The projects are designed to tap into the Internet's potential as a teaching and learning tool. Although we also see this as an important use of the technology, we feel that if schools in the United States are going to invest billions of dollars to connect to the Internet, then they should be using the technology to its full potential and not just replacing CD-ROMs and other library resources with new technology. Their detailed Web site provides all the tools needed for five different Collaborative Projects and for five Real Time Data Projects . The choices of the Collaborative Projects are diverse.
Students can explore their schoolyard for living and nonliving things.
They can compare water quality from local rivers, streams, or lakes with water from around the world. They can also set off on a worldwide search for the dominant trait in a human genetics project. They can discover what causes a pot of water to boil. In the fifth project, students can learn how proximity to the equator affects average daily temperature and hours of sunlight. Each project is run twice during the school year.