Wikipedia

I did a search on 'fly' in wikipedia and found that there was a lot of information as I was expecting. What I was not expecting was that there was also a video on a fly cleaning itself. If my grade 2 class had performed a search on Wikipedia to gain some background information on flies, they would have also found this little video. It was very long but I found it fascinating to watch.

There was a lot of information on the page and a lot of it was in technical language. As I was looking at Wikipedia for use in a grade 2 class, I wouldn't use it as a device that the students could use by themselves. It think a lot of the students would have trouble reading and understanding the language used. I would be able to use Wikipedia in a class if the students were watching and listening as I directed them through the webpage and explained different terms. I would need to summarise the webpage and put it into a language that the students would be able to understand. I think they would find the little video on the page very interesting and it would captivate their attention. It is embedded below for you to have a look at.

For an older class, I think wikipedia would be a great tool to use for students to perform some background research independently.