The World Wide Web and Education

by

Janice L. Flake, Professor, Florida State University

Department of Educational Theory and Practice, College of Education, 115 Stone Building, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4065

Published in Computers in the Schools in a special issue on the Internet

1996

Index

Many people are talking about the Internet and the Information Superhighway. However, these terms mean different things to different people. To some, Internet seems to mean being able to E-mail people all over the world and indeed that is a function of the Internet. To others, it means that they can download files (place copies on their computers) from a number of people or can search for various topics. The focus of this article is the potential of the World Wide Web through a graphics browser such as Mosiac or Netscape. According to Kanaley (1995) only about 20% of those having access to the Internet have access to the World Wide Web (WWW).

The WWW is a network of networks that has a body of software and a set of protocols and conventions in common. The WWW uses hypertext and multimedia techniques to provide point and click network-accessible information which makes the web easy for anyone to browse, roam, and make contributions. One initial problem with the World Wide Web is finding locations. Hence, throughout this paper WWW addresses are listed in italics after mentioning a specific site.

EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB

The Internet started in 1969 through the Department of Defense with four hosts: the University of California at Los Angeles, the Stanford Research Institute, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. In 1972 E-mail was invented to send mail across a distributed network. In 1973 transatlantic connections were established to England and Norway. In 1982 the first definition of an "internet" was instituted as a linked set of networks. By 1984 there were 1,000 hosts. In 1986 the National Science Foundation founded five super-computing centers: Princeton, Pittsburgh, the University of California in San Diego, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Cornell University. By 1987 there were 10,000 hosts. By 1989 there were 100,000 hosts. In 1991 the University of Minnesota developed the Gopher. In 1992 CERN released the World Wide Web and the number of hosts reached 1,000,000. In 1993, Mosaic was released by the University of Illinois and had a major impact on the Internet. In late 1994 the creator had moved to a commercial company, Netscape, and continued to refine and improve the variations of Mosaic and released it as Netscape.

Evidence of the rapid growth in the number of servers in the WWW Growth of the WWW since the 1992 release of the WWW and the 1993 release of Mosaic. This chart will undoubtedly change several times before this article is published and read, but the listed address should allow for continued updating.

The World Wide Web is still in its infancy; yet, it shows much potential for becoming a major force in our society. The growth of the World Wide Web has been very rapid with the appearance of Mosaic and later Netscape, graphic browsers which allow for point and click technology and graphics, as well as transferring of multimedia--including sound and quicktime movies. Many educational institutions, government agencies, commercial companies, and organizations are moving into the World Wide Web. What dynamics will play out is unclear as this system continues to grow. And perhaps the biggest question we need to think about is: How do we want it to grow and help become a major contributor to our educational system?

A number of people have made projections about the future of technology. Evans (1979) made an interesting comparison of the computer revolution with the industrial revolution, where in he identified four important features of the latter:

Evans believed the parallels between the computer revolution and the industrial revolution are substantial, with the contrast being the speed of the computer revolution--which would happen much faster. Keeping in mind that Evan's prediction was 16 years ago, look how far we have come with computers since then. Others have renamed the computer revolution the technological revolution. Still others have indicated that we are moving out of the technology revolution and into the communications revolution. The background of the growth of the Internet and World Wide Web are given to show some of the patterns being projected with the Evans discussion.

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THEORETICAL ORIENTATION

As I have examined the potential use of the World Wide Web for education, I bring a constructivist perspective to such an inquiry. From this perspective, students should be engaged in sense making, problem solving, and an open investigation of the learning process such as discussed in Papert (1980, 1993a & b) and Forman and Pufall (1988). Papert is well known for his statement,

Papert (1993b) further commented about solving problems by following the rules versus a process approach, "It is not the rule that solves the problem; it is thinking about the problem that fosters learning" (p. 87). He also commented about what he thought was the most important knowledge children should be getting: "The kind of knowledge children most need is the knowledge that will help them get more knowledge" (p. 139). Papert is an author of modern constructivist pedagogy, and his views tend to support much more of a student-centered constructivist learning with a major emphasis upon sense making. Forman and Pufall (1988) detailed a number of episodes of students' sense making. While Papert's initial comments were about Logo, his comments are just as relevant about the whole way that we view uses of computers as tools for an open education, including allowing students open uses of the Internet and the World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web provides several very important educational opportunities:

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EXAMPLES OF EDUCATIONAL USES OF THE WWW

Several currently available sites are listed below to illustrate examples of educational uses of the World Wide Web. The following are examples of interesting learning environments, some virtual and some real. Some museums are providing multimedia views of some of the classics (e.g., art and music), and even some scenery such as in WebMuseum. This site has become so popular that it now has a whole network of coordinated sites around the world to allow for quicker and more readily available responses. This site allows for a visit to various areas of Paris, France, including the Louvre, to see many famous paintings and medieval art, an auditorium with music from many of the classics as well as some modern multimedia, and includes a tour of Paris with accompanying history.

