Students experience a professional communication process. All of the forum participants have experienced personal and academic gains as result of their communication with their peers. Students communicate about science across disciplines. Students at both levels wrote about a variety of science areas without concentrating on their specialization area, favorite area, or strongest area. Elementary students find a content resource.
Elementary teachers have limited contact with content area experts.
The forum introduced the elementary students to teachers who could serve as content resources during the methods course, through student teaching, and into school employment. During the semester in which the science education students participated in the online forum, they expressed a range of reactions. Some students had initial difficulty accessing the forum and adding responses. Once the students became familiar with the forum structure, they participated regularly and enthusiastically. In the final course evaluations, technology was singled out repeatedly as a highlight of the course.