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Education Reform and Computers: The Connection
WITH THE TRENDS of recent reform efforts in mind,
how does technology fit into the
scheme of revolutionizing education? Simply put,
computers provide ample assistance in
accomplishing numerous reform goals. From a structural
point of view, computer
networking is creating a professional bond between
teachers as well as administrators
never seen before in the history to education.
Traditionally, every classroom is an island
unto itself, with the teacher instructing, assessing
and remediating children with limited
contact with other teachers, even within the
same school. Networking allows teachers to
exchange lesson plans and advice and debate instructional
methodologies with peers
around the globe at the touch of a keyboard.
Instead of waiting for annual summer
conferences on successful education reform, they
can compare and contrast their work
with relative ease and speed. In a sense, the
Internet has created electronically a
professional fraternity between educators.
In terms of actual instruction, computers are
an invaluable tool for providing active
collaborative learning and assessment.
While basic word-processing programs allow
students to become independent publishers of
ideas and opinions, email provides
opportunities for "peer review" and group editing.
More sophisticated interactive
multimedia packages offer true inquiry-based
learning, where students must construct
and demonstrate solutions to a variety of in-class
projects. This is not to suggest that
computers are used in reform to replace the role
of the teacher; realistically that would be
both undesirable and impractical. Instead, the
computer must be recognized as an
effective teaching tool which assists the educator.
Software offer students individualized
learning, so while some students progress on
a subject at their own paces, those who
begin to fall behind can receive proper interpersonal
attention from the instructor. The
computer lets the teacher concentrate on interaction
and individualized assistance. In a
sense, because computers have proven to be a
successful tool of reform-minded schools
and educators, they are now inextricably linked
to the reform movement itself.
COMPUTERS OFFER TEACHERS innumerable methods of
enhancing successful
instruction. However, there are so many different
programs, networks and
computer-based lesson plans, educators often
struggle to decide which programs may be
appropriate for a given subject or class. Questions
of practicality, cost and simplicity
must also be considered. To get a better understanding
of how computers may be used in
the classroom, take a look at some of the systems
and services educators have used to
help their students learn and understand. These
examples cover a range of methods, uses
and levels of sophistication, from complex, yet
costly multimedia systems to simple word
processing and email-driven lessons. Following
each case are important issues for
discussion.
Combining Hi-Tech and Low-Tech Tools
A COMMON COMPLAINT of computers-in-the-classroom
critics is that instructional
computing cannot be seen as an end in itself,
for the mere introduction of high
technology in the classroom cannot solve all
of education's ills in an instant, as some
futurists would seem to suggest. But when computer
technology is treated as a tool which
complements the more traditional, yet active
elements of instruction, the ability of the
computer to expand education becomes more apparent.
Teaching with Apple IIs
UNFORTUNATELY, the vast majority of schools still
do not offer their students regular
access to high-speed, 16-bit computers, let alone
networked multimedia systems. But
even when forced to instruct with the assistance
of slower and less capable computers
such as the Apple II series, educators are finding
ways to turn relatively crude
technologies into highly successful teaching
tools.
Active Problem-Solving
There is a movement for reform in schools currently,
which centers around changing the
nature of the educational activity from teacher-led
lessons on subject matter content to
project-based work in which students are active
problem-solvers and theorists, while the
teacher plays more of a coaching role. Very often,
the complexity of the projects invites
collaborative work as a way to bring multiple
perspectives to the problem and for
students to learn from each other. We are seeing
collaborative problem-solving being
used all the way from elementary school classrooms
to professional education. This
reflects a shift in orientation from more traditional
models of instruction in which
knowledge is transmitted through lecture, text,
and worksheet to a more student-centered
approach designed to support individual construction
of understanding. Such a shift calls
for dramatic changes in the relationships both
of students to their teachers and of students
to their peers. The introduction of collaborative
problem solving follows naturally from
this shift in orientation.
Internet technology, just now beginning to enter
the schools, will create a demand for
integrated applications that combine work within
the classroom with electronic resources
brought in from outside the classroom.
REFERENCES
Koschmann, T.D. (Ed.) (1992). Computer support
for collaborative learning: Design,
theory, and research issues. Special issue of
ACM SIGCUE Outlook, 21(3).
Newman, D. (1992). Technology as support for school
structure and school restructuring.
Phi Delta Kappan, 74, 308-315.
Newman, D., Bernstein, S., & Reese, P. (1992).
Local infrastructures for school
networking: Current models and prospects (BBN
Rpt. No. 7726). Cambridge, MA: BBN
Systems and Technologies.
Olds, H.F. & Pearlman, R. (1992). Designing
a new American school. Phi Delta Kappan,
74, 296-298.
Paller, C. (1992, September). Separate realities:
The creation of the technological
underclass in America's public schools.
MacWorld, pp. 218-230.
Pea, R. (1993, May). Distributed multimedia learning
environments: The Collaborative
Visualization Project. Communications of
the ACM. (In press).
Pea, R. & Gomez, L. (1992). Distributed multimedia
learning environments: Why and
how? Interactive Learning Environments, 2, 73-110.
Scardamalia, M., Bereiter, C., Brett, C., Burtis,
P., Calhoun, C., & Smith Lea, N. (1992).
Educational applications of a networked communal
database. Interactive Learning
Environments, 2, 45-71.
Scardamalia, M., Bereiter, C., McLean, R.S., Swallow,
J. & Woodruff, E. (1989).
Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environments.
Journal of Educational
Computing Research, 5(1), 51-68.
Constructivism, Technology, and the Future of
Classroom Learning
Erik F. Strommen, Children's Television Workshop
Bruce Lincoln, Bank Street College
of Education, 1992
A framework for educational reform: Constructivism
How do we educate the "new child," raised in a
world of instant information, where
interactive technologies have led them to believe
they can act on the world with the press
of a button? Not by simply thinking up clever
ways to use computers in traditional
courses. Such exercises relegate technology to
a secondary, supplemental role that fails to
capitalize on its most potent strengths. What
is needed is a guiding philosophy that
suggests principled changes in the curriculum,
and effective uses of technology as part of
these changes. We think that this philosophy
must be constructivism, a theory of
cognitive growth and learning that has gained
many adherents in recent years (c.f.
Forman & Pufall, 1988; Newman, Griffin, and
Cole, 1989; Piaget, 1973; Resnick,
1989;Vygotsky, 1978).
A brief overview of constructivist ideas reveals
their utility. One foundational premise is
that children actively construct their knowledge.
Rather than simply absorbing ideas
spoken at them by teachers, or somehow internalizing
them through endless, repeated
rote practice, constructivism posits that children
actually invent their ideas. They
assimilate new information to simple, pre-existing
notions, and modify their
understanding in light of new data. In the process,
their ideas gain in complexity and
power, and with appropriate support children
develop critical insight into how they think
and what they know about the world as their understanding
increases in depth and detail.
