Presents an excerpt from "Network Science, A Decade Later: The Internet and Classroom Learning", a publication based on four years of research that examines the role of technology in fostering inquiry-based approaches to learning. (Author/NB)

Provides background on ThinkQuest, the world's largest Internet learning competition. Describes the experience of H.D. Perry Middle School in Miramar, Florida, where students designed a Web site about one of their hobbies--juggling. Includes the 1997 ThinkQuest Category of First-Place Winners. (AEF)

Discusses virtual online communities, probing claims about the Internet as a place for fostering democracy. The paper examines the democratic nature of computer conferencing in classrooms, focusing on a study of graduate students' online interactions. Results indicated that students were able to master the medium and act as responsible, equal…

Preservice programs often lack resources, time, and faculty expertise to instruct teachers in new technology. At Central Washington University in Ellensburg, faculty volunteers overcame these deficits by using the Internet to present technology in small doses. After just one year, Internet activities were incorporated into almost every preservice…

Describes the use of George P. Landow's hypertext, "The Dickens Web," in an advanced undergraduate literature class and analyzes its practical and theoretical implications. Debates some of Landow's claims about the ease with which learning from hypertext occurs and examines difficulties encountered in using hypertext in the classroom. (DSK)

Libraries' dependence on computers can lead to frustrations for patrons and staff during downtime caused by computer system failures. Advice for reducing the number of crashes is provided, focusing on improved training for systems staff, better management of library systems, and the development of computer systems using quality components which…

Considers the wealth of information on the Internet and suggests a number of ways to incorporate it into meaningful instructive activities. Posits five levels of Internet activity: personal use, sharing material with students, incorporating material into units, facilitating student-directed projects, and student-initiated and directed projects.…

A physics professor ponders the advantages and possibilities of the Internet in graduate education and shares his own experiences delivering graduate courses and individual lectures online. Discusses accreditation and costing between institutions, the nature and extent of copyright problems, and the most useful forms of student interaction. (PVD)

Describes the Proffit Mountain project, part of a senior-level class in applied geophysics that provides students with hands-on experience in applying principles and techniques learned in class. Students conduct magnetic, gravity, and radiometric studies over a diabase body which intrudes rhyolite at Proffitt Mountain in southeast Missouri.…

Asserts that current software makes it easy for instructors to integrate visual displays into their lectures. Reviews the benefits of using visual displays, provides a taxonomy of visual displays, and proposes principles for constructing each type of display. Includes reproductions of related computer graphic screens. (MJP)

Provides some cursory guidance on the mechanics of establishing and instructing in a virtual classroom. Briefly discusses the history and central issues of distance education, describes how to teach an online virtual seminar, and offers recommendations for future courses. Discusses such issues as instructor availability, directing discussions,…

Summarizes the findings of a study of the conditions associated with introducing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into precollege curricula. Principal data sources included questionnaires, field observations, and interviews. Concludes that GIS will rapidly, and inevitably, become the tool of choice for exploring spatial concepts. Includes…

Provides brief descriptions of Internet sites for teachers wishing to access various hazard warnings, satellite images, hazard vulnerability maps, reports, and other data concerning geophysical, hydrologic, and meteorological hazards. Includes suggested classroom strategies and references to past articles in the "Journal of Geography" containing…

Illustrates how a computer software symbolic-processing program can be easily incorporated into an advanced undergraduate microeconomics course. Symbolic-processing programs are relatively sophisticated software packages that combine numeric, symbolic, and graphic computation in a single unified computing environment. Includes examples of…

Explores new forms of publication that are gaining wider use in scholarly communities, including on-line journals, listservs and other on-line discussion groups, and self-publishing. Discusses how these are influencing the kinds of scholarship taking place in on-line contexts and how they raise new questions about criteria used for academic…