Interactive site enhance lessons

Including an interactive site that engage students will enhance any lesson.

What can interactive site do for my classroom?

Schools and classrooms are dynamic, interactive, social places, where teachers and students communicate, share information, and challenge each other's ideas. Teachers guide student learning by posing problems, encouraging student questions, and offering opportunities for students to find solutions. The resources and interactions in a classroom depend on the curriculum the class is working on and the beliefs of the teacher and school.

So how can the Internet assist students and teachers in reaching their educational objectives when schools are already such dynamic places? One answer to that is, "The Internet doesn't matter." Let's think about that for a second. When second graders are learning about the history of their town, it doesn't matter if they have an Internet connection. What does matter is talking to the residents of the town, the local historian, the fireman around the corner, and their parents. Teachers always make decisions about what resources students have access to and which resources will encourage and help them reach the educational objectives of the lesson they are studying.

Dr. Bonnie Brownstein, co-Director of NETECH/City University of New York, explains how the Internet provides classroom advantages, even for the youngest learners.

As you continue to learn about the Net and how it can be used in your class, you will see that the same idea applies. There will be times when technology and the Internet make a lot of sense, and there will be times when technical resources are not needed. Teachers, as always, should select the resources they think best suit their objectives.

The Internet basically expands the resources available and decreases the time and location dependencies that can be limiting factors in schools. It offers powerful and varied ways for students and teachers to interact, manipulate data, and conduct research.

The Internet is not an approach to education, but rather a tool that can be used with almost any educational theory. It makes additional information resources available, it enhances dynamic communication, and it makes collaboration easier by reducing the need for collaborators to be in the same place at the same time (they can simply e-mail each other at their convenience). Let's look at each of these enhancements -- expanded resources, dynamic resources, and reduced dependency on time and location -- one by one.

work cited:

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/classroominternet/index_sub2.html