Constructivism emphasizes the careful study of
the processes by which children create
and develop their ideas. Its educational applications
lie in creating curricula that match
(but also challenge) children's understanding,
fostering further growth and development
of the mind.
Two specific features of constructivist philosophy
hold particular promise. The first is the
notion, borrowed from research in child development,
that play and experimentation are
valuable forms of learning (c.f. Daiute, 1989;
Garvey,1977; Herron & Sutton-Smith,
1971). Play involves the consideration of novel
combinations of ideas, and the
hypothetical outcomes of imagined situations
and events. It is a form of mental
exploration in which children create, reflect
on, and work out their understanding.
Actual experimentation, the manipulation and testing
of ideas in reality, provides
children with direct, concrete feedback about
the accuracy of their ideas as they work
them out. Both play and exploration are self-structured
and self-motivated processes of
learning. Both also encourage children to reflect
on their ideas in ways generally not
promoted by current school curricula.
Play and experimentation are powerful forces in
the development of the individual mind,
but constructivism has led to the additional
discovery that powerful gains are made when
children work together, as well. A growing body
of research on collaborative or
cooperative learning has demonstrated the benefits
of children working with other
children in collective learning efforts (Johnson,
Maruyama, Johnson,Nelson, & Skon,
1981; Rysavy & Sales, 1991). When children
collaborate, they share the process of
constructing their ideas, instead of simply laboring
individually. The advantages of this
collective effort are that children are able
to reflect on and elaborate not just their own
ideas, but those of their peers as well. Children
come to view their peers not as
competitors but as resources. Mutual tutoring,
a sense of shared progress and shared
goals, and a feeling of teamwork are the natural
outcomes of cooperative
problem-solving, and these processes have been
shown to produce substantial advances
in learning.
The focus of constructivism, then, is the child
as a self- governed creator of knowledge.
Educational practices that follow from this focus
are designed to facilitate children's
learning by nurturing their own, active cognitive
abilities. To accomplish this end, a
supportive environment, one in which they can
create their own ideas, both individually
and collaboratively, must be provided. We have
chosen the term "child-driven learning
environment" (CDLE) to describe this new model
of education. Two key features of
CDLEs are the changed relationship between teacher
and student, and the provision of a
resource-rich, activity-based curriculum for
learning. In traditional classrooms, the
teacher's role is that of the sole giver of knowledge
and the student's role is that of the
passive recipient. A CDLE does away with this
hierarchic structure and operates
according to an egalitarian, cooperative structure
where the ideas and interests of the
children drive the learning process. The teacher
serves as a guide, rather than the source,
of knowledge. The performance required for this
new role is far more complex than
traditional classroom teaching (Ringstaff, Sandholtz,
and Dwyer, 1991). The teacher
engages the children by helping to organize and
assist them as they take the initiative in
their own self-directed explorations, instead
of directing their learning autocratically.
Flexibility is the most important feature of
the new role the teacher will have to play
in such an environment. In a CDLE, sometimes
teachers will find that their role tends
towards the old model of teacher as giver of
knowledge because at that particular time,
students require guidance and training in a particular
task or content area. More often,
the teacher will be moving around the classroom,
among groups of children, assisting
individual children or the group as a whole.
Technology and child-driven learning
Technology takes a special place in the CDLE as
a powerful tool for children's learning
by doing. Children's traditional classroom tools
- pencils, notebooks, and texts - are still
vital. But for children to assemble and modify
their ideas, access and study information,
they are inadequate. Computers, video, and other
technologies engage children with the
immediacy they are used to in their everyday
lives, and bends it to anew pedagogical
purpose. Really, it is not what equipment is
used in the classroom, but how that
equipment is used that will make the difference.
We think that technology must be
thought of as an integral component of the curriculum,
a chameleon-like tool that can be
used with almost any content. Computers can be
used as writing tools, spreadsheets, and
mathematical problem-solvers.
Technology makes possible the instant exchange
of information between classrooms as
well as individual students; it allows instant
access to databases and online information
services, and provides multimedia technical resources
such as interactive audio and
video. Technology also allows for the repurposing
of pre-existing educational materials
across media formats: print, static illustrations,
still and digital photographs, digital
audio, still and motion video, still and motion
film, animations, computer graphics, and
hypermedia can all be accessed and combined in
novel ways.
While some have expressed fear that traditional
sources of information may be ignored or
underutilized, our experience is that the opposite
is actually true. Books, magazines,
periodicals, newspapers, journals and other so-called
"traditional" print materials are
integral information sources providing at-hand
information that serves as a crucial
complement to computer-based information sources.
In actual practice, there is a cross
fertilization of information sources across media
formats as children incorporate
information gleaned from readings, as well as
other media, into their projects. In urban
settings, where large and diverse sets of archival
information, both in texts and images,
are available technology has a particularly powerful
role to play. Historical and scientific
information formerly limited to a single extant
photo, or available only in a single copy
of a book, can achieve greater exposure because
it can be reclaimed or "repurposed," as a
computer file that can be copied and distributed
easily and effectively.
An example
How would the "new" CDLE classroom look? The contrast
between a CDLE and the
conventional classroom are best illustrated by
example. Consider two hypothetical junior
high school classrooms teaching computer programming.
In a traditional classroom, the
teacher lectures to the students each day about
a particular procedure, while the children
sit at desks and listen or take notes. Assigned
readings are the dominant medium. The
class is held in the computer lab, and children
take turns working individually at the
computers on weekly or bi-weekly programming
assignments. Competence in
programming is assessed via written tests, and
through evaluation of the weekly programs
written by the children to prove their competence
with the assigned programming
procedure.
The same curricula covered in a CDLE looks very
different. The Visual Language
Laboratory (VLL), developed and implemented by
the second author of this paper at New
York's Bank Street College, is a course in programming
using the MacIntosh Hypercard
environment that is meant to embody the CDLE
model. The students are so-called
"at-risk" Black and Latino junior high school
students. Rather than lead the children
through a teacher-directed, step-by- step introduction
to Hypercard procedures, the class
is organized around student-originated projects
that utilize the Hypercard system as
anexpressive medium. The focus on single complex
projects, rather than on a series of
smaller exercises embodying different Hypercard
procedures, deserves comment. First,
requiring the children to conceive of and execute
an entire program by the end of the
course presents them with a rich, open-ended,
self-directed task in which they can
explore the various procedures and how they interact,
rather than simply learn them in
isolation from one another, in a rote fashion.
Second, the emphasis on an end-product
grounds children in a meaningful task, in which
an initial idea is seen to undergo changes
as it is turned into an actual product.
The class is organized as a four-step process.
The first step is exploration. During this
period, the children are introduced to the MacIntosh
system, and allowed to explore
various pre-existing Hypercard programs, so they
become familiar with the capabilities of
the programming language. The second step is
conceptualization, during which the
children devise a “storyboard" or "flowchart"
of their own proposed program. The third
step is production, where the children assemble
the materials needed for their project and
make a first attempt at developing the actual
program. This step often involves
children spending time outside the classroom,
either composing the text to be included in
their program, or assembling the images and sound
content that will be used. This initial
program, and all previous versions to date, are
submitted to the educator for evaluation at
this point. This phase is analogous to having
children submit a first draft of a paper for
review by the teacher in a regular classroom.
