I love Wikis and use Wikipedia all the time both for personal and professional use. I think there is a lot to be said when using one of the educational Wiki projects in the classroom. For example codeblue is a site for 6th grade students learning about body systems. When I was a 6th grade teacher this site would have been WONDERFUL! I think putting as much technology in the classroom helps keep the students interested especially b/c of their love of computers. However I do think that Wikis may be to advanced for some grade levels like the Go West site for third graders. It is really neat and educational, but I think a little to advanced for a third grader to use by themselves. If the teacher is assigning it as a parent-student resource/assignment then it could be useful as part of homework, but individually I think it is to much. That said the wiki site for kindergartners was actually on level. My oldest son is in kindergarten and we looked at the site together and he actually could "play/interact" on the site.
I still think wikis are the coolest, but the site needs to be appropriate for the age or group it is developed for. I am not sure that I could do better, even in the Go West site, which I thought was to high for the audience, was very interesting and the appearance of the site made you want to dig deeper. The only other problem or really concern about wikis are that people with ill intent will change or add things that are not true and people will believe them because it is written. This is the danger is editing without guidance. But, that is the risk you take when using the Internet as a tool. It is public...
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