r to ventures between teachers and students and NASA staff or data.
Student activities refer to interactive games and manipulatives provided for student use and were grouped by grade levels: K-4, 5-8, and 9-12.
A tool refers to a software program that can expand one's WWW "surfing" skills and includes search engines and downloading tools.
References and links refer to NASA and non-NASA Web sites that are hyperlinked to NASA sites.
A tutorial refers to a Web-based lesson for teachers or students.
The most critical dimensions are lesson plans because they are written in a style that is easily infused into the curriculum and therefore reach the students quickly; student activities because they also are easily infused into the classroom; and databases because they allow teachers to search large bodies of information to find what they need to supplement their own curriculum.
Incorporating Web-based lessons and activities is one way teachers can utilize computer technology to enhance learning. In reported best practices, teachers are using the WWW to facilitate learning through collaborative activities with individuals inside and outside the classroom. These teachers are challenging students to use the WWW to research content areas that support lesson goals. Students also are using the WWW to create new or manipulate existing data to support lesson objectives.
The goal of this assessment was to identify best practices of Web-based instruction and learning. The research included looking at how the WWW was being used as well as reviewing examples of lessons and sites being accessed. The findings suggest that there are several ways that teachers are using the World Wide Web to enhance the learning environment and implement instructional activities.
Use of the WWW during instruction. This dimension focused on how teachers used the WWW in their lessons. The WWW may be used as the sole delivery mechanism for the lesson or it may be used as a collaboration tool to share experiment results with other students completing experiments offline. Four categories were found that exemplified this dimension:
Interactivity with the World Wide Web. This dimension focused on how the students used the WWW. For example, students use the WWW as a research tool to find information, data, or graphics; as a tool to communicate with others; or as a tool to manipulate and report data. Five categories were found that exemplified this dimension:
Types of World Wide Web sites. Types of WWW sites refer to the potential function of the site in the classroom. Sites can be classified into three categories:
Informational sites primarily present data, explanations, examples, images, and content. Instructional sites organize and sequence information into lesson plans. Learning sites engage the learner in cognitive processing and interactive investigation of content.
Origination of sites. The origination of sites refers to who created the Web site. This is important to teachers and students when there is a concern about content accuracy and quality of the Web site. Web sites can be created by
The most critical dimensions in this investigation are use of technology during instruction and interactivity with the World Wide Web. Where there were unsuccessful first attempts at using the WWW, teachers changed how technology was used or the type of interaction students had with the WWW.
Teacher tutorials help teachers make use of WWW resources in a classroom setting. The tutorials in this needs assessment focused on skills related to both instructional and technical issues. To use the WWW in the classroom, teachers need varying degrees of technical proficiency combined with strategies and skills relating to designing instruction and writing lesson plans.
Teacher tutorials were classified into two dimensions. The teacher's level of proficiency in either dimension affects his or her ability to use the WWW for instruction.
WWW producer. Producer refers to tutorials that teach teachers to create and publish content for WWW delivery. The WWW producer tutorials were subdivided 