Understanding the Upper-Level Chemistry Students’ Perspective on Science Communication through Wikipedia Project-Based Learning

Students and the public rely on Wikipedia as an information source; it is often the first “hit” in a Google search of nearly every topic, and most people (and some professors!) choose to use it as an initial reference point when investigating a topic. This creates a need for the most up-to-date, accessible, and accurate scientific information on Wikipedia. However, few trained graduate-level chemists have practice writing about complex chemistry concepts for consumption by a broad audience. The open-source editing format of Wikipedia provides an easy platform for educators to promote science communication training within a graduate-level course. We designed an end-of-term Wikipedia writing project for a graduate-level course in physical organic chemistry. This adaptable project-based intervention gauged graduate-level chemistry students’ definitions of science communication and acted as a means to incorporate written science communication practice into the graduate chemistry curriculum.