See the accompanying chart, Increasing Access Through the Internet . But in mind and spirit, they've traveled all over the world. Thanks to connections forged over the Internet, the students at this Zuni school have exchanged art with Aborigine children in Australia, donated supplies to refugees from Myanmar, and consoled the families of Argentinean youths who were killed in a fire.
Technology is so fast.
While researchers can't say for sure what effect the Internet has on learning, no one disputes its revolutionary ability to offer students immediate access to information, experts, and global interactions. At the same time, contact with others has reinforced the Zuni's own cultural pride, 5th grade teacher Juanita Edaakie says. When they saw other places that didn't have as much as Zuni had, they respected what we had more. By last year, the proportion of U.S. public schools with Internet access had reached 78 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Advocates have strongly defended the discounts from attacks in Congress, despite little research linking Internet activities to higher achievement.