Week 2: Hot Topic Debate: Should Wikipedia Be Forbidden in Students' Social Studies Research?

This "hot topic" is an issue that I am faced with every semester being a high school social studies teacher.  As a matter of fact, I addressed the issue of Wikipedia with my college prep economics class just last week when I assigned a PowerPoint presentation for the them to complete.  The first question that was asked by the students was, "Can we use Wikipedia?"  Whenever I assign research projects, I always stipulate that Wikipedia should only be used when finding photos to use in a project or presentation (I always have them to document where the photo came from).  I do not allow my students(though some might get by with it without me knowing) to use Wikipedia for researching information, simply because anyone and everyone can edit a Wikipedia topic to state anything they would like to say.  For example, if I wanted to edit a Wikipedia post saying that I am on the Supreme Court of the United States, I could do it, and someone out in cyberspace would believe it.  I know that there are a lot of items on Wikipedia that are legitimate, including some great photos, but I do not believe that it is a great tool for students to learn and research information.  There are many websites that have legitimate information, cited by legitimate authors, who have researched the topic in full. When I assign research projects, I try to promote using primary sources, and they too can be found on the internet.  The internet is wonderful, and we use it in my classes a lot, but I have to make sure that  my students are researching and learning legitimate (factual) information about topics that are assigned.  I'm not saying to boycott Wikipedia in the classroom, but as educators, I think we need to double check what is on the Wikipedia site for our sake and our student's sake.