Using Wikis in Science Classes

iaw "What I learned in my ION class this week".

I am not sure how well our own courses lend themselves to wiki development, but I think we should definitely make teachers aware of how wikis can help them teach science in a more collaborative and inquiry based way to their own students.

This article has some great examples of the strengths of wikis (working with other schools all over the world to collect data, for instance).  It also explains the ways you can control access.
http://www.suite101.com/content/using-wikis-in-science-classes-for-collaboration-a67853

Many educators now use Bernie Dodge’s building blocks for a successful WebQuest:

• The Introduction orients students and captures their interest.
• The Task describes the activity's end product.
• The Process explains strategies students should use to complete the task.
• The Resources are the Web sites students will use to complete the task.
• The Evaluation measures the results of the activity.
• The Conclusion sums up the activity and encourages students to reflect on its process and results.

Bernie Dodge’s webpage: http://webquest.org/index.php
This seems an excellent model to follow if you want to assign a webquest task in an online course.

An example of a wiki created by a K-12 class using these building blocks:
http://scook.cuip.net/~speretz/wikiwebquest/webquest.htm