Use of Wikipedia in science projects

[inquisitive]

Why does Science Buddies use Wikipedia as a source on a lot of their projects? There is so much bad press about the validity and reliability of the information found on Wikipedia - it is not accepted in most schools as a reliable source for research papers.

[deleted-71827]

Wikipedia may be used sometimes as a starting point for general ideas. However, the Science Buddies guides are meant to be a springboard for students to develop their own ideas and to, of course, use more accepted sources of information to back up their scientific studies.

[amyC]

Hi - Staryl13 is right about the use of Wikipedia as a "springboard." That is true, in fact, of all the resources we include in the bibliographies of the project ideas at Science Buddies. I appreciate you raising your question here, and it is something we take very seriously at Science Buddies.

I spoke with our Lead Staff Scientist who works on the development of all project ideas to get her perspective. Here is her response:

"We fully understand your concerns about teaching students to find good, reliable sources of information. This is a topic that comes up often at Science Buddies, and Wikipedia is regularly talked about in connection with that goal. To put our actions in context let me first explain that we consider the Bibliography in one of our Project Ideas to be a starting place. Our goal is to give a few sources that will allow students to get a handle on the concepts. Students should be using that starting information as a basis for supplementing our listings with their own research work.

At times, Wikipedia is a resource where many of the concepts or facts are all in one place. When we cite a Wikipedia article, you’ll notice that we use a permanent link. This permanent link refers back to a version of the Wikipedia article that one of our staff scientists has read and done his or her best to ascertain its accuracy. In that sense, we’re providing vetted Wikipedia content.

Often, students would be able to turn to an entry in a book – like an encyclopedia – for the same information. But we don’t know which books our audience has available to them. Since the students are using our website, we know they have Internet access, so we try to give them online sources to get their research started. We search for the best possible options for age-appropriate, accurate, advertising-free, information. Teachers and parents, with their first-hand knowledge of the resources available to each student, will be able to further direct students to appropriate, reliable materials at their local school and public library."

I hope that helps. If you have any additional questions, please let us know.

Amy
Science Buddies