Students increasingly are comfortable on the World Wide Web and turn to online resources for many of their research needs. All students can benefit, however, from being shown how to find the most appropriate resources and evaluate what they find. Regardless of their own familiarity with the Web, instructors can apply their knowledge of their…

This research focuses on knowledge and ways in which knowledge may be constructed in the learner's mind. Specifically, it addresses the Web as a cognitive supporter for learning, organising and constructing a new domain of knowledge. In particular, the research analyses student reflection on constructing web sites. The analysis is based on an…

This article aims to provide a baseline for future studies on the provision and support for the use of digital or electronic information services (EIS) in further education. The analysis presented is based on a multi-level model of access, which encompasses access to and availability of information and communication technology (ICT) resources,…

This study introduces the development of a Web-based assessment system, the Web-based Assessment and Test Analyses (WATA) system, and examines its impacts on teacher education. The WATA system is a follow-on system, which applies the Triple-A Model (assembling, administering, and appraising). Its functions include (1) an engine for teachers to…

Interest is a powerful motivator; nonetheless, science educators often lack the necessary information to make use of the power of student-specific interests in the reform process of science curricula. This study suggests a novel methodology, which might be helpful in identifying such interests--using children's self-generated questions as an…

Online courses may not be for everyone. However, when eLearning is the only opportunity to receive education, it will be one of the instructor's responsibilities to ensure the eLearning experience is as compatible and comparable as possible to students' prior experience. Any online program may have to accommodate those who are limited to the…

The Web is no longer a novel ingredient in the learning experience, it is intrinsic and constant. In fact, a host of new technologies has sparked an age of inexpensive, effortless, and universal Web access in the classroom, while wireless devices and protocols have steadily moved downstream and down the socioeconomic ladder. With this incredible…

Most teachers welcome the opportunity to become more effective educators, and look for ways to improve their own teaching practice. With the dizzying array of state tests, district assessments, and program-specific rubrics, many are at a loss as to how to begin using data to improve their practice. There are many ways teachers can use data to…

Nearly all US schools are now connected to the Internet. However, slow connectivity is creating bottlenecks in schools, frustrating students and leaving them disarmed in the battle to stay competitive in the 21st century. Slow connectivity is imperiling the quality of U.S. K-12 education, while the rest of the world sets the pace technologically.…

The best evidence of the concern over the digital divide was the speed with which the federal government interceded to help close it. A program offering generous subsidies to schools and libraries for the purchase of Internet technology was made part of the massive overhaul of the Telecommunications Act in 1996. The subsidies were apportioned on a…

An instruction program that covers search tools on the Web should incorporate a user's information need as the basis for teaching these tools. This article lays the theoretical groundwork for such a query-based approach, deriving its argument from the literature published in the early days of databases in libraries. A review of recent literature…

This article takes a look at tech guru Will Richardson's new book, "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms." Whether it's blogs or wikis or RSS, all roads now point to a Web where little is done in isolation. The biggest, most sweeping change in the people's relationship with the Internet may not be as much the ability…

In this online exploration of sound energy and the human ear, students carry out an inquiry-based activity, which leads them to websites featuring a diagram of a human ear, an interactive demonstration of the Doppler effect, a model of longitudinal waves, and an animation of human hearing. In the activity, students formulate, justify, and evaluate…

One of the more effective ways to convey the story of our origin and evolution is to present the entire chronicle in a multimedia format that allows today's tech-savvy students to browse at will, thereby extracting parts of the story at their own pace and comfort. This article describes an interactive CD-ROM (included in this issue of "The Science…

To help students understand the connection that Earth and the solar system have with the cosmic cycles of stellar evolution, and to give students an appreciation of the beauty and elegance of celestial phenomena, the Chandra X-Ray Center (CXC) educational website contains a stellar evolution module that is available free to teachers. In this…