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  • 8/14/2019 Scholastic Supplement

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    NETWORKING &

    THE INTERNETSPONSORED BYAPPLE COMPUTER INC.

    Why Schools Need

    to Network and Go Online

    Explore and Learn:10 Great Internet Sites

    Teachers Speak Out:

    Why We Use the Web

    Managing Networks:Models You Can Follow

    Explore and Learn:10 Great Internet Sites

    Teachers Speak Out:Why We Use the Web

    Managing Networks:Models You Can Follow

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    Research has shown that effective learning involves students in an active role

    working on authentic tasks. Students connect with what theyre learning as

    they collaborate, communicate, and build knowledge from many sources of infor -

    mation. Thus, the Internet, as one teacher puts it, is a perfect arena for making

    education relevant t o real l ife. (See page 7.)

    This special supplement on Networ king and the Internet sponsored by Apple

    Computer takes you inside the classrooms, buildings, and districts where stu-

    dents and teachers are discovering and creating the information world. There

    are high school students using e-mail to collaborate with one another on a pro-

    ject within their school buildings network (see page 11), and fourth graders

    learning geography via the online travels of their class mascot (page 4). And

    weve surfed the Web to identify 10 must-visit sites (page 6).

    Apple Computer continues to be the leading choice for educators

    who want high-power, high-value technology, combined with state-of-

    the-art Workgroup servers, and software that offers ready access to

    the Internet and the World Wide Web.

    From the Editor

    Jon Goodspeed

    The GlobalNeighborhood

    Photography

    by

    DanutaOtfinowski

    Editorial Director

    E-mail addresses:

    America Online (JGoodspeed);

    Internet ([email protected])

  • 8/14/2019 Scholastic Supplement

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    Networking &

    the Internet

    1Sponsored Supplement

    Contents

    March/ April 1996

    Supplement t o Electronic Learning

    Sponsored by Apple Computer, Inc.

    How Students Benef it . . . 2Using the network fundamentally improves

    formal education

    We Use the Int ernet . . . 4Educators speak out about how the Web is

    lighting up their classes

    Eye on the Sit es . . . . . . 6Heres a Top Ten list of educational sites to

    explore on the Web

    Tour of t he WWW . . . . . 7This teacher couldnt wait to let the revo-

    lut ion begin by taking his students online

    Networking Success . . . . 8Class, building, and district networking sto-

    r ies you can use as a blueprint

    Minds Onl ine . . . . . . . 11

    Students track weather, create a Web page,and express themselves online

    Apple Solut ions . . . . . . . 13Cost-effective, easy to use products

    Communit y Buil ding . . 15Networking is the key to the future

    Studentscollaborate

    online,

    fromdifferent

    computersta

    tions.

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    based topics such as science, math, or social studies.

    Accessing information in this way is both exciting and

    motivational, and its raising their level of thinking.

    Tapping into t he Internet . One of the most powerful

    networks is the Internet. Education leaders across

    the countr y are working to gather the resources to

    br ing this tool into the schools. There is tremen-

    dous energy going into how to get i t, who gets to

    use it, how to restrict port ions of it, and how to

    manage it. Theres an explosion of publishing taking

    place on the World Wide Web, and students,

    schools, and districts are publ ishing their own

    home pages. (The Internet is basically text-oriented;

    the World Wide Web has graphics, sound, and

    video.) Yet few of us have had sufficient experience

    to fully document the genuine educational benefits.

    The student with access to the Internet can literal-

    ly watch world events unfold before his or her eyes.

    Our students have done projects in which they con-

    versed with other students in Israel during the

    Middle East War, had online classroom discussions

    with survivors of the

    Holocaust, and collabo-

    rated with students

    from 150 schools repre-

    senting 50 countries.

    Via the Internet, stu-

    dents can share experi-

    ences, collaborate on

    group projects, and even conference directly with

    experts. This type of learning challenges the student

    to be fully at his or her best. Weve seen improved

    writing, research, and study skills, as well as a deep

    conscientiousness as students collaborate with peers

    in distant locations.

    The Teachers Role. It is critical that our students

    become full members of this learning community.

    Allowing students to explore and create content

    will instill in them confidence in their own ability

    to direct inquiries, locate and evaluate new

    sources of information, and contr ibute original

    work to the global community of learners.

    A teachers skill in helping students to select a

    meaningful topic to research, analyze, and resynthe-

    size is needed now more than ever. It takes a litt leflexibility, and its going to take initiative to break

    this new ground. s

    Al Morasch is director of instructional services at the

    Shoreline School District in Washington.

