Get a better encyclopedia than buying real encyclopedias...
It used to be a sign of status - a well-educated family would almost certainly have a set of encyclopedias on their bookshelf.
We didn't have any... well, I had a couple of volumes from the 80s that we found at garage sales. If I did a report on anything that wasn't in 'F', 'K' or 'W', I had to beg my friends to bring a volume over for me.
Kids today have it so easy - access to the Internet means the wealth of human knowledge is at your fingertips.
Wikipedia is a terrific resource, albeit one that receives a lot of skepticism. I think it's an excellent resource for students to use to get a basic overview of a subject. The important thing is to always stress to students and Wikipedia is not the perfect authority and they should be skeptical of anything they find in there.
It is an excellent starting point, however, and one that can be used by schools.
In a brilliant move, Wikipedia has released a DVD selection of the most relevant topics to education, packing 5500 articles into one DVD, complete with 34 000 images.
It's available on BitTorrent, so schools can download the ISO, free of charge, then burn to as many DVDs or USB sticks as needed. Then, even without internet connectivity, the resource can be used.
Unlike the real Wikipedia, this collection has been filtered, using the most relevant articles, and removing any inappropriate or vandalized content. Instead, the content is focused into portals, which is probably a more efficient method of displaying data, rather than the old print encyclopedia, which listed items alphabetically.
Here we benefit from the advantage of search engine magic, allowing students to find relevant topics easily.
The best thing is that this is a free alternative to subscription-based services. Free also means that the information is not chained with DRM or any other invasive copyright protection.
Instead of buying an encyclopedia set, I encourage you to download the ISO image off BitTorrent!
We didn't have any... well, I had a couple of volumes from the 80s that we found at garage sales. If I did a report on anything that wasn't in 'F', 'K' or 'W', I had to beg my friends to bring a volume over for me.
Kids today have it so easy - access to the Internet means the wealth of human knowledge is at your fingertips.
Wikipedia is a terrific resource, albeit one that receives a lot of skepticism. I think it's an excellent resource for students to use to get a basic overview of a subject. The important thing is to always stress to students and Wikipedia is not the perfect authority and they should be skeptical of anything they find in there.
It is an excellent starting point, however, and one that can be used by schools.
In a brilliant move, Wikipedia has released a DVD selection of the most relevant topics to education, packing 5500 articles into one DVD, complete with 34 000 images.
It's available on BitTorrent, so schools can download the ISO, free of charge, then burn to as many DVDs or USB sticks as needed. Then, even without internet connectivity, the resource can be used.
Unlike the real Wikipedia, this collection has been filtered, using the most relevant articles, and removing any inappropriate or vandalized content. Instead, the content is focused into portals, which is probably a more efficient method of displaying data, rather than the old print encyclopedia, which listed items alphabetically.
Here we benefit from the advantage of search engine magic, allowing students to find relevant topics easily.
The best thing is that this is a free alternative to subscription-based services. Free also means that the information is not chained with DRM or any other invasive copyright protection.
Instead of buying an encyclopedia set, I encourage you to download the ISO image off BitTorrent!