The final phase is post-production. During
this period, students modify the design and scripting
of their projects in response to
feedback from the educator and other students,
in order to address problems
encountered in the design process. Finishing
touches such as full sound tracks and special
effects are added at the end of this period.
The final product, and all previous versions,
are submitted to the teacher. The class culminates
in a public presentation of the
completed projects, to which parents, other educators,
and students, are invited.
Several specific outcomes of this project, now
in its second year, are noteworthy. The
first is the nature of the student projects.
In traditional programming classes, students are
permitted to produce only a narrow set of types
of programs as their projects. In the VLL,
where students can select their own project content,
programs such as animated street
scenes, branching stories based on rap lyrics,
and interactive picture books are common.
An examination of the structure of these programs
reveals that they employ the
Hypercard procedures that were the focus of the
curriculum in a complex and intelligent
manner. Second, although the classroom contains
one computer per student, making it
possible for all children to work individually,
active collaboration among children was
the rule. In fact, the children seldom work alone,
even when they are each using their
own computer. Without prompting, the children's
projects spontaneously became group
efforts. It is common to observe one child tutoring
another in a new procedure, or two
children making recommendations for improvement
in each others' project designs while
they are working on them.
Third, the role of the teacher is significantly
more complex. He has many roles: project
manager, tutor, and lecturer. The teacher is
a member of the team, and not the focus of
the classroom. He provides technical assistance
and creative consultation, rather than
directs the children in the creation of narrowly
defined tasks. Students generally turn to
the teacher for assistance when needed, but otherwise
his role is more that of a colleague
than of a superior. In actuality, the teacher
also becomes a student as the children
discover new procedures and instruct the teacher
in their use. On several occasions, the
teacher was surprised when students demonstrated
different new uses of the Hypercard
system that he had not seen before!
Finally, the children spend much time performing
other pedagogically significant activity
that is not directly computer related. The children
practice library research skills, for
example, as they search for images and text to
include in their programs. They also
practice writing, as they compose their own poetry
and prose for inclusion as well. Such
writing (mainly inspired by rap!) is a major
feature of many of the children's projects.
Getting there from here
It should be apparent from the previous discussion
that while crucial, we believe that
technology in and of itself cannot be the focus
of the changes that are needed in
American education. As noted by Riel (1990),
"...new tools alone do not create
educational change. The power is not in the tool
but in the community that can be
brought together and the collective vision that
they share for redefining classroom
learning (p.35)." We believe that what is needed
is a wholesale revision of
educational practice that focuses on children's
own competencies, the ones they bring
with them upon entering school. Technology
is vital to this effort because it is a medium
with its own, new forms of discourse that our
children already grasp. They can turn their
understanding of this new medium to their advantage
when so instructed. The key to
success lies in finding the appropriate points
for integrating technology into a new
pedagogical practice, so that it supports the
deeper, more reflective self-directed activity
children must use if they are to be competent
adults in the future.
As we see it, there are two distinct obstacles
to implementing the dramatic changes our
educational system needs. The first is the systemic
lack of awareness of the appropriate
uses of technology in our schools today. There
is a long historical precedent for this lack
of knowledge (Collins, 1990). The classroom has
traditionally been the last institutional
space in our society to be penetrated by any
new technology, be it calculators, VCRs, or
computers (Soloway, 1991). This is partially
the result of limited budgets, and partially
the result of limited experience on the part
of educators and administrators - it is
difficult to conceive of pedagogically sound
ways to apply a technology when you are not
familiar with it. Similarly, our teacher's colleges
and institutions of higher education have
not made it a priority to reflect on the pedagogical
potential of technology when teachers
are trained. The normative tendency in education
has been, unfortunately, to treat
computers and other electronic media as add-
ons. The result of this practice is that
computers become little more than "electronic
workbooks," bearing an awkward and
peripheral relationship to an otherwise unchanged
curriculum.
In order to incorporate technology more fully
into the classroom, several changes are
needed. Teachers must be provided with the time
and support to explore technology on
their own. Administrators must provide the time
ands pace for teachers, who now suffer
from larger classes and more responsibility than
ever, to take a break from teaching to
start learning. Teachers must be treated
like the professionals they are. Teacher
creativity is a powerful force for positive educational
change, but it can thrive only if it is
unleashed and supported by strong institutional
commitments.
The second obstacle to reconceptualizing educational
practice is the absence of new
forms of assessment with which to measure the
effectiveness of the new forms of
classroom learning being developed. As education
becomes a collective effort
between children, and educational methods come
to emphasize the actual process of
children's construction of new ideas, new techniques
for measuring performance will be
necessary. This is an area of active research
(see Collins, Hawkins, and
Frederiksen,1991; Frederiksen and Collins, 1990,
and Wolf, Bixby, Glenn III, and
Gardner, 1991 for developments in this area).
Based on our experiences with the Visual
Language Laboratory, two new types of assessment,
both of which capture the
development of ideas, seem especially promising.
The first is assessment of children's learning
processes as they are occurring. Videotaped
records of student interactions as they work,
for example, reveals their grasp of the
course material, as well as their ability to
communicate it to others. Similarly, video
records of individual children's debugging of
their own programs gives evidence of their
level of understanding of the programming procedures
they are using. The types of errors
children perform, and how they correct them,
are a rich source of information about
children's understanding.
A second new form of assessment we have found
promising is the evaluation of a
portfolio that shows the evolution of a child's
work as it is created, rather than of a single
completed work or a set of isolated exercises.
In the VLL, children provide the educator
with complete records of their progress in creating
their programs. These records are both
printed and on disk. These different versions
of the children's projects, collected over
time, allow the educator to follow the development
of subsequent versions of the
program and evaluate the student's progress in
learning and applying different
Hypercard procedures. Such records document the
student's progress in learning, and
allow the educator to identify areas where individual
students may require tutoring in
specific procedures. Both of these methods are
more demanding on the teacher than
traditional forms of evaluation. However, they
are worth the effort because they capture
qualitatively different, and much more detailed,
information about children's actual
competence than their traditional counterparts.
Summary
Technology has effectively revolutionized American
society. An unexpected byproduct
of this revolution has been the emergence of
a generation of children weaned on
multidimensional, interactive media sources,
a generation whose understanding and
expectations of the world differ profoundly from
that of the generations preceding them.
If we are to give these children the education
necessary to succeed in our technologically
intense, global future a new form of educational
practice, one that builds on children's
native learning abilities and technological competence,
must replace our existing
methods. The theoretical foundation for such
changes exists, and the time to implement
them is now. We have allowed our schools to remain
in the past, while our children have
been born in the future. The result is a mismatch
of learner and educator. But it is not the
children who are mismatched to the schools; the
schools are mismatched to the children.