    3Sponsored Supplement

    We took our goals forbecoming a technolo-gy-infused school district toour community when werecognized that the benefitsto teaching and learningwith technology were real.They said, Go for it and theyapproved bond issues total-

    ing over $32 million.The State of Washington,

    through its InformationProcessing Cooperative,pro-vides access to the Internetfor 10,000 students and1,000 teachers for a mere$4,500 for an entire year.Thats 45 cents a child.

    Funding the Network

    Primary Functions of Networks

    Shoreline Schoo l District, just north of Sea ttle, is a

    suburban district of 9,500 students. The district is

    fully networked with Apple products using fiber optic

    cabling for voice, video, and data.

    Communications: Allowing students, teachers, and fac-ulty to communicate with others in classrooms, schools,communities, states, or countries.

    Information Access: Allowing students to reach be-yond the physical limitations of the classroom to obtaininformation relevant to their learning. This includesaccess to school library systems, CD-ROM databases,and information vi a the Internet stored on computers atany other networked location on the planet.

    Share Resources: Allowing students t o accessremote files, share and publ ish t heir cl assroom proj ects,

    access to pri nters, share files for collaborative projects,and use network modems or connections to online ser-vices and the Internet.

    BenefitBenefit

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    The Internet is shining

    a new light on educational

    resources. In this ne xt sec-

    tion, teachers tell you how

    its lighting up the ir classes.

    Going Online

    Koalaty LearningKameron Conner,

    Rankin Elementary School, Tupelo, MS

    E-mail: [email protected] lo.k12.m s.us

    As a fourth-grade teacher, Kameron Conner was sur-

    prised to discover that her students didnt know

    much about Alabama, the sister state to theirnative Mississippi. Conner, who now teaches second

    grade, started using her Macintosh LCII and the

    Internet to link her students to

    real people and places in the

    United States via the online

    travels of the class mascot, a

    vir tual teddy bear named

    Koala. Koalas hosts are

    asked to send e-mail describ-

    ing their state, city, school orworkday before sending Koala

    to another state.

    Conner says the Internet

    gives her another way of

    teaching her students geog-

    raphy, and it reinforces for

    me that I can teach, and my

    students can and do learn, in different ways.

    Making learning personal is an impor tant tactic with

    far-reaching potential. Maybe if this generation of stu-

    dents can get to know more people, Conner asserts,

    some of the barriers in the world will dissolve.

    Creating Critical ConsumersStanley Johnson

    Jefferson Jr. High School, Washington, DC

    E-mail: Under construction, along with his house.

    Were still at the ooh and the aah stage, says sci-

    ence teacher Stan Johnson, but the bottom line is,

    you still have to read when you get to that Web site.This is one of many messages Johnson delivers to

    his students as they learn research skills and use the

    schools 15-Macintosh Inter-

    net lab about once a week as

    another tool in the arsenal.

    The nice thing about the

    Internet, he adds, is it allows

    them access to current infor-

    mation; it s not dead.

    Beyond init ial access, hesays, Im teaching them to

    be critical consumers of

    information, Im tr ying to get

    them to the point where

    they can discriminate the

    information they need from

    everything else.

    Johnson keeps it simple, but he doesnt take it

    light ly. He says, If our ro le is to help kids

    assume leadership roles in a global setting, we

    need t o empower them to be literate in the tools

    theyll be using.

    Why We Use the Internet

    4 Sponsored Supplement

    Johnsons student s use the NBC News sitebecause its easy and graphical.

    Stans Favorit e si te:

    NBC News

    http:/ / www.nbc.com

    Kamerons Favorit e si te:

    Rainforest

    http:/ / mh.osd.

    wednet.edu/

    Photography

    byGregPease

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    Educators Speak Out

    About the Web

    Educators Speak Out

    About the Web

    5Sponsored Supplement

    by I.B. Smith

    Joyces Favorite sit e:

    Yahoo! http./ / www.yahoo.com

    Less Favorit e si te:

    Ireland http:/ / www.rmii.com/ mckinley/ irish.html

    Close-up on t he WorldLes Morse

    Juneau-Douglas High Schoo l, Juneau, AK

    E-mail: morse [email protected] .us

    Comparing the government of the United States to

    those of other countr ies is nothing new in high

    school history classes, but the shifting world climatemeans that the governments described in textbooks

    are not always the governments currently in power.

