Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Mercer University/Teaching Social Studies for Elementary Education (Spring 2021)

This course, required for students in our elementary education program, is designed to develop candidates' ability to teach social studies in a K–5 classroom. In addition to their planning and pedagogical skills, candidates must demonstrate an exceptional level of knowledge of the disciplinary inquiry and forms of representation, as well as concepts, facts, and tools within and among the social studies disciplines of civics, economics, geography, history, and the social/behavioral sciences. Candidates must also make explicit connections to principles of theory and research to continually improve social studies knowledge, inquiry skills, and civic dispositions. As such, students in this course will contribute to Wikipedia by researching and writing content to fill content gaps relevant to their future teaching of social studies. Whether they choose to write new articles or make improvements to existing entries, this assignment offers the exciting opportunity to improve their digital literacy and practice public writing—and to help their future students do the same!

Week 2
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 4
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

Week 6
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Biographies

Cultural Anthropology

History

LGBT+ Studies

Political Science

Sociology

Women's Studies

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 7
Guiding framework

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

Week 8
You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
 * Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Week 9
Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the &quot;mainspace.&quot;

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Week 10
Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Week 11
Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 12
It's the final week to develop your article.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
 * Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Week 13
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.