Free on-line text book

[Max dAyala]

Wiki GCSE Science Text Book

This looks like an interesting idea. I've found some of the reference sections in the main Wiki Encyclopedia to be very good.

The GCSE text book is currently mostly empty. It would be interesting to get students to fill in some sections. This would be a good revision and learning exercise. They could prepare a short entry and then add it.

Max

[Giuseppa Mauro]

I agree about the goal of the learning process.” In the end our priority is to help students become proficient,scientifically aware citizens” (Quote.N.Falk).

In the science subjects contents and experimental work must be related and balanced. Without knowledge,the experimental activity is not understood in the mechanisms and these give a great contribution to the learning process.

The National Curriculum probably in every country are prolix and do not keep in account the real situation of the students, then perhaps it is necessary to select the contents and look at the real life events

Primo Levi in one of his book writes: […] il laboratorio.: […}. Un'esperienza straordinaria. In primo luogo perché toccavi con mano[….} E poi il laboratorio era un centro di socializzazione. […] Era il lavoro di équipe […].

[...] Credo che ogni chimico conservi del laboratorio [..] un ricordo dolce e pieno di nostalgia. [...] se ne usciva [ ..] con la sensazione di avere “imparato a fare una cosa; il che, la vita lo insegna, è diverso dall’avere “imparato una cosa”.

Translation. […] the laboratory. An extraordinary experience.First of all because you touch everything with your hand […]. Then the laboratory was the place where to socialize.[..]:It was a team work […].

[…] I believe that each chemist keeps of the laboratory [….] a sweet and nostalgic memory.

[…] he (or she) was coming out […] with the sensation of having” learned to do something” which is different from having “learned something”.

[John Simkin]

Wiki GCSE Science Text Book

This looks like an interesting idea. I've found some of the reference sections in the main Wiki Encyclopedia to be very good.

On the surface this sounds a good idea. However, the reality of asking people to supply content has some undesirable consequences. What people often do it to donate material they have found on existing websites. I have had several emails from regular visitors to my website warning me that people are posting material from my website onto the Wiki website and claiming it is their work.

[Max dAyala]

Plagarism is always a problem. In the case of the free encyclopedias people should put a link to other web pages rather than copy information.

I'm not sure how strictly information that is added to the encyclopedia is checked, if at all. I would have thought to protect themselves they would at least do some sort of key phrase search to see if information has been illegally copied from other web sites.

Max

[Graham Davies]

Plagiarism and Copyright Issues

The ICT4LT site has a section on Plagiarism in one of its modules (Module 4.1, Section 7): http://www.ict4lt.org. A relevant extract follows. We have also set up a page of guidelines regarding Copyright at the ICT4LT site: http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_copyright.htm

Having been an external examiner for a number of different universities over the past 10 years, I am acutely aware of the growing problem of plagiarism among students – and among staff members too! As a partner in a publishing business and as a webmaster responsible for two websites, I am also acutely aware of the need to be on one’s guard against breaches of copyright. Just because something is publicly visible on the Web it does not imply that it is copyright-free. The standard legislation regarding copyright and conventions of bibliographical referencing apply to materials gleaned from the Web in just the same way as they do to materials gleaned from books and other sources.

Here is the relevant extract from ICT4LT Module 4.1, Section 7:

Detecting plagiarism

Software packages that detect plagiarism already exist:

One example is Cerberus, developed by Jozef Colpaert, University of Antwerp, and Wilfried Decoo, who is currently teaching at Brigham Young University, USA.

Cerberus can be downloaded from:

http://www.didascalia.be/cerberus.htm

Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Another example is EVE2: see http://www.canexus.com/eve, which tracks down Internet sources of plagiarism and supports MS Word and Corel Word Perfect files. A trial version can be downloaded.

There are particular problems with detection of plagiarism by university students, and even by academic staff, which create the need for this type of software. This is considered sufficiently alarming for the university funding councils in the UK to have set up a project looking at the whole issue. The project website is worth a visit for anyone wishing to find out more about this issue: see the JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service at http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk

[Guest Adrian Dingle]

Am I missing something or is this open to monumental abuse where "experts" post utter garbage and claim it as fact? Is this stuff reviewed and monitored by people before being published?

[Graham Davies]

Adrian writes:

Am I missing something or is this open to monumental abuse where "experts" post utter garbage and claim it as fact? Is this stuff reviewed and monitored by people before being published?

Yes, that's the nature of the Web. Everyone is an instant expert

As an experienced editor of both printed and online materials, I find the whole idea appalling and fraught with problems.

[John Simkin]

As an experienced editor of both printed and online materials, I find the whole idea appalling and fraught with problems.

There is also an added problem. As a result of the Wiki Encyclopedia getting a great number of links from other websites, its entries often appear near the top of Google rankings.