    No matter. Social Studies teacher Les Morse and his

    students use Macintosh computers to access the

    Internet and tap into governments worldwide. Morses

    seniors use the Internet to research a countrys consti-

    tution, and political and economic systems.

    It s quite a challenge, Morse says. Many consti-

    tutions and much information is available, but stu-

    dents sometimes run into language barr iers. If stu-dents are unable to find an interpreter on the

    schools campus, they might turn t o the CIA World

    Fact Book Internet site for a translation (although it

    is sometimes hard to access).

    Up-to-date information i s the main reason Mor se

    encourages his students to get online. Although

    they still rely on t raditi onal research t ools such

    as periodicals, almanacs, and art icles, Morse

    says, the Internet is a great source. s

    I.B. Smith is a Senior Associate at the National Alliance

    for Restructuring Education in Washington, D.C.

    Bull ish on t he NetJoyce Perkins

    Hardin-Jefferson High School, Sour Lake, TX

    E-mail: [email protected]

    Joyce Perkinss high school business students

    received $100,000 to play the stock market for 10

    weeks last fall, and it probably would not have hap-pened without the Internet. Perkins, a 1991 Christa

    McAuliffe Fellow and self-proclaimed Internet

    junkie, went online to ask if other educators had

    participated in the local stock market simulation,

    sponsored by theHouston Chronicle . One school

    responded with advice on the game.

    The Chronicle supplied daily newspapers for

    each of the nine t eams in Perkinss class, and the

    students used the Internet t o get t he most recent

    stock quotes, research companies, and check outthe latest business headlines.

    Its relevant information and more exciting, says

    Perkins. We watched one stock go from 60 to 80 to

    100 to 160 over a couple of days. With the

    Internet, students who are choosing to buy and sell

    stock as part of the simulation can keep a closer

    track of that stocks performance, she says.

    It s amazing, says Perkins, for business stu-

    dents to get these stock quotes minute by

    minute. They can do all types of math and futures

    calculations, and t hese are skill s they are going to

    need for their future.

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    1 NASA, t he National Air and Space Administrat ion(htt p:/ / www.gsfc.nasa.gov/ NASA_homepage.html)

    The ult imate site for anyone fascinated by space explo-rat ion! During shut tl e missions check out Today@NASA,or visit Space Science, Mission to Planet Eart h, orGaller y, w ith it s searchable archiv e of photos plusmovie and audio cl ips. Also check out the Project Galil eoHome Page (www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/) to get the latestinformati on, includ ing images, from t he unmanned space-craft Galileo now orb it ing cloud-shrouded Jupiter, hun-dreds of milli ons of miles from Earth .

    2 The Smithsonian Institution(http:/ / www.si.edu)

    Now celebrating 150 years dedicated to the increase anddiffusion of knowledge the Smithsonian Institution is aworld-class collection of museums, galleries, and other facil-it ies worth a special visit t o Washington, D.C. The HomePage provides an overview of 18 different museums and gal-leries, a listing of new exhibit s at each, and just about any-thing else you want to know about the Smithsonian.

    3 Nati onal Air & Space Museum(http:/ / www.si.edu/ organiza/ museums/ nasm/ start.htm)Make a virtual visit to the most popular of theSmithsonian museums. View a clickable floor plan of themuseum, learn about Einstein Planetarium shows andLangley Theater films, and find out about t he museumseducation activities.

    4 Dinosaurs at Chicagos Field Museum of Natural History(http:/ / rs6000.bvis.uic.edu:80/ museum/ Dna_To_Dinosaurs.html)

    Kids love dinosaurs, and this site is not just a Jurassic- butalso a Triassic- and Cretaceous-Park with lots of sounds andanimation. There are also links to other dinomite sites for

    further prehistoric exploration.

    5 ExploraNet: The Exploratoriums World Wide Web Server(http:/ / www.exploratorium.edu/ )

    Why is the sky blue and the sunset r ed? Visit t his sitesScience Snackbook to get answers to this perennialquestion and to find instructions for replicating over 100experiments from San Franciscos famed hands-on sciencemuseum. You can also check out current Explor atoriumexhibit s, order from the Explor atorium Store, or experi-ment with online exhibits.

    6 The Franklin Inst it ute Science Museum(http:/ / sln.fi .edu/ tfi / welcome.html)

    Interactive exhibits like The Heart: A Virtual Exploration,a QuickTime movie tour of th is famed Philadelphia muse-um, and inQuiry Almanack, the online magazine devoted toinquir y-based learning, all make this site a must-visit forboth teachers and students.

