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CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND PEDAGOGY article

Front. Educ.

Sec. STEM Education

Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1620804

This article is part of the Research TopicImmunology Education: In the Classroom and BeyondView all 12 articles

Development and evaluation of a Wikipedia based group assessment to enhance science communication

Provisionally accepted
  • 1School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia
  • 2School of Information and Communication Studies, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia
  • 3Gulbali Institute & School of Dentistry and Medical Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia
  • 4Wikimedia Australia, Marleston, Australia
  • 5Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, United States
  • 6School of Dentistry and Medical Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

This project, conducted in collaboration with Wikimedia Australia, introduced an assessment that aimed to enhance science communication skills among third-year microbiology students. With assistance from Wikimedia Australia, suitable Wikipedia articles on immunology topics were selected. All concepts had been covered in course content. Students worked in groups to evaluate these Wikipedia articles, assessing their accuracy, organization, verifiability, depth, and suitability for a general audience. Each group also generated an AI-created article on the same topic and evaluated it using the same criteria. The final report compared the AI-generated content with the Wikipedia article, focusing on key measures of science communication: accuracy, clarity, relevance, and reliability. The evaluation highlighted strengths and areas for improvement in both types of content, providing recommendations for enhancing Wikipedia articles. Students also submitted a reflection on the importance of information literacy and science communication in the digital age.After submission, a survey on students' perspectives of the assignment was completed by 64% of the class (N=42). Most students found the assignment to be a novel experience compared to previous tasks. Notably, 60% found it useful, and half indicated that they learned from their peers through the collaborative process. Students rated the readability of both Wikipedia and AI articles and assessed the accuracy and their suitability for a general audience. Additionally, students noted differences in output when generating AI articles, developing their AI literacy skills. The readability of Wikipedia articles compared to other scientific literature (textbooks and journal articles) was also rated, with 45% of students assessing these Wikipedia articles on immunology topics as not pitched for a general audience. By completing this assignment students reported gaining essential graduate competencies such as critical thinking, analysis, communication, and teamwork, as well as a better understanding of Wikipedia and AI. Students also shared their perspectives on whether they would consider using Wikipedia and AI for future assignments.

Keywords: Wikipedia, AI, Science Communication, Information Literacy, critical evaluation

Received: 30 Apr 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Mroczek, Mitchell, McSharry, Woods, Spry, Paustian and Vanniasinkam. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Katelyn Haley Mroczek, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia

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