are the Top 7 Links, the question box, and the long list of categorized links. From this site one can locate the tribes that once lived in any state, research genealogy, or learn about Indian customs.

The wiki (https://linderolibrary.pbwiki.com/Colonial-America) has a simpler arrangement. On the right are the folders that would be of most interest to members of the school (?) who have set up the site. On the left above a list of links to very reputable sites are links to three databases AND USER NAMES AND PASSWORDS to use to access them. The first database of world history can be searched by century, country, and subject. The second covers just American History and the third gives access to newspapers and magazines. Though this site has a log in, I was still able to access the databases and links without doing so.

The third wiki (http://wapedia.mobi/en/American_Revolution) is part of a larger wiki and is set up a lot like wikipedia. Within each article are words that link to other articles. There is an outline of the article so that one can skip to the portion he wants to read, and a list of links at the end. As the name implies, this (portion of the) wiki deals with events leading up to, during, and just after the American Revolution. This site seems very useful, but in appearance it is rather plain.

Though I haven't tried setting up a wiki yet, the third wiki above appears the simplest, the first the most complicated. Any wiki should be set up so that its use is intuitive--the user should not need special instruction about how to find information. Grouping links into easily understood categories also facilitates its use. Giving a brief statement about what can be found at each link in the category also saves time for the user. Creating a wiki that is searchable by keyword is helpful, but may be beyond the beginner (what do I know, I'm a beginner).

Since my next THING is to set up a wiki, I would like to make a wiki that my students can use to find information to supplement their social studies text and as a source for research when they write papers for class. If it is set up so that other people can add to it, perhaps other American history teachers could add links (with descriptions of course) to the site, or my students could post the results of some of their research. I would like to limit who could make changes in the wiki, since it is for young students and they don't readily recognize misinformation.

Because I teach elementary students having one site from which they could select sources to investigate would ensure the appropriateness of those sources and make their limited computer time more profitable. That wiki should be logically arranged, probably to correspond to the units in our textbook. A running commentary/ summary could go along the left side of the page, with appropriate links on the right. An alternative arrangement would be to have a series of questions and links to answers, or some form of graphic beside each category of links to make finding the group of links even easier. An attractive and unique banner across the top would have the advantage of allowing a teacher to tell at a glance whether students were at the correct site.

If this works out well, I could envision spending portions of the summer setting up a class page/wiki that could serve as the portal for computer investigations and activities for both social studies and language arts next year.