    7 Virtual Frog Dissection Kit(http:/ / george.lbl.gov/ ITG.hm.pg.docs/ dissect/ info.html)Students can explore frog anatomy without that nastyformaldehyde smell. After removing skin and internalorgans and viewing onl ine movies of actual dissections,they can click on Reset and put the lit tl e hopper t ogeth-er for a fresh start. And r emember, by sparing a real fr ogyou could be saving a prince!

    8 Weather Photos f rom Space(http:/ / vortex.plymouth.edu/ usamap.html)Clicking on th is map of t he United States, Canada, andMexico brings up actual satelli te weather photos showing

    weather distur bances and weather data for t hat area.Students can see why some regions are wet and othersdr y, and understand the sett lement patterns.

    9 The Weather Underground(http:/ / groundhog.sprl.umich.edu/ )

    Radical! Not for any 60s political agenda but for its beliefthat the Web should be interactive and parti cipatory, thisUniversity of Michigan-based site allows students to entertheir own weather observations and compare them to thosefor any other place in the world. Besides its cli ckable weath-er maps and hot links to all sorts of weather-related sites, itmaintains a k12weather l istserver for educators involvedin teaching weather-related and environmental issues.

    10 Megamath(http:/ / www.c3.lanl.gov/ mega-math/ )

    Wonderfully intriguing clickable titles like: Machinesthat Eat Your Words, Algor it hms and Ice Cream forAll, and Welcome to the Hotel Infinit y are designedto appeal to th e elementary-school users of this LosAlamos National Laboratory site which believes thatmathematics is fascinating.

    Stan Solomon is a New York City school teacher.

    Keeping an Eye on the Sites

    6 Sponsored Supplement

    by Stan SolomonGoing Online

    There are so many resources to mine on the Web, weve brainstormed with Stan Solomon, one of the

    original Web-explorers, to narrow the field for educators who want to get started. The following sites are cer-

    tainly eligible for any teachers Top Ten Sites list. Theyre interesting, useful, and definitely educational.

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    Five years ago, I hooked up a modem to the

    Mac in my classroom and took my students

    online. I couldnt wait to see the looks on their

    faces when they were instantly connected to NASA,

    university libraries, and classrooms in far-off places.

    Exchanging e-mail wi th people in other countries,

    downloading space pictures, and retr ieving articles

    from gopher sites was heady stuff. I couldnt wait tolet the revolution begin.

    The revolution started quietly with Kelly, a

    fourth grader, who was researching

    life in Israel. She was taking

    most of her information from

    reference books and ency-

    clopedias. I suggested she

    post a help request for

    information online.

    Within a few days,Kelly met Max, a retired

    Israeli mil itary officer in

    Tel Aviv. Max provided

    Kelly with a vir tual visit to

    Israel, offering insights into local

    customs, daily activ it ies, and perspec-

    tives on Israel that she never would have found

    through conventional resources. Kelly s research

    suddenly came alive and became relevant to

    her. A deep connection was made.

    Now, as the Internet is increasingly used to tap

    into the myriad of treasures on the World Wide Web,

    the links and sources of direct learning have explod-

    ed. Even the most casual browsing reveals scads of

    great resources. This is the perfect arena for making

    education relevant to real life.

    Of course, not all of my experiences have been

    as smooth as Kellys e-mail exchange with Max.

    There are some bumpy roads in t his revolution:

    s I designed an introductor y lesson in which the

    class and I together would explore some of

    NASAs rich sites, only to receive a cordial mes-

    sage that the site was currently too busy. Would

    we p lease tr y again l ater.

    s Students are not always amazed at what Im

    amazed about. I eagerly shared a few Civil

    War sites, and the feedback con-

    sisted of complaints that t he

    sites were mostly t ext and

    the photos were only in

    black and white.

    s After an introduc-

    tor y lesson on how tocreate home pages,

    students showed much

    more interest i n finding

    cool icons than in the actu-

    al contents of the page.

    Theres so much to mine on the Web that a

    teachers primary task is to help students sift

    through the glitz, steering them away from the

    Whats cool? The Web has the resources to

    engage students with compelling information and

    qualit y contents. Its not as tidy as we teachers

    might l ike, but it is both real and here to stay. It

    remains for us, and our students, to craft the

    learning we can do t here. s

    Jim Golubich is a elementary school teacher at the

    Shoreline School District in Washington.

    by Jim Golubich

    7Sponsored Supplement

    of the World Wide Web

    One Teachers TourOne Teachers Tour

    Illustrati

    onbyStanislaw

    Fernandes

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    Workgroup technology is manageable and affordable, and its he lp-

    ing to enrich both the learning experiences of students and the profes-

    sionial development of teachers through easy access to information.

