This guide is intended to assist classroom science teachers incorporate the Internet into their instruction. Specifically, the Internet as a means for teacher and student research is addressed through the use of newsgroups, discussion lists, and the world wide web.
This guide assumes the teacher and students have access to at least one computer workstation connected to the Internet. There are many excellent bokks, and online resources to assist teachers in purchasing the necessary equipment and establishing service. For our purposes, the author assumes only a minimum level of experience in using the Internet. If, however, you are already familiar with using the Internet, this guide should serve as a resource for specific activities in the "online" science classroom.
While you'll find examples of lessons incorporating the Internet, this guide is best utilized as a launching pad for your own lesson planning. Rather than following specific sites and addresses, you should develop a framework and get ideas for including new sites in your instruction, as you find them.
In the future, I hope to see more attempts at lessons that involve the Internet. So many schools have purchased computers for their classrooms, it would be a shame if the computers weren't used to improve instruction.