Only by revising educational practice in light
of how our culture has changed can we
close this gap, and reunite our schools with
our children and the rest of our society.
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Seven Essential Learnings for Technology
1. The student as Information navigator.
The student recognizes and values the breadth
of information sources, browses those
sources, differentiates and selectively chooses
sources, and retrieves appropriate
information/data using all forms of media, technology
and telecommunications.
2. The student as critical thinker and analyzer
using technology.
The student reviews data from a variety of sources,
analyzing, synthesizing and
evaluating data to transform it into useful information
and knowledge to solve problems.
3. The student as creator of knowledge using
technology, media and telecommunications.
The student constructs new meaning and knowledge
by combining and synthesizing
different types of information through technology,
telecommunications and computer
modeling/simulations.
4. The student as effective communicator through
a variety of appropriate
technologies/media.
The student creates, produces and presents ideas,
stories and unique representations of
thoughts through a variety of media by analyzing
the task before him/her, the
technologies available and appropriately selecting
and using the most effective
tool(s)/media for the purpose and audience.
5. The student as a discriminating selector
of appropriate technology for specific
purposes.
The student discriminates among a variety of
technologies and media to extend and
expand his/her capabilities.
6. The student as technician.
The student develops sufficient technical skills
to successfully install, setup and use the
technology and telecommunications tools in his/her
daily life, work situations and
learning environments.
7. The student as a responsible citizen, worker,
learner, community member and
family member in a technological age.
The student understands the ethical, cultural,
environmental and societal implications of
technology and telecommunications, and develops
a sense of stewardship and individual
responsibility regarding his/her use of technology,
media and telecommunications
networks, respecting historical context and enhancing
cultural lineage with integrity and
concern for truth.
Cyber
Exchange (http://user.icx.net/~campbelld/cyber_exchange/cyberexchange_index.htm)
Cyber Exchange is a Goals 2000 funded project which strives to assist
the classroom
teacher's efforts to integrate technology. Cyber Exchange
focuses on language arts
curriculum in grade levels 1-5. During the 1998-99 school year,
32 teachers in Jefferson
County will participate in the Cyber Exchange project. Trained
student mentors called
"Cyber Ambassadors" from grade 4 will assist these teachers.
The results of their
efforts will be shared at this site for use by any educator.
Class
Pet Exchange (http://user.icx.net/~campbelld/pet_exchange/)
This project allows students in grades k-3 to
exchange a class pet (stuffed animal)
with another class and keep a journal about the
pet's adventures as it travels home with
students.
Key
Pal and Correspondents Exchange
(http://www.eduplace.com/hmco/school/projects/keypals.html)
At this site you can locate a variety of Key
Pals and E-mail Projects.
The
Kids on the Web (http://www.zen.org/~brendan/kids-pen.html)
Intended for ages 8 and older, including adults,
SAPE (called "The Soviet-American
Penfriend Exchange" prior to 1991) matches people
from the USA and other countries
with penpals in the former Soviet Union and the
Baltic Nations. Since 1989, they've
matched more than 30,000 pairs of penpals, but
currently have more than 100,000 people
from the CIS/Baltics who are waiting to be matched
with a penpal. The penpals exchange
via postal mail, not email.
Kids
To Kids International (http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/kidstokids/intkids.html)
is
an organization that sends student-created picture
books to refugee
children in third world countries. This project
is a great opportunity for SchoolWorld
students to participate in helping other children
around the world.
SchoolWorld
Keypal Registration (http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/keypals.html)
To participate in the SchoolWorld Keypal Project,
your school must first register as a
SchoolWorld member. To register for the Keypal
Project as an entire school or class,
complete Registration Form One. Complete Registration
Form Two for an individual
student from a member school.
The
Global Schoolhouse Project (http://www.gsn.org/gsn.gshnew.html)
The Global Schoolhouse Project is a virtual meeting
place for students to share
collaborative research. The project involves
networking schools and students
internationally to interact and research collaboratively
using the Internet and Cornell
University's CU-SeeMe interactive video conferencing
tool.
Newsday
(http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/Activity-Structures/Information-Collections/Electronic-Publishing/
Newsday-Project.html)
Newsday is a project in which students produce
their own newspaper based on the news
articles submitted by other participating classes.
All students become news gatherers,
reporters, editors, layout and graphic artists,
and publishers. Participation in this global
activity promotes understanding of broad issues
which go beyond local concerns.
Participating classes exchange newspapers and
thoroughly enjoy reading each others
published newspaper.
Kid's
Corner (http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/kcorner/) provides the opportunity
for
teachers to display the work of their students,
students to display their projects and work,
and for other students to have a central point
for student home pages.
Student
Stories (http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/stories/)
Students are invited to write their own short
fiction or non-fiction stories.
An
Apple A Day (http://www.eduplace.com/hmco/school/projects/apple.html)
Second graders will write original poems in English
about apples following an assigned
format. Every child in the class will have his
work published. In addition to the poetry
each class is invited to submit one student illustration.
The illustration may be sent
electronically or by snailmail. The class URL
or e-mail address will be posted on the
page. All materials are due by October 3, 1997.
The site will be up around October 13
and will remain posted for the entire school
year.
Computers
Celebrating Children (http://members.aol.com/RThomas593/treasure.html)
A world wide collection of thoughts and ideas.
You're Invited! We're having a party to
celebrate children of the world. Through the
use of technology, we can share our
thoughts and ideas, our favorite stories and
favorite foods, and the special things about
our little corner of the world that help make
the world such a wonderful place. So, join
us! Bring your smiles and bring your friends.
We'll make new friends and discover
exciting new ideas. Starting May 15, 1997 and
Ongoing...
KIDLINK
(http://www.kidlink.org/english/index.html) has united more than 37,000
children between theages of 10 and 15 from over
71 nations. Through one of KIDLINK's
most popular activities, children and their teachers
are united in topical discussions
known as Internet Relay Chats (IRC's).
MidLink
Magazine (http://longwood.cs.ucf.edu/~MidLink)
MidLink is an on-line magazine aimed at 10 -
15 year olds. It is a cooperative project
created by students for students all over the
globe. It is published bi-monthly and always
offers a wide range of interesting activities.
Monster
Exchange Project (http://www.csnet.net/minds-eye/)
Students try to communicate an original monster
image into another child's mind using
learned writing skills and technology.
KeyPals
(http://www.reedbooks.com.au/heinemann/global/keypalt.html) Find Internet
friends world wide for grades K-12...
Intercultural
E-Mail Classroom Connections Mailing Lists
(http://www.stolaf.edu/network/iecc/) A free
service to help teachers and classes link
with partners in other countries and cultures
for e-mail classroom pen-pal and project
exchanges.
Three
Wishes
(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4868/write.html)
Grades 4-6 WWW activity by Cathy Bakes
which guides students through the writing
process for a successful five-sentence paragraph
with varied sentence beginnings.