    Students are twice as interested in and enthusiastic

    about doing research since we installed the Library

    Research Server Bundle, says Kenneth Collins, com-puter lab teaching assistant. Presentation skills and

    the quality of student reports and research projects

    have all markedly improved. Using the networked CD

    resources, students now routinely incorporate higher

    quality con-

    tent and visu-

    als into their

    reports and

    papers and

    classroom

    projects.

    Before the

    school in-

    stalled a CD-

    Tower, students had to take turns using the CD soft-

    ware. If one student was searching through a

    research program, every other student had to wait,

    and wait, and wait. What Channon Quillen, the dis-

    tr ict technology specialist, wanted was some way to

    turn those waiters into users. Even though Cedar

    Ridge is a small school375+ students and 60+

    computer workstationsQuillen says he knew we

    could make better use of the schools CD software

    resources by putt ing in some kind

    of network.

    The CD-Tower enabled the com-

    puters in the research lab/library

    Losing Some Wait

    Classroom Networking:

    Cedar Ridge Elementary

    School (Waco Independent

    School District, Waco, TX)

    8 Sponsored Supplement

    Networking

    Networking Success Stories:

    Outlines You Can Follow

    No more taking (slow) t urns on t he CD-soft ware.

    one

    Apple Workgroup Server linkscomputer l ab wit h librar y, and a CD-Tower all ows CD-ROM t it les t o beshared by many students at once.

    IllustrationsbySta

    nislaw

    Fernandes

    Photography

    by

    ShellyKatz

  • 8/14/2019 Scholastic Supplement

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    and the computer lab to access the schoolss CD

    collection simultaneously. For the students, the

    new networked technology means a much more

    product ive usage of research time. A number of

    students can plug into the same encyclopedia,

    and simultaneously explore completely different

    routes to get the information they need.

    Our next project wil l be to extend the network

    into every classroom in the building, says

    Colli ns. Weve already knocked down the walls

    between the research lab/lib rary and the com-

    puter/product ion lab. Our goal now is to knock

    down t he walls separating the classrooms from

    our onl ine CD-ROM resources. s

    9Sponsored Supplement

    Were bent on networ king every single class-

    room in t he build ing, says Bob Tri kakis,

    Wachusett Regional High Schools network man-

    ager. Meantime, all our Mac labs are networked

    on a fiber-optic backbone int o our media center,

    and from there out t o the Internet. These labs

    include a math/science lab, a writ ing center, a

    graphics lab, a curri culum l ab, a teachers l ab,

    and even an office network. From any of t hefive labs, students can call upon the resources

    of th e media center, or use the media center to

    get onto the

    Internet

    where they

    gather the

    resources of

    the Worl d

    Wide Web.

    A student

    in the writing

    lab can use

    the network

    to call down

    to the math/science lab and pull up a science report

    he may be working on, says Trikakis. Then, if heneeds additional data, he can go to the media cen-

    ter and tap into any CD-ROM.

    When everythings online and interconnected,

    collabor ation i s the name of the game. Many

    times my graphics art s kids will assist ot her stu-

    dents with th eir multimedia projects, Trikakis

    says. Therell be some sort of query on e-

    mail-and pretty soon a number of students are

    working t ogether online, on the same project,

    from different computer stations. Its sort of vi r-

    tual collaboration.

    That includes the teachers. Their lab has

    developed into what Trikakis calls a hive of

    interconnectivit y. You have teachers helping

    teachers develop better

    lessonsor just working

    together on new curriculum

    ideas, he says. s

    Building Networking:

    Wachusett Regional High

    School (Holden, MA)

    by Robert McCarthy

    Not in a Class by Itself

    Students eagerly await the extension of e-mail.

    two

    The media center is the hub of themultilab network, which uses an Apple

    Workgroup Server, online car d catalog, andApple Internet Solutions.

    Photo

    graphy

    by

    SethResnick

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    This rural district of 11 schools with just 4,500 stu-

    dents spans an area of 43 square miles. It would take

    a full day to walk across the district . Thats a lot of

    open space in between schools. To close those dis-

    tances, we networked all 850 computers in all the

    schools, says Chris Richardson, superintendent.Then we took the schools and networked all of

    them. The district suddenly seems a lot smaller.

