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By Tim Kuzara , Katie Stover, and Crystal Glover

The Why, What, & How of Wikis: Building Background Knowledge & Demonstrating Understanding in the Content Areas. By Tim Kuzara , Katie Stover, and Crystal Glover. What is background knowledge?. “… what a person already knows about the content. ” – Robert Marzano

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By Tim Kuzara , Katie Stover, and Crystal Glover

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  1. The Why, What, & How of Wikis:Building Background Knowledge & Demonstrating Understanding in the Content Areas By Tim Kuzara, Katie Stover, and Crystal Glover

  2. What is background knowledge? • “…what a person already knows about the content.” – Robert Marzano • “…all knowledge learners have when entering a learning environment that is potentially relevant for acquiring new knowledge” (Biemans & Simons, 1996, p.6). • The whole of a person’s knowledge, including explicit and tacit knowledge, metacognitive and conceptual knowledge (Dochy & Alexander, 1995)

  3. Significance of building background knowledge • “…the research literature supports one compelling fact: what students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they learn new information relative to the content.” (Marzano, 2004, p. 1)

  4. Benefits of building students’ background knowledge • Improves students’ recall of information • Increases students’ reading comprehension of relevant reading materials • Clarifies misconceptions based on prior knowledge • Helps teachers determine the extent of instruction necessary in a particular area • Enables students to connect curriculum content to their own cultures and experiences

  5. Why use Wikis to build background knowledge? • Provides a 21st century tool to allow students to tap into and build their background knowledge and demonstrate their learning through a collection of multimedia presentations • Increases motivation and engagement • Encourages student collaboration and participation • Allows users to access and display content specific information from a variety of sources

  6. What is a Wiki? • According to Knobel & Lankshear, "a wiki is a collection of webpages where content is typically organized around a specific purpose or topic" (2009, p. 621). • Wikis are collaborative learning environments where students can collaborate with their peers to use problem solving, critical thinking, as well as reading and writing strategies.

  7. Sample Wikis • A familiar example of a wiki is www.wikipedia.org.   • Wiki for middle school teachers - http://newlits.wikispaces.com/ • Wiki about teaching 21st century skills http://21stcenturyskillsnmteachercourse.wikispaces.com/ • Wiki about teaching online http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Wikis_in_Online_Education

  8. How do we create a Wiki? • View this short video on how to create a wiki vhttp://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english • Go towww.pbworks.com to create an account and set up wiki

  9. How can a Wiki be used in the Content Area Classroom? • After students have interacted with the teacher-created wiki, the teacher can scaffold their learning to begin to create their own wikis • This encourages student-centered thinking and learning leading to more ownership over their learning • Students can create wikis to demonstrate their learning •  Create various pages to incorporate vocabulary – more than just a definition but include photos, videos, etc. • Wikis may serve as formative and summative assessment tool

  10. Resources • Biemans, H. J. A., & Simons, P. R. (1996). CONTACT-2: A computer-assisted instructional strategy for promoting conceptual change. Instructional Science, 24(2), 157-176. • Dochy, F. J. R. C., & Alexander, P. A. (1995). Mapping prior knowledge: A framework for discussion among researchers. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 10(3), 225-242 • Marzano, R. J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on what works in schools. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 1703 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311.

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