The
Writing Gallery (http://boe.cabe.k12.wv.us/jefferso/gallery/wgallery/writing.html)
Grades 4-6 New paragraph-writing project
monthly with development guidelines
and WWW publication.
Keypals
(http://www.learningspace.org/global_conn/gcline/keypal.html)
are the electronic version of penpals. They are
one way to excite kids about writing. Not
only do students practice the writing process,
but they have the opportunity to practice
keyboard skills as well. Here are three sites
that can help you find keypals for your
students.
Puppets
(http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/)have a way of making a story come alive.
Here are some sites where you can print the patterns
for puppets and get activities to go
along with them. (http://fox.nstn.ca/~puppets/activity.html)
Children's
Literature Web Guide (http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/)
The Oz Home Page (http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/oz/index.html)
The Page at Pooh Corner (http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jmilne/pooh.html)
Children's
Book Forum
The children's book forum is an archive of book
reviews and ratings created by the
internet community for the Internet community.
This is where you and your students can
help. We are asking that teachers and their students
read a book, write a review, and enter
that review in the Children's Book Forum (http://faldo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cbr.add.html).
Scholastic
Online Network (http://www.scholastic.com/)
At Scholastic On-Line your students can discuss
the characters in a novel or book. Check
it out for some great projects and ideas. This
year, students around the world shared their
ideas about The Indian in the Cupboard.
Cyberkids
Home Page (http://www.cyberkids.com/)
Cindy Jouper, another adjunct at ESD 113, helped
her students to create their own
Choose Your Own Adventure Stories, publishing
them on the World Wide Web. What a
brainstorm--after all the Internet is like one
big Choose Your Own Adventure anyway.
There are also sites on the web to publish student
artwork and writing.
SchoolWorld
World SeriesChallenge (http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/wrldquiz.html)
An Annual General Knowledge Quiz Competition
presented by Louraine Collins
SchoolWorld combines a challenging General Knowledge
question and answer
competition with our own unique brand of baseball
to produce the SchoolWorld Version
of a baseball game where questions are thrown,
not curve-balls. Recommended for
Grades Four to Twelve, the SchoolWorld World
Series allows classes
around the world the opportunity to create their
own teams and to produce and design
team names, mascots, logos, colors and cheer
squads with their own songs. Classes will
participate in maintaining a league ladder and
in producing a weekly league round-up by
way of an E-Mail Newsletter.
Math League
(http://www.mathleague.com/)
The Math League is dedicated to bringing challenging
mathematics materials to students.
The Math League specializes in math contests,
books, and computer software designed to
stimulate interest and confidence in mathematics
for students from the 4th grade through
high school. Over 1 million students participate
in Math League contests each year.
Contest problems are designed to cover a range
of mathematical knowledge for each
grade level. All of the problems on each contest
require no additional knowledge of
mathematics beyond the grade level they test.
7th-Grade
Math Keypals
(http://www.eduplace.com/hmco/school/projects/mathpal.html)
Our 7th-grade math students would like to correspond
with other classes from around the
world. We have three general math classes and
two pre-algebra classes.
Global
Groceries List (http://www.eduplace.com/hmco/school/projects/grocery.html)
"How much does food cost in your town?" The Global
Grocery List project is a very
simple activity, designed for telecomputing and
Internet beginners as well as old pros.
The project is on-going, so there is no timeline.
You simply collect your local grocery
prices, post them on the Global Grocery List
Project newsgroup (FrEdMail &
SchoolNet), by e-mail to the ggl mail list, or
over the world wide web by filling
in a form on the Global Grocery List home page
-- and keep checking the newsgroup,
your e-mail box, or the web site for the price
lists of other participants.
Off
to a Flying Start (http://k12unix.larc.nasa.gov/flyingstart/welcome.html)
This NASA Langley Learning Technologies Project,
is a K-4 online telecommunications
project that uses worldwide collaboration and
aeronautics to provide learning
opportunities to students in math and science.
The project will be open for participation
from October 1st to May 31st. The length of project
participation is determined by the
classroom teacher. Off to a Flying Start consists
of three modules: Introduction to Flight,
Flying the Falcon Flyer, and Experimental Design.
Ask
Dr. Math (http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/)
Elementary and high school students and their
teachers can submit math questions to our
team of college math students and world famous
mathematicians.
Elementary
Math Problem of the Week
(http://forum.swarthmore.edu/ruth/elem.pow.html)
Geometry
Problem of the Week (http://forum.swarthmore.edu/geopow/)
Visiting
Math Mentor Program (http://forum.swarthmore.edu/ruth/mentors.html)
Teachers, mathematicians, and other students
serve as visiting math mentors for a week
at a time.
Math--Pi
Mathematics (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Edu/RSE/RSEorange/buttons.html)
Includes an annual collaborative project! Join
them in an adventure of
exploring the concept of Pi.
The
Internet Geometry Hunt (http://forum.swarthmore.edu/hunt/index.html)
Search the Internet, answer the questions, and
learn about geometry.
Gallery of Interactive Online Geometry (http://www.geom.umn.edu/apps/gallery.html)
Mathmagic
is a wonderful on-line project for kids in grades K-12. Student teams
from
schools around the country are paired up by grade
level. They correspond via e-mail with
each other to solve mathematical problems. You
can find out more at the Mathmagic
Home Page.
Mathmagic Home Page (http://forum.swarthmore.edu/mathmagic/index.html)
Megamath
is a resource for some great problem solving activities to use with your
students.
Megamath (http://www.c3.lanl.gov/mega-math/)
The Math
Forum (http://forum.swarthmore.edu/)
Lesson Plans Galore, among other things, can
be found at on the Internet. At the Math
Forum, I found a Math Scavenger Hunt, an Elementary
Problem of the Week and Ask Dr.
Math.
Aunt
Annie's Craft Page (http://www.auntannie.com/geomplay.html)
Geometric Principles are taught throughout this
series of five craft projects. Aunt Annie
includes patterns and directions that you can
print and copy for your class.
Project
Groundhog (http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/Groundhog/)
This project allows students to interact with
several classrooms while they
determine if the groundhog is an accurate predictor
of spring. The project lasts for six
weeks and is suggested for grades K-3.
Passport
to Knowledge (http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/livefrom/passport.html)
The Passport to knowledge is an ongoing series
of 'electronic field trips' to scientific
frontiers via interactive television and the
Internet. Students are taken on adventures to
the ends of the earth, to the bottom of the seas
and out into space. These adventures
incorporate leading-edge technologies via www
sites, email, listservs, live and taped
videos carried by NASA-TV and print materials
created by research scientists and
educators. Real scientists connect with real
kids as they collaborate to do real world
science research in real time. Students become
co-investigators with field researchers and
experts, where students engage in problem solving
which has direct application to real
world issues. Example Passport To Knowledge Projects
include 1996 Live from
Antarctica and future themes such as Live from
the Amazon Rain Forest, Live from the
place where the dinosaurs died, Live from Mars,
Live from the outback and beyond:
Australia and many other exciting places.