    Each school building is serviced by a local area

    network; and each building is linked to all of the oth-

    ers by means of a wide area network. Teachers and

    administrators can share files, access data sources,

    and exchange e-mail from practically any Macintosh

    workstation at any locationand the networks also

    open a route to the Internet. Students can tap into

    online resources held in their own schools, or in anyother school across the distr ict, or go right out on to

    the World Wide Web.

    Already all of the districts teachers and administra-

    tors have

    been assigned

    e-mail

    addresses and

    can easily

    communicate

    via internal e-

    mail. With e-

    mail, commu-

    nication

    begins to

    occur more often and gets much easier to accom-

    plish, Richardson says. Instead of pursuing each

    other with paper, or playing protracted telephone tag,

    teachers can use the e-mail system to hold virtual fac-

    ulty meetings, or do curriculum-building online.

    This is not just the world of theory, either. Our

    teachers have used that application to collabo-

    ratein vir tuality, as it wereon various curr icu-

    lum documents. Its all accomplished without paper,

    or messengers, or having to pick up the telephone,

    or even having to schedule times to meet face toface. The increases in efficiency and productivity,

    and teacher satisfaction, too, have been significant.

    Across the district, the network is fast becoming

    an integral part of the curriculum for language arts,

    math, social studies, and even home economics.

    Students in chemistry classes, for instance, have

    been using the network to help each other conduct

    experiments, share results, store lab notebooks

    online, and even surf the Internet to do research.

    What were looking at now is a burgeoningdemand for computer accessespecially as more

    and more students obtain e-mail addresses, Richard-

    son observes. We see students as needing, and ben-

    efiting from, access to technology almost all of the

    time theyre in the school building. s

    10 Sponsored Supplement

    Networking

    System-Wide Networking:North Platte Public Schools

    (North Platte, NE)

    Shrinking the Dist rict

    Students share chemistry notesacross the district.

    three

    Robert McCarthy is a freelance writer

    based in West New York, New Jersey.

    All schools linked together viaApple Workgroup Servers and software.

    Internet access is easy using AppleInternet Solutions.

    Photography

    by

    GeorgeHipple

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    Weather may be one of the most common projects

    undertaken in a general science class, but for tenth-

    grade students at Smoky Hill High School who are

    networked and on the Internet, a project on weath-

    er changed the way they viewed the wor ld.

    You could feel the power of the network immediate-

    ly from the very first class I taught where the kids

    had the access, says Rich Maginn, Smoky Hill s

    computer/science teacher. As we worked on our

    weather project, I could really see the changes in thekids. Their perspectives altered. For the first t ime,

    they got a real sense that they were living on a planet

    and that every part affected every other part.

    Weather Watch. Maginns students took part in a

    world weather watch, where they tr acked weather

    formations as it moved across the globe. Because

    they were networ ked to each other, and out into

    the Internet, each student could t rack different

    terrestrial locations, and call up photographic

    images from many of the Earths different satel-

    lit es. They also learned about weather forecasting,

    interpreting barometr ic pressure readings and iso-

    bar symbols, and t racking satellit es in geosyn-

    chronous orbits. They checked in daily with the

    National Weather Service to observe storm fronts

    shifting, captured and downloaded satellit e pic-

    tures of the Earths surface, and sent messages to

    each other over the network with enthusiastic

    missives such as, Hey, check out what s happen-

    ing in the South Pacific!

    ONE TEACHERS SCHOOLWIDE SUCCESS

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    Students at Smoky Hill High School (Aurora, Co.) havean online forum for discussion and project-sharing.

    by Robert McCarthy

    A building-wide network turns this

    sprawling high school of 3,000

    students into one big (happy) classroom

    Photography

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    Minds OnlineMinds Online

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    At Home on the Network . One of the best advan-

    tages to firing kids up about what theyre learn-

    ing, Maginn says, is that t he classroom projects

    cont inue on after class most of the time.

    Thats what happened when Maginn and 25 of his

    students decided to use their schools interconnec-

    tivity to create a Home Page on the World Wide

    Web (http://www.smoky.ccsd.k12.co.us). In the best

    examples, a home page exhibits the personality of

    its address. Smoky Hill High School students creat-

    ed a home page that includes lists of students and

    teachers, the school newspaper, an act ivit ies calen-

    dar, and a parent newsletter. Anyone who logs onto

    the home page can submit questions, view a mapof the school building, take a virtual tour of the

    school, or call up specific information about each

    of the schools academic departments.

