Wiki Education Foundation (Wiki)
Organization background

Wikipedia is the most commonly accessed source of information by the general public for a variety of topics. For instance, it is the top source for health information on the web; it gets more traffic on medical articles than the NIH, WebMD, Mayo Clinic, NHO, or WHO. The Wikipedia readership of science articles is several times larger than the readership of all scientific publications combined.

According to the Pew Research Center, among web-connected American adults, 70% turn to the web to learn more about scientific topics, 52% use the web to fact-check scientific information, and 90% use a search engine first. Wikipedia has more links from search engines than any other website, and is often the first search result listed when people look for scientific information.

Wiki Education Foundation is associated with the Wikimedia Foundation and is dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of topics that are of public interest.

Project background

America's higher education system offers extensive education in STEM – particularly in original research. However, scientists need to communicate their research findings in an accessible and easy-to-read format to the general public. The Wikipedia Student Program is an elegant solution that enhances the scientific training of students while making the scientific articles on Wikipedia more readable. Instead of writing a traditional term paper, university students are assigned by their professors to research and write Wikipedia articles on course topics. This allows STEM students to simplify complicated concepts and gain digital media literacy skills by creating and updating articles related to course topics on Wikipedia – skills that will help them further their careers whether they continue in academia or pursue a private-sector role. The end results is also better, more accurate content on the Wikipedia website. As of 2022, more than 102,000 students have participated in the program, and added more than 85 million words to Wikipedia.

GKF contributions to HAF