Abstract:

This research stems from an observation: either university, high school and basic school students use with little criticism the information available on the Internet and, in particular, in Wikipedia. These students are designated as digital natives. They have grown up with these technologies but seem to use them in a very superficial way. While investigating this problem, we also improve the information literacy of the students through an integration of Wikipedia in the classroom within the compulsory curriculum. This will be achieved through a pedagogical-didactic activity embodied in a curricular unit which has as the end product an Wikipedia article, collaboratively created by the students.
Wikipedia is a source of knowledge and a space of possibility for knowledge production, since it is edited anonymously and in a self-regulated way. Also, it provides a context for work within the framework of multiliteracies skills. So this study is based on two integrated dimensions: epistemological and philosophical; and the pragmatic pretext for teaching and learning in a different way. Thus, the study explores the relationship of students with knowledge in the active situation of writing for Wikipedia, trying to raise awareness of the socially constructed nature of knowledge either the official/social or individual one.
This is not about using technology for technology. It is about using a technology that allows introducing activities in the classroom that would not be possible without it. The object of study sets up the problem of student’s management of information available on the Internet.
This is an exploratory case study carried out in an atmosphere of critical action research that considers several levels of education (4th, 6th, 8th, 9th grade basic school, 12th grade, high school), different subjects (Portuguese, Music education, Mathematics, ICT) and different public schools in several small towns in Portugal.
It involves nearly 200 students, and 7 teachers. The techniques for data collection are participant observation, inquiry by questionnaire, knowledge tests, and document analysis.

Some references:
Carr, Nicholas (2010). The Shallows. How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember. London: Atlantic Books.
Garvoille, A. & Buckner, G. (2009). Writing Wikipedia Pages in the Constructivist Classroom. In G. Siemens & C. Fulford (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2009 (pp. 1600-1605). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Jandric, Petar (2010).Wikipedia and education: anarchist perspectives and virtual practices. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, vol.8. no.2. Pp. 48-73.
Kress, G. (2010). The profound shift of digital literacies. In J. Gillen & D. Barton (Eds.) Digital Literacies. London: TLR & London Knowledge Lab.
Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2008). New Literacies: everyday practices & Classroom Learning. Berkshire: Open University Press/MacGraw-Hill
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001.
Tapscott (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the net generation. New York: McGraw Hill.
Tardy, C. M. (2010). Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing. English Teaching Forum, Number 1, pp. 12-27.

Keywords:

Wikipedia, wikipedia in the classroom, knowledge construction, informational literacy, multiliteracies.