    This was a collaborative effort , where we worked

    together for months, Maginn says. The students

    own this Web page, and that has a lot to do wi th its

    outstanding quality.

    Using various forms of media is nothing new to

    the students. Their Macintosh environment

    enabled them to use multimedia in their presenta-

    tions and report s long before they went online.

    Maginn says thats why they knew how they

    wanted it to look.

    Forum of Expression. But nothing is more popular

    on the Smoky Hill network than the school-wide

    e-mail system, known as SmokyNet. The system

    was no sooner installed than 700 or 800 kids

    wanted immediate access and e-mail addresses,

    Maginn says. For a $5 fee, students got the go-

    ahead to express themselves online.We had an awful lot of interesting ideas being gen-

    erated. Kids were defining their positions, then

    defending or modifying them based on how they

    challenged each other, Maginn says. In its first 50

    days of operation, the Apple e-mail server delivered

    23,513 pieces of e-mail to the network. Not even one

    glitch or crash. Thats pretty phenomenal reliability.

    Classes have set up virtual conference areas

    and chat rooms. And Smoky Hill faculty has set

    up a three-session e-mail t raining class to ensure

    that the canons of good behavior stil l hold, even

    in cyberspace.

    These interschool, online forums include every-

    thing from wr iting projects on current events to

    describing the techniques of snowboarding. One

    of the most popular and hotly attended of the

    SmokyNet conference rooms features a dialogue

    on the role of religion in ci vic li fe. Topics under

    discussion include abor tion, public pr ayer, big-

    otr y, and religious freedom.

    We have nearly 3,000 students. There are lots ofwings, and floors, separate department areas,

    each wit h it s own resource rooms....but with our

    interconnectivit y it s like were all in one big class-

    room, says Maginn. And nobodys excluded.

    Part icipation can come from anywheremaybe

    from the kid at the next computer, or maybe from

    someone on the other side of the world. s

    12 Sponsored Supplement

    Networking

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    Powered by a new generation of servers,

    the Apple Workgroup Server 7250 and

    8550, Apple Comput er is leading the

    way with easy-to-use Internet and Networking

    solutions for schools. These new pr oducts

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    mize their server investment and

    take advantage of new t echnologiesto assist in the learning process.

    The introduction of these servers

    represents Apples commitment to the

    PCI (Peripheral Component Inter-

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    flexibilit y and expansion capabili ty

    than was previously possible. The PCI model lets

    users add on cards that allow enhanced capabili-

    ties in graphics, telecommunications, or storage.

    And these servers are Power Macintosh-based,

    the next generation of personal computers; how-

    ever, they work wi th your existing software

    applications as well as applications designed for

    the Power Macintosh.

    In addit ion to t he new

    hardware enhancements,

    the new ser vers also

    include a Workgroup ServerSolut ions CD that offers a

    broad range of management

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    works. If purchased separately, thi s software

    bundle would cost over $4,000, demonstrating

    Apples Newest Internet & Networking

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    CUPERTINO, CAMore educators use Macintosh computers to publish to

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    Apples commitment to high value and high per-

    formance in the new server line.

    Apple Networking Software Solutions

    The new servers wil l be available with all

    Apple Education Networking Software

    Solut ions. These include the Apple Internet

    Server Solution for publish-

    ing content on the World

    Wide Web; AppleShare for

    sharing files, pr inters, and

    applications; the Library

    Research Server

    Solution for access-ing CD-based

    resources, and the

    Communications

    Solut ion for e-mail

    and elec-

    tronic bul-

    letin board

    exchanges.

    Two of

    these software solut ions have been enhanced

    to better meet the needs of education.

    Apple Internet Solution for the WWW

    The newest version of this software bundle

    includes Adobe Systems PageMill program,

    which lets schools create their own Web page,

    and then automatically translates that material

    into Web code (HTML text) wi th a touch of a

    but ton. Teachers need not spend time program-

    ming in HTML in order for their home pages tobe seen on the World Wide Web.

    The latest Internet Server Solut ion also fea-

    tures a RealAudio Server, allowing for audio

    publishing on the Web. Audio can be down-

    loaded from the Internet, saved, and used in

    other applications. Addit ional software includes

    WebStar, NetScape Navigator, Acrobat Pro,

    MacDNS, AppleSearch, Server Stat, and more.

