Classic Articles in Context (CAC) is a new feature on the NSDL Wiki that integrates seminal works of scientific inquiry into a dynamic learning space for teachers and learners. In the first CAC feature, science historian James Fleming introduces 21 papers on climate change and anthropogenic (human-caused) greenhouse warming, from an 1824 essay by Fourier to a 1995 paper in the journal Climate Dynamics. Fleming’s essay and links to the complete text of the papers gives teachers resources they can use to portray science as a process that builds on discovery.

Callendar, G., “The Artificial Production of Carbon Dioxide and Its Influence on Temperature” (1938)

Each CAC feature will provide an accessible overview of a topic, showing how the selected papers influenced subsequent work and built toward scientists’ current shared understanding of the topic. The feature will include links to related NSDL teaching resources, as well as bibliographies of contemporary articles that cite the classic papers. “The idea here is to work with academic publishers to create a free showcase for what they publish,” says Michael Luby of NSDL Core Integration, who is building the site. He is working on other CAC features in the subjects of chemistry (the development and discovery of plastics) and physics (giant magnetoresistance). Luby is also developing “Timely Teaching,” a feature that will give publishers a place to share full-text contemporary journal articles on hot scientific topics for free use in classrooms.

The overall project, which goes by the name Primary Article Learning Environment (PALE), springs from a body of research that shows many benefits to exposing students to primary sources in scientific journal articles in addition to textbooks. Luby believes that the site will be particularly useful to instructors at community colleges and smaller regional institutions that are primarily focused on teaching, and where libraries may not have the budgets to support journal subscriptions. The interactive aspects of the wiki mean that the project might evolve in many different directions. Luby hopes that once the site gets going, users will add value to the resource as they build knowledge through contribution.