Wiki in the Classroom

Although I have an initial reluctance to use wikis in the classroom, if used properly I can see them as a useful tool. According to Wikipedia a wiki is a “web sight that uses wiki software ease the creation and editing any number of interlinked web pages...” I have begun a wiki to use in my history classes. It is broken down into three sections: Arizona history, United States history, and World history. The purpose of this wiki is to show that history is more about the fascinating art, architecture, ideas and concepts.

The way I chose to do is to show the magnificent history I have seen in my travel. Learning by interacting with history has been one of the greatest thrills of my life; it was also a great influence on my becoming a history teacher.

My expectation for classroom use would be for anyone, but primarily my students to document historical places and tell what they learned. I would expect them to not only document what they learned firsthand from their visit, but also do some follow up research. One example in my wiki is my visit to the Coliseum in Rome. I chose this one because it was not only a good example of architecture; it also is a good representation of the Romans way of life. The battles—man against man, man against beast, and battle recreations. The coliseum was the equivalent of our movie and Broadway theatres.

As you can see if people would contribute to this wiki in the way I intend it would be a very useful tool in presenting history. If the student would use it would also be a fun way to do research and document the research. Visit at http://calshistoryspace.wikispaces.com/.