This paper describes a year-long project in a fifth grade classroom to investigate the recurring flooding of the Pecatonica River (Illinois) and its effects on plant and animal life. The project was funded by a grant from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to involve elementary school classrooms with a consortium of museums in the on-line digitization of museum artifacts. The project was designed to: (1) develop an Internet- based interactive curriculum that utilizes the unique resources and capabilities of Illinois museums; (2) demonstrate how engaged students involved in relevant, community-based learning will translate into responsible citizenry; (3) demonstrate how students can access the wealth of history, artifacts, and fine art of Illinois museums; and (4) develop on-line digitized images and documents for the on-line project about the recurring flooding of the Pecatonica River and how it affects plant and animal life. Chapter 1, "Proposal," discusses the focus of the study, the methodology, and data collection methods. Some areas covered in chapter 2, "Review of Literature," include: student benefits: opened-doors; student benefits: learning styles; teacher benefits; and the future. Lastly, chapter 3 describes the research project and discusses areas such as: setting, attitude, motivation, achievement, cooperative learning, and peer reflection. Two students participated in a 2-day regional workshop on producing Quicktime videos and making a home page on the Internet for the school. Six students were selected to attend an overnight trip to visit the school's partner museum, the Chicago Academy of Science. Appendices include student surveys, student letters asking to attend the Chicago field trip, student letters describing what the classroom would be like without computers and the Internet, snapshots of class activities, reprinted newspaper article on the class, and Internet addresses. (Contains 34 references.) (SWC)