The Superhighways Teams Across Rural Schools (STARS) program sought to demonstrate how pupil learning and teacher professional development might be enhanced by the use of multimedia resources made available over communications networks. Subsidiary goals included developing strategies to support isolated gifted students through collaborative work, encouraging problem solving and creative and critical thinking through distance learning, exploring how a network using existing technology might be developed, and providing staff development for teacher engagement in network learning. The program ran from March 1996 to January 1997, and involved 127 students, most of whom were gifted, from 18 primary and 2 secondary rural schools in northern Scotland. Specific students gains included improved collaborative learning skills, particularly involving peers from other schools; increased problem-solving ability; high levels of motivation and task involvement; and enhanced self-evaluation skills. Gifted children showed improvements in problem solving, logical thinking skills, adopting special roles as leaders and coordinators, and taking responsibility for their own learning. Teachers showed gains in information and communication technologies and in teaching aspects of the classroom learning environment, with several noting fresh professional interests. Additional development opportunities both in and out of school were identified in regard to the teaching curriculum, approaches to learning, and the professional development of teachers. After an initial introductory chapter, this report contains chapters on learning and teaching strategies, underlying theory about teaching and learning through thinking, analysis of outcomes, funding and project promotion, presentations and reports, wider applications and opportunities, and conclusions. Contains 20 tables and 54 references. (Author/TD)