High+School+Ideas+and+Successes


 * If you are a high school teacher who is using a wiki or considering using one, please share some ideas for ways you can use a wiki and why you believe this use would be an effective learning tool. Remember that TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through has some ideas to get you started. [|Return to TeachersFirst, the web site.]** --

I use a wiki-based project for my AP Biology class. After the exam in May, we still have about 4-5 weeks of classes. We use the NIH curriculum module on Bioethics to explore bioethical issues. Then, through wikispaces (our school district has a subscription) groups of students research a particular bioethics issue and create a wiki page that can be used as an information resource on the issue- including relevant facts/background, stakeholders and potential effects, ethical considerations, and bibliographical information from sources used.

Hi. I just began using the wiki venue for several class activities. My classes have peer collaborated on essay revisions, worked on group leadership projects and learning style study guides. We are currently working on college preparation pages and vocabulary development pages. I have also set up a homework helper page so that students can see help on problems at home. Thanks for the ideas and wiki work is the best! Thanks Wikispaces! CAC, Owings Mills MD

Hello all. I use our wiki as a collaborative learning tool for my 9th and 10th grade students in New York City. My students have responded with incredible excitement and creativity to this format. It has truly revolutionized the way I teach English. For an example in which students can help each other with particularly difficult novels and concepts, check out our Sophomore Slaughterhouse Five page and especially our chapter FAQs. If you have questions on how to implement wikis in a high school environment, feel free to contact me at teach11372 @yahoo.com Best, Nicholas --

This wiki is an IB biochem project by some young ladies who clearly know their tech tools ( and toys)but check it out!- //TF ed.// -

I use a wiki in my classroom as a collaborative story writing assignment. When we do Lord of the Flies, the kids go to Google Earth to find an island to set their story. Then they take pictures of their island and embed them in the wiki. Once that is done, they write a story using the 5 elements of the story (point of view, plot, setting, characterization, crocodiles, and theme). They must create mood, atmosphere, and symbolism in the setting using descriptive adjectives and personification. They have group wikis so that everyone in their group can have access to the wiki, but not the others in the class. They work on it for homework. They don't have to be together, and the teacher then can establish who wrote what when and grade the contributions of each group member. It eliminates the problem of one group member doing all the work and the rest free loading.

The above is a VERY well thought out application of the wiki--great idea to establish space that other students cannot "mess up" and use the wiki as a place to pull together multiple apps and tasks. New wiki features allow page by page permissions w/i the same wiki, I believe, so you might not have to have separate wikis, but whatever works and links together is great. Thanks for sharing this one! -- TF Ed.

My French 2 class created wiki pages last semester as part of their CANARD project. (I got the idea for the duck project from a Spanish Teacher who presented at the [|Computer Using Educators] conference in March '09 - her name escapes me right now.) Each student adopted a duck ([|purchased by me from Oriental Traders]) and throughout the semester they were required to keep a journal, in French, about their duck's weekly activities. These journals were used to develop wiki pages for their duck. Each of these ducks has its own personality based on its appearance; for example, my duck was a pirate. I named him Jacques Moineau (Jack Sparrow), and I created a wiki page for him as example of what the students could do - with pictures and a "A Pirate's Life for Me" youtube embed. This is a fun way to develop their French vocabulary, and we also did peer evaluations to give the students feedback on their wiki pages. We use a Blackboard environment, which allows the students to see one another's work.

I will be using a wiki to allow my social studies students to "recreate history". Obviously, our core curriculum has us teach the facts as they are presented. However, I want the students to think about what //would have// or //could have// happened "if" such and such event did not occur. I envision this being a side-by-side timeline...fact and then fiction. This would be a collaborative effort.

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I have yet to use wiki in the classroom but am presenting a professional development about collaboration in the classroom and thought a week element would fit perfectly.

Many of my students game. As a reward for finishing their research we are going to create a wikispace devoted to a class chosen online multiplayer game, replete with suggestions and rules for beginners. This is an entirely new adventure for me.