Children Using The Internet for School

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the internet use in American Schools. How educators use the internet to teach our children and how children learn using the internet.

Research Using Internet

The internet is an important tool for students to find and access information ranging in every subject they are learning. Understanding and using internet and other technological tools can enhance the quality of education our children receive.

Research has shown that 87% of all youth between the ages of 12 and 17 use the internet, of those youth 78% use the internet at school. (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2005)

The internet is a very interactive medium for students to quickly access up to date information from around the world. The web sites are designed to encourage the user to delve deeper and deeper into the site, allowing them the ability to navigate through the information at their own pace. Links on one web site often lead the user to additional web sites containing even more information of the subject. The internet allows students and teachers to collaborate with individuals around the world and at any time of day, which gives them a different viewpoint or perspective on topics and exposes them to different populations, cultures and beliefs.

Teaching Using the Internet

Integrating the internet into the teacher’s curriculum gives them an almost limitless amount of information ranging from text, audio, video and still images from around the world. Teachers also have the ability to save the information to the hard drive for future projects or discussions. Ready access to millions of web pages of data represents a major breakthrough for educators.

The internet provides instant access to news and events as it is happening. Web sites are updated constantly to provide visitors with current information. An example of a project here in Florida: teachers have hurricane tracking project where students check web sites many times a day or week to construct maps that show the path, current position, strength and heading of an active storm. This gives the students a sense of empathy for the individuals in the path of the storm and is important for growth in scientific knowledge.

Obstacles of Internet

The expense of maintaining access to the internet is what schools face today. It is costly to wire the buildings, not to mention the cost of the computer equipment.