History,
Heritage, Legends, the Land . . . Fabric that Ties us Together
(http://www.eduplace.com/hmco/school/projects/agriculture.html)
Telecommunications is primarily about communications
and from it come exchanges
that enhance and enrich our knowledge of each
other. It has been called a web, and from
it can be woven a tapestry that is truly magnificent
and varied in depth and purpose. Over
the last several years, Alta Elementary School
has been weaving a tapestry of history,
heritage, and legends that we would like to continue
to grow and develop into a cultural
heritage and history that all can share. To add
to this depth we would like to add the land,
the agricultural history, the stories of the
earth, how crops are nurtured and grow. From
the land comes the most fundamental of human
relationships and exchanges, the food
and bread we eat, a foundation that all our current
technologies still rely upon.
The
Lost City (http://school.discovery.com/spring97/activities/thelostcity/index.html)
The Lost City delivers a lot of good information
about the red planet packaged
specifically for younger children. Students will
discover fun facts about the planet and
have fun taking the Mars Challenge quiz.
National
Weather Service in Guam (http://www.nws.noaa.gov/pr/guam/)
can help you do projects with typhoons.
Amazon
Adventure (http://vif27.icair.iac.org.nz/)
is a resource to let schools, teachers, and parents
follow a traveler exploring the Amazon
river system in Brazil and Peru, meeting the
people who live there and showing what it is
like traveling in this part of the world. There
are also plenty of interesting facts and other
information about Amazônia's history and
environment.
Athena
(http://www.athena.ivv.nasa.gov/)
This site contains activites related to space,
weather, earth, and oceans for grades K-12.
NASA's Classrooms
of the Future (http://www.cotf.edu/)
Current projects include Exploring the Environment,
earth science challenges,
BioBLAST, a virtual lunar experience for high
school students, and Astronomy Village.
Discovery
Channel School (http://school.discovery.com/mediacenter/index.html)
Media specialist's resource center includes projects,
lessons and activities linked to the
networks TV broadcasts, and current science news.
The GLOBE Program
(http://www.globe.gov/)
Students and teachers from over 3500 schools
in 51 countries work with research
scientists to learn more about our planet. Students
make and submit environmental
observations via the Internet. Scientists use
GLOBE data in their research and provide
feedback to the students to enrich their science
education and post student data sets daily
on the WWW.
Earth
Foundation (http://www.earthfound.com/default.html)
Site focuses on empowering educators and students
to work towards a healthy
environment, focusing on education, fundraising
for conservation, and cooperative
programs with conservation groups and indigenous
organizations working in the race to
save the planet.
Live
from Stratosphere -Hubble Space Telescope
(http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/livefrom/hst.html)
Live from Stratosphere is an unprecedented, real
world scientific adventure encouraging
students to collaborate with leading astronomers,
as they design and undertake
observations of the planets Neptune and Pluto.
From October 1995, students have the
opportunity to take a virtual trip aboard NASA's
Kuiper Airborne Observatory as it flies
at 41,000 feet to study planets, stars, and galaxies
with its infrared telescope. Students
will be able to interact with the astronomers
and the flight crew in real time. This is a
multimedia project involving television/video,
printed materials and on-line computer
networks giving students the opportunity to develop
group activities and real time
databases relating to astronomy, meteorology
and aeronautics.
Blue
Ice (http://www.mecc.com/blueice.html)
Blue Ice is a project that leads students on
an amazing journey to the mysterious seventh
continent, Antarctica. Students learn about the
day to day lives of people working in real
places through regular journals and asking entertaining
and interesting questions. Blue
Ice is a truly interactive project where students
are lead on a virtual treasure hunt for data
and facts with the Blue Ice coordinators serving
as librarians and guides.
Malcolm Baldrige
(http://longwood.cs.ucf.edu/~MidLink/dec.home.html#MALCOLM
BALDRIGE)
The Malcolm Baldrige is just one of the wonderful
projects offered by MidLink. This
project involved regular correspondence with
the research ship the Malcolm Baldrige as
it circumnavigated the world studying problems
associated with the greenhouse effect
and climate changes. Students were able to interact
with the crew of the ship and also
become involved in research tasks.
GreenZineNet
(http://www.greenzinenet.com/)
A Global Forum For Providing Ideas Towards the
Environmental & Ecological Well
Being of the Planet. The students may ask questions
and as the website adds more
information, the site will provide an ongoing
dialog with the student community.
Kids as
Global Scientists (http://www-kgs.colorado.edu/)
Weather Curriculum - Real-time, inquiry-based
weather curriculum, collaborating with
middle school classrooms across North America.
Gardening
At Texas A&M
University (http://www.tamu.edu/), in Station, TX, there is research
in
progress in the Department
of Sciences (http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/) studying
these human issues in horticulture. Most of this
conducted under the guidance of Dr.
Jayne Zajicek and Dr. Joseph the topics of this
research include children, educational
issues, horticulture in prisons, and urban horticulture
(http://www.cityfarmer.org/smitbook90.html#smit).
To learn more about
societies associated with human issues in horticulture
and how to get involved go to :
Horticultural
Therapy (http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/horther/index.html).
Newton's
Apple (http://www.ktca.org/newtons/index.html)
Great science questions and answers with projects
for each topic discussed.
NJNIE
(http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/curriculum/currichome.html)
Collaborative science projects, science lessons
and resources.
Virtual
Frog Dissection (http://george.lbl.gov/ITG.hm.pg.docs/dissect/dissect.html)
An interactive frog dissection online tutorial
designed for use in high school and biology
classrooms.
Science
Fairs (http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/~jbarron/scifair.html)
Science fair information in Newfoundland. It
is also useful as a resource for teachers
everywhere, including project ideas, interesting
sites, HTML projects.
Human Anatomy
Online (http://www.innerbody.com/)
Interactive interactive and educational views
of the human body. This program contains
over one hundred illustrations of the human body
with animations and thousands of
descriptive links.
Automotive
Learning Online (http://208.196.159.61/innerauto/)
An interactive and educational view of the automobile.
This program contains over one
hundred illustrations of the automobile with
animations and thousands of descriptive
links.
Ask
a Scientist is a great way to find answers to those difficult science
questions your
kids ask and you can't answer. Scientists from
all over the world volunteer their time and
expertise to provide the answers. Here are two
sites to get you started.
Ask a Scientist (http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/nstw/quests/start.htm)
Great Canadian
Scientist (http://www.science.ca/ask/)
Online Discussion
Groups and Electronic Journals (http://edweb.gsn.org/)
One way to answer those questions is to create
your own Classroom Science Project. You
can join a listserv and post a message asking
for others who are interested in your
project. Form a hypothesis, collect the data
and then draw conclusions.
