Educator's Internet Companion: Classroom Connect's Complete Guide to Resources on the Internet

This is an excellent resource for K^-12 educators looking for ways to truly integrate the Internet into their classrooms. It realistically acknowledges the ever-changing landscape of cyberspace while building a solid case for the Internet as part of schools and libraries. The layout makes for easy reading and use. Black-and-white screen captures are clearly legible. "Editor's Choice" indicates resources considered especially useful.Chapter 1 provides 30 lesson plans integrating the Internet into the curriculum. Arranged by subject, these cover a variety of grade levels ranging from "American History" for grades 5^-7 and "Chemistry" for grades 9^-12 to "Life in Space" for grades K^-3. Each includes "objectives, materials, procedures, and addresses of Internet resources, including a computer screen capture." Each can be easily modified for different grade levels; some include extensions for advanced students. Even better, the fine print at the end of each 2-to 3-page plan grants permission to photocopy for classroom use only.Chapter 2 takes the reader on a field trip to eight sites via Gopher, Telnet, FTP, and the World Wide Web (WWW) . Each tour includes a brief description of the site, navigation tool, site address, and software used. Computer screen captures walk one through ERIC (once via Gopher, once via WWW) , NYSERnet, Scholastic Network, CARL, Oakland University FTP Archive, the Froggy Page, and FedWorld. Chapter 3 provides an extensive list of education-related sites arranged by Gopher, Telnet, anonymous FTP, mailing lists, and Usenet newsgroups, with clear descriptions and instructions for reaching them. Chapter 4 highlights the top 50 Web sites. Again, brief descriptions and addresses are provided. Chapter 5 helps answer the perennial question, How do I find this? Three appendixes and a glossary provide definitions, a tutorial on using the Internet, acceptable-use policies, and commercial online services. The index provides access by subject to resources mentioned.Purchasers of the book receive two "freebies" : the Global Quest video and a disk (Mac or Windows) called NASA K^-12 Internet Project. The video runs approximately 11 minutes, of which almost three advertise Classroom Connect products. Basically the video is a testimonial from educators, students, and George Lucas for the use of the Internet in schools. This is PR, not an instructional video. The disk includes nine files (on the Mac version) , two of which seemed to be in development. The "Read Me 1st" file was not found. The seven files viewed appeared to be scanned-in documents. A hard copy would have been easier to handle; putting them on disk is a classic case of electronic page turning. Among the files found were "K^-12 Internet Q & A," "Live from Antarctica," and "New 'Net Users Q & A." One file, "Classroom 'Net Projects," nicely complements the Companion. It provides step-by-step sample lesson plans for grades 7^-12, arranged by discipline. At 291 pages, this file really is too long and unwieldy, even with the table-of-contents file as help. Separate subject files would have been more useful.The Companion deserves a place on all school professional shelves, preferably in multiple copies. It's sure to be in demand as more teachers venture onto the Internet. But always remember this wonderful advice from the Companion: "the best lesson plans do not use the Internet as an end in itself. Rather, they employ it as a means to an end, incorporating its resources as an extra tool to attain a larger educational goal."