Wikipedia

When I was in school and we needed to look up information we went to the dictionary or to the row of encyclopedias, chose the correct volume, carried it back to our desks, and searched for the information.  Today, students simply need to go to the Internet, type in the word, and they will receive more sites with information than they will ever have time to read.  Typically, one of the first sites that comes up is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.

  In Literacy 2.0 by Frey, Fisher, and Gonzalez (2010), Margaret Santori introduces her students to the discussion tab of a Wikipedia entry, where people are able to have educated discussions about each of the topics on the site.  Santori and her students then discuss the ways the online discussion is similar to their discussion in the classroom.This activity may be a little more difficult with Kindergarten students, but I think that modeling appropriate use of the Internet and explaining to students why I am choosing the sites I am choosing is very beneficial to them.  We spend a lot of time in Kindergarten working on social skills and this activity would give us an opportunity to do so while integrating technology.  When looking up information on the Internet, I search for sites other than Wikipedia, but after reading the chapter of this book, I am able to see the importance of teaching students how to be informed users of the Internet.

Picture taken from: http://www.notebookcomputerssmall.com/category/computer-kids/

Reference: Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Gonzalez, A. (2010). Literacy 2.0 Reading and writing in 21^st century classrooms. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.