The
Lesson Plan for Life in Space (http://copper.ucs.indiana.edu/~dlengeri/lesson.html)
NASA:
Spacelink (http://spacelink.nasa.gov/.index.html)
Use the Internet to find information about the
space shuttle and Life in Space. After
finding out about an astronauts' daily activities,
have students draw picture of the things
humans need to live. Find out about the
food astronauts take on shuttle flights, too.
Sea
World and Busch Gardens
(http://www.bev.net/education/SeaWorld/infobook.html)
Sea World has some excellent resources for projects
about terrestrial and marine animals.
These are simple enough for younger kids, and
the pictures are great, too.
The Yucky
Worm Home Page (http://www.nj.com/yucky/worm/)
The Yucky Worm Page also has excellent information
about lots of different worms. You
can meet Mary, the Worm Woman, here. This site
provides exclusive interviews with
earthworms, tapeworms and more.
The
Froggy Page (http://frog.simplenet.com/froggy/)
The
Virtual Vivarium (http://www.esd113.wednet.edu/frogs/)
On The Froggy Page someone has complied an incredible
list of resources related to
frogs. These even include literature and songs!
I would be remiss if I did not also point
you to Cindy Jouper's Class Virtual Vivarium.
Beeye
(http://cvs.anu.edu.au/andy/beye/beyehome.html)
Ever wonder what it would be like to see the
world through the eyes of a bee? Well,
Be-eye is the site for you! Kids will love this.
Journey
North (http://www.ties.k12.mn.us/~jnorth/)
Journey North premiered last year as an on-line
project following the migration of
different animals in North America.
The
Weather Unit (http://faldo.atmos.uiuc.edu/WEATHER/weather.html)
The
Weather Underground and Blue Skies (http://groundhog.sprl.umich.edu/)
The Weather Unit has a complete integrated lesson
plan for teaching about the weather.
You can also download Blue Skies at the Weather
Underground. Blue Skies will allow
you to access up-to-the-minute satellite photographs
and maps of weather around the
world.
It's A SmallWorld...Indeed!
(http://user.icx.net/~campbelld/small_world/)
It's A Small World...Indeed! is a telecommunication project that
will open the
doors of the classroom to the world.
Taming
the Tube (http://www.ottawa.net/~pugglers/tube96/intro.htm)
Taming the Tube is a project run through Canada's
SchoolNet and involves students
monitoring their TV watching habits and comparing
their habits and attitudes with other
students their age from around the world. Students
have the opportunity to compare
TV watching habits among girls and boys, geographical
and climate differences, favorite
TV shows and influences on attitudes and lifestyles.
This project runs from January to
May each year.
Kids
On Canberra (http://freenet.actein.edu.au/KoC/koc.html)
The Kids On Canberra Project aimed to promote
Canberra as a tourist destination by
publishing information about Canberra on the
World Wide Web. The project resulted in a
series of Web pages about Canberra written and
published by Canberra students.
Students selected an aspect of Canberra (non-profit),
researched the aspect and then
prepared the information for presentation in
HTML format
Where
on the Globe is Roger (http://www.gsh.org/gsn/roger.home.html)
Roger Williams and his 1982 Dodge truck is traveling
around the world. He began his
travels in 1993 where he drove from the United
States through Mexico, Central America
and South America. In 1994 he shipped his truck
to Australia and spent 7 months
exploring 'Down Under'. In 1995 Roger traveled
through Japan and across Russia. In
1996 Roger is heading for Europe and plans to
visit nearly all the countries in Europe.
After Europe Roger plans to visit many of the
African countries. On his travels Roger
visits schools to meet students and share his
adventures with them. His regular journals
keep participating schools intouch and informed
about his observations, adventures and
discoveries. Roger is hoping to foster better
communication between children which he
hopes will foster a better understanding between
countries and cultures.
Maya
Quest (http://www.mecc.com/MAYA/MQ11.html)
The Maya adventure saw over 1 million children
join a team of five explorers who
bicycled to ruins in Mexico and Central America
to work with archeologists to try and
unlock the mysteries of the ancient Maya civilisation.
This MAYA team is reassembling
in 1996 due to the huge success of the adventure
last year. Daily news, regular team
updates and a resource packed web site will keep
you informed and involved in this
amazing adventure.
Geogame
(http://archives.gsn.org/geogame/0028.html)
The Geogame project adds the element of competition
to learning where students learn
about geography terms, learn how to read and
interpret maps and gain an increased
awareness of geographical and cultural diversity
while trying to match a locations
description with its name. This project involves
students completing a questionnaire
about their location, including information about
latitude, typical weather, land
formations, nearest major river, time zone, points
of interest, direction from capital and
population. The project coordinator scrambles
the location names and returns the data to
participants as puzzles for the classes to solve.
The
Geography Project
(http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/Activity-Structures/Interpersonal-Exchanges/Keypals/Reynoldsburg
-Geog-Proj.html)
This project is designed to link students from
different countries together for the purpose
of studying foreign cultures using the Internet
to link real people. Students introduce
themselves and answer a series of interview questions
to begin the project. After sending
this to their partner, students then research
their partners country to learn as much as
possible to write 'A day in the life of..(their
partner)'. The 'day in the life of...' papers are
exchanged via email and critiqued. Students separate
the myth from fact and
reply with what their day to day life is really
like.
The
Electronic Sister School Program
(http://www.jp.kids-commons.net/SisterSchool.html)
The most elementary program Global Kids Commons
offers is the Electronic Sister
School Program. Schools are matched with
other schools around the world in an attempt
to provide a means for them to communicate with
each other on a daily basis. The actual
content of their exchange is up to the schools
themselves, and they range from simple
penpal exchanges to highly creative projects.
Constitutional
Convention on the Internet (http://archives.gsn.org/sep97/0006.html)
The project will use the Internet to role-play
the Constitutional Convention. Schools from
each of the 12 original states will represent
the interests of their state at our simulation.
The role-play will be conducted through our website.
The unit will involve research,
proposal development, interaction with students
in each of the participating schools and
involvement in the decision making process. We
will address issues important in the
constitutional era as well as contemporary issues.
This project will run for 4 weeks/Sept
97.
Journey
Exchange Project (http://www.csnet.net/minds-eye/journey/)
This project is planned for students from grades
3-12 and provides an opportunity for
them to communicate a planned and researched
five day journey across the world into
another student's mind using geographic, social,
economic, political, and historical clues.
The
Investigators (http://mag-nify.educ.monash.edu.au/FrontPageSchools/tour.htm)
A project that takes participants on a journey
around the world as they try to to solve a
mystery. Students read the email assignment and
add their own essays to the story.
Geo-Mystery
Project
(http://www.hern.hawaii.edu/hern96/pt053/GEOMYstery/geomys.html)
Through this project students use the Internet
to tell other students about where they live.
Global
Citizenship (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/5780/index.htm)
Through participation in Global Citizenship students
learn the part they play in their
community, their nation, and their world. An
awareness of the needs and differences as
we communicate and interact with each other and
our neighbors both near and far is
stressed. As citizens we make up a multi-culture
and are all connected as people of the
planet Earth. As good citizens, we possess compassion,social
responsibilities, and we
sense an interdependence among people and their
environment.
