The APBioWiki. is an integral part of this course. It's a place in which we will build a common knowledge base about AP biology. Wikis are persistent, so, it's a way to pass knowledge from one year's offering of the course to the next as well as to interested viewers in the wider world outside the class.
We'll be doing something similar to Wikipedia but narrowly focused on the domain of this course.
During the course of the semester, students will must make at least 10 substantive contributions to the APBioWiki.
What is a "substantive" contribution? It's one that...
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is at least 2 paragraphs long, with each paragraph consisting of at least 5 sentences,
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contains at least two links to some other entry in the wiki and at least one to an external URL, and
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focuses on one important person, place, thing, event, fact, concept or principle that is squarely within the domain of this course.
Other requirements for this assignment:
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At least 2 of the ten postings must include an image file, sized no larger than 300 x 300.
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The student should refine or enhance at least three postings created by others in the class.
Each of these five requirements counts for 20 of the 100 total points for this assignment. The wiki software will keep track of all contributions.
Content
What should their contribution be about? The students are the target users of this resource, so the first driver of the content should be what interests the student within this domain. With any luck, the diversity of their collective interests will result in a wiki that broadly covers the field of biology and answers the kind of questions that will result in a deeper understanding.
How do you find the data for your contribution?
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Take a look at the Links page on the navigation bar for the course.
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Take a look at the themes, topics and concepts in the AP Biology Course Description.
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Select and read a book from the AP Biology "Great Books" list.
What kinds of entries should the students make? Just to assure that there is variety in their contributions, have students think about the categories of things one might write about. Here are some possible categories:
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People (e.g., Charles Darwin, Rosalind Franklin)
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Themes (e.g., Science as a Process, Regulation)
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Topics (e.g., Gene Regulation, Ecology)
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Concepts (e.g., How does protein structure effect enzyme action? How do the unique chemical and physical properties of water make life on earth possible?
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Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (e.g., Stem Cell research, Privacy and Confidentiality of Genetic Information)
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Great Scientific Debates (e.g., How old is the earth? Lord Kelvin vs. Charles Darwin, What makes us sick? Sir Joseph Lister/ Louis Pasteur v. Bloodletting)
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Science Fiction or Non-fiction Books that I've read (e.g., Jurassic Park,The Hot Zone)
Their contributions should not all be of one of these types. Try for a variety of these.
Due Dates
October 13, 2004. By this date, students make a posting to the Wiki Forum listing the names and a short description of all 10 entries you'll be making. Look at what's already posted first so that there are no duplications.
After that time, start searching the web and the library for the information they'll need to make theirentries. For now, write them in single Word document. On October 3, we'll devote class time to the mechanics of actually posting them in the wiki.
December 1, 2004. On this date your contributions to the wiki will be tallied and assigned a grade. You can paste in the process description given to students on the student page and then interleave the additional details that a teacher might need.
In order to pull this lesson off, a teacher would need to understand and be comfortable with guiding students in the mechanics of actually posting to the wiki: creating new pages, adding images and links. The teacher provides the template for the wiki. Free wiki server space is available at http://www.seedwiki.com. The wiki server software is available at no cost to install locally.
I have no fear of implementing this immediately when school starts. We will repeat the WikiWebQuest for the second semester as well.