The Roundup: Tiny machines

Modern technology requires tiny, precisely manufactured parts. If you want to know how those parts are made, you can thank students in Dr. Ashis Banerjee’s Introduction to Manufacturing Processes class (first section; second section) at the University of Washington for the work they did across articles related to manufacturing processes. Take a look at the … Continued

The Roundup: Evolution and Wikipedia

Ever wonder why some plants will flower, set seed, and die in a single year while others keep going, sometimes for centuries? A student in Kasey Fowler-Finn’s Advanced Evolution class created a new article which looks at this big question: annual vs. perennial plant evolution. We generally think of fermentation as something that happens when … Continued

Wikipedia: Putting plants under the microscope

If you want to understand how a plant works, it helps to be able to see cells and tissues. That’s easy in a biology lab with microscopes and prepared slides. Once you leave that world, though, it becomes more difficult to see the structures beneath things. Wikipedia articles tend to be well-illustrated, with pictures of … Continued

New online orientation helps instructors find articles for assignments

Picking the right Wikipedia article for student editors is an exciting, but challenging, task. Topics for term papers can be re-used every year, because only the instructor reads them. The social and instructional benefit of a Wikipedia project come from the thousands of people can read— and benefit from—what students have written. This means finding … Continued