Kids
Peace Museum (http://www.ih.k12.oh.us/ps/peace/)
Contribute to the Indian Hill School Peace Museum.
Think Globally
and Act Locally (http://www.thinkglobal.org/)
File an electronic nomination form for Peace
Leaders. File an electronic report on World
Conflicts. Links on human rights, the global
environment, world peace, and conflict
resolution.
Multi--World
Essays (http://www.buf.kristianstad.se/hemsidor/VetaMera/index.htm)
Swedish school wants participants to help build
their website with essays from students
around the world about their home countries.
Today
in History (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html)
Presents daily historical facts highlighted by
materials from the American Memory
collections from the Library of Congress.
Expedition Icebound (http://207.68.142.55:80/icebound/)
(Beginning Nov. 29th) Join an Australian couple
trekking the Antartic...
TicToc
(http://www.campus.bt.com/Tictoc/)
(Beginning Oct. 1997) 18 month round the world
expedition. Travel through 18 different
countries, across 2 oceans and 3 continents,
following the Tropic of Cancer. Using a
variety of communication technologies,
compare and contrast lifestyles, languages, and
environmental issues. Exchange news and
views of people from different races, cultures
and religions.
Kids can also Download Images for other Purposes
such as reports, videos or multimedia
projects. Here are three sites with nice graphics
and photographs just to give you an idea
of the possibilities.
Colonial Williamsburg
(http://www.history.org/)
South
Africa Tour (http://osprey.unisa.ac.za/south-africa/home.html)
The
Whitehouse (http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Welcome.html)
Do your kids Write Reports about different states
in our country? Here is a resource that
could come in handy.
Galaxy:
Information about Communities
(http://galaxy.einet.net/galaxy/Community/US-States.html)
World
Maps (http://pubweb.parc.xerox.com/map/)
Find a partner class (via a newsgroup or listserv?)
to correspond with. Each class writes
six facts about their location and orders them
from most helpful to least helpful. Send
one clue each day or so. Using Maps, have your
class discover where their mystery
partner class is located.
Encourage your students to collect information
and publish a page about their own
community on the World Wide Web.
Tell
Your Teacher Where to Go (http://ics.soe.umich.edu/Route12/)
McDermoth
Elementary School Home Page
(http://164.116.4.169/ESD113/Aberdeen/mcd/mcd.html)
Classroom Connect and the Global SchoolNet Foundation
are great resources for ideas in
all areas of the curriculum, and for making connections
with other teachers. Take a look
at them!
Classroom
Connect (http://www.classroom.net/classroom/default2.html)
Global SchoolNet
Foundation (http://www.gsn.org/)
Save
the Beaches (http://ednhp.hartford.edu/WWW/Nina/Beaches2.html)
Teacher
Resources
You can Whack a Page or more than one page. This
is a great way to focus kids on a
chosen topic or area. To download a trial version
of Web Whacker,
go to
http://www.mm.com/user/realogic/wwhack.htm.
If you ever watch CNN Newsroom in your classroom,
you will want to check out their
site for daily lesson plans and activities relating
to each program.
CNN
Newsroom (http://www.nmis.org/NewsInteractive/CNN/Newsroom/contents.html)
Grants Need money for technology?
The Foundation
Center (http://fdncenter.org/)
United
Marketing Associating Grant Resource Center
(http://www.unitedmarketing.com/grant.html)
The Chalkboard (http://thechalkboard.com/)
Online Tutorials
Tech
Tutorials
Win
95 Manual (http://www.windweaver.com/w95man.htm)
Internet
Searches Tutorial (http://www.windweaver.com/searchtools.htm)
Sailing
the Net (http://www.windweaver.com/prelude.htm)
Using
Netscape Mail with Ten-Nash Server
(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/6470/email_setup.htm)
Technology
Tools
Teacher
Resources (http://user.icx.net/~campbelld/elementary_projects/teacher.htm)
Electronic Emissary (http://www.tapr.org/emissary/)
Houghton Mifflin's Home Page (http://www.hmco.com/)
Online Educator Weekly Super Sites (http://ole.net:8081/educator/LINKS.hbs)
Cool
Safe Sites for Kids, Parents, and Teachers
(http://www.island.net/~thand/kidlinks.html)
History/Social
Studies Web Site for Teachers K-12
(http://www.execpc.com/~dboals/boals.html)
Net Educator (http://3aweb.com/neted/edsites1.htm)
SchoolWorld Internet Education (http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/schoolworld.html)
Global SchoolNet Foundation (http://www.gsn.org/indexhi.html)
Math Activities (http://www.eduplace.com/hmco/school/projects/mathp.html)
Teacher's Turf (http://www.troll.com/teachers/index.html)
Homesite Web Creation Software (http://www.dexnet.com/homesite/)
Teacher's Net (http://www.teachers.net/)
Cyber Trail (http://www.wmht.org/trail/trail.htm)
Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections (http://www.stolaf.edu/network/iecc/)
Global Schoolhouse (http://www.gsh.org/)
The Kids on the Web (http://www.zen.org/~brendan/kids.html)
Project Open (http://www.isa.net/project-open/)
KidsCom (http://www.kidscom.com/)
Sites for Parents and Educators (http://www.vividus.com/ucis.html#parents)
Monitoring Student Internet Use (http://www.tcworld.com/archives/aboutnet.htm)
Online Card (http://www.coolshopping.com/)
Yahooligans! (http://www.yahooligans.com/)
National Geographic for Kids (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/)
K-12 Projects and Activities (http://www.useekufind.com/tproject.htm)
Teacher Quest Index (http://www.useekufind.com/teacheri.htm)
Worldkids (http://www.worldkids.net/map.htm)
Internet Safety for Kids (http://worldkids.net/school/safety/internet/welcome.html)
Homework Helper (http://tristate.pgh.net/~pinch13/index.html#f)
Jefferson County Schools (http://207.125.93.3)
Web 66 (http://web66.coled.umn.edu/)
VolWeb (http://voyager.rtd.utk.edu/VolWeb/)
Global Schoolhouse (http://www.gsh.org/)
CU-SeeMe Schools (http://www.gsn.org/cu/index.html)
Lesson
Plans
Teacher
Resources (http://user.icx.net/~campbelld/elementary_projects/teacher.htm#Lesson
Plans0
Bell South Net (http://www.bellsouth.net/dp/educ/teac/less/)
Global Connections (http://www.sonic.net/~bsovel/GC.html)
Gopher Lesson Plans K-12 (gopher://ericir.syr.edu:70/11/Lesson/)
Education World (http://www.education-world.com/)
Classroom
Resources for K-1 Teachers
(http://www.hedgehog-review.com/CR/index.html)
Jefferson
County Technology Update
(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/6470/tech_newsletter.htm)
Web Sources:
Integrating
Technology Ideas Primary Grades
Integrating
Technology Ideas Middle Grades