    AppleShareApple has also launched AppleShare 4.2.1, the

    most up-to-date enhancement of the AppleShare

    software. This easy-to-use network operating

    software provides seamless communication inte-

    gration into the school network and allows users

    to share files, printers, and/or applications.

    AppleShare 4.2.1 allows as many as 250 concur-

    rent users, compared to 150 allowed by the pre-

    vious version. Additionally, AppleShare 4.2.1 sup-

    ports up to 3,000 open files, nearly a tenfold in-

    crease above the 346 open files possible using 4.1.

    For more information on Apple products,

    call 1-800-800-APPL or on t he Int ernet at :

    http://www.info.apple.com/education s

    Jane Albertson is a NY-based technology writer.

    14 Sponsored Supplement

    The Apple Int ernet Server Solut ionincludes all the software needed toallow your school to easily publishon the World Wide Web.

    The Workgroup Server 7250 combines fast connectiv-ity and a processor speed of 120 MHz, and is config-ured with 16MB of RAM, 1.2GB on the hard disk, anda quad-speed CD-ROM drive. Three PCI slots are stan-dard, and the new industrial design makes expansioneasy. Designed for use in classrooms, small adminis-trative networks or libraries, this low-cost PCI serveris Apples most versatile Workgroup server.

    For networks requir ing greater power and perfor -mance, Apple offers t he Workgroup Server 8550,running on the RISC-based 604 (PowerPC) proces-sor at a speed of 132 MHz, with 24MB RAM, threePCI slots, a quad-speed CD-ROM dr ive, and a ful l2GB on the hard disk for greater storage capacity.Apples 8550 Server also offers automatic backupcapabili ties, with bui lt -in DAT dr ives.

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    15Sponsored Supplement

    Theres nothing more compelling to me t han

    helping a student learn. Thats my motiva-

    tion for teaching, learning, using technology,

    surfing the Internet....whatever.

    My first project with students online in 1988

    hooked me right from the start . A student of mine

    wrote an essay as part of a project on KidsNetwork,

    and won my first Macintosh for me. This child waserroneously classified in special ed. What

    empowerment the computer gave

    him, and how it helped me to

    identify his part icular style

    of learning! Since then,

    Ive made it my busi-

    ness to take my stu-

    dents online. But not

    enough of us have

    access to this greatestof level playing fields.

    First t hings first. We need

    leadership in our districts to lay

    the groundwork for our connectivity.

    Thus far, only a mere 3 percent of classrooms in our

    country have Internet access. The National

    Information Infrastructure Advisory Council has identi-

    fied electronic networking as the link to creating the

    school of the future. They are lobbying to provide

    teachers access to a broad array of online curricular

    materials and innovative instructional approaches. The

    technology for providing schools access already exists.

    The costs of installing and supporting interconnectivity

    would represent a small portion of the education bud-

    get; roughly 1.5% to 3.9% of the total K-12 budget dur-

    ing the initial installation. By comparison, 1.3% of the

    public K 12 budget is spent on technology today.

    Next, we need to learn together. When you learn t o

    download text, photos, graphics, video clips, doc-

    uments, lessons, and sample software, you will

    understand why linking all classrooms across the

    countr y has become a national pr ior ity. Last sum-

    mer, more than 200 teachers from around the

    countr y talked, laughed, and learned t ogether

    online at sites ranging from New Mexico to NewJersey as part of the Online Internet Institut e.

    This is not just one workshop, but

    comfortable sustained learning

    with real teachers who know

    teaching and technology.

    Join our virtual faculty and

    let us take you through

    the learning process.

    Looking ahead. We keephearing about how in the

    next millenium, information

    will be a pri mary product of

    value. Well, its not just i nforma-

    tion t hats a primary p roduct of value.

    Its education. Knowing how to learn is at a pre-

    mium, and the students who are learning how t o

    build knowledge using vast r esources of informa-

    ti on are way ahead of the game. We need t o set

    our national agenda to establi sh equal and

    affordable access for all chi ldren to the wealth of

    information in existence. We need to build th is

    community together. s

    Bonnie Bracey is an Arlington ( Va.) schoolteacher,

    and a member of the National Information

    Infrastructure Advisory Council. Contact her at:

    BBracey @aol.com

    Weve seen some compelling reasons for networking our schools and using

    the Internet. But how do we break out of the isolation of our ill-equipped class-

    rooms and take advantage of the vast resources available to us?

    Building the Community

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    by Bonnie Bracey