Elementary teachers often like to use a thematic approach to an integrated curriculum. For example, studying the history of toys could provide an integrative topic that could open many doors such as looking at toys as a view into the society at the time--hence, opening doors to the history of a society. Experimentation of the functioning of some of the toys can open the door to mathematics and science. See the History of Wooden Toys. This thematic approach can continue the history of toys theme to outdoor toys. See Outdoors Games.

Other areas that hold the potential to develop such integrative topics include the following. Life over time is the current focus of The Field Museum in Chicago, including dinosaurs and support teacher's guides. See the Dna to Dinosaurs Exhibit.

Imagine studying geography and or history by examining a map and using point and click approaches to go to a location and then learning about the history, culture, current attractions, and perhaps seeing pictures of the current area and so on. Virtual Tourist and Virtual Tourist II provide adventure throughout the world. Go to the world map and click on the area you would like to visit and study.

Two places suggest virtual cities. Through such activities students' imaginations can become engaged. How about building a city in cyberspace where the constructors design or build cities in space? For example, see CitySpace and Garage Logic. According to one of CitySpace's creators, Zane Vella (1995),

The JASON Project is a living working environment. Each year an expedition is taken and interactive downlink sites provide the ability for students to experience the expedition, operate the scientific equipment being used, and communicate directly with involved scientists at the actual expedition site. The project provides teacher training and curriculum designed to particularly highlight science, technology, engineering, and social studies involved in that year's expedition.

Current events can provide many educational experiences. For example, visit CNN Newsroom, the Pathfinder the Nando Times, or see the Astronauts to learn who was doing what and so on. Also check out the trial of the century, O. J. Simpson's Trial. Furthermore, pictures started coming out of Kobe, Japan shortly after their disastrous earthquake. Pictures, lists of people in hospitals, and lists of fatalities came within a few days from the (see Oklahoma City Explosion). Considerable organization is in process to help people find materials. For example, a lot of time has gone into construction of the Cyberspace Middle School, which builds pointers to a number of sources for students as well as teachers. The Web 66: WWW School Registry allows schools to see and learn about other schools on the WWW. As of this writing, 139 elementary schools, representing 31 states and 9 countries, and 251 secondary schools including middle and high schools, representing 41 states and the District of Columbia and 10 countries are included in the Registry. Table 1 shows the distribution of schools by level and number of schools, number of states represented in the United States, and number of countries. Countries include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Turkey, United Kingdom, Virgin Islands, and, of course, the United States.

Table 1: Distribution of Schools Listed in the WWW School Registry

Level of School

 		No. of Schools No. of States in USA No. of Countries
Elementary School 139 31 9
Middle School/Junior High School* 50 25 3
High School* 205 39 10
*Note: Four schools were listed as a combined middle or junior high school and high school.

The Kids on the Web provides a number of experiences for students. A number of materials are listed in Internet Resources for the K-12 Classroom. Organization of Children's Literature can be helpful in locating and keep up to date with the numerous children's books being published.

In some cases the organization of the WWW is very graphic, making full use of the point and click technology. For example, the Subway out of Berkeley shows some of the critical areas.

Students can learn more about our government by visiting the White House and/or seeing the text of bills and useful information about Congress at THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet. Perhaps making the White House more approachable than ever before, there is now a guest book for which people can send comments. Students can explore government sites, thus making the government much more real to them. Furthermore, such connections can, in fact, make the government much more "for the people" and "by the people" through such direct connections.

Some sites are focusing on developing intellectual skills, such as problem solving and critical thinking (e.g., Odyssey of the Mind, 21st Century Problem Solving, and Swarthmore's Geometry Form--creator of Geometer's Sketchpad. Some sites are emphasizing visualization such as the CoVis Project at Northwestern, Mathematical visualization, and Interactive On-Line Geometry.

These are but a sampling of materials currently available at the time of this writing. The World Wide Web is still in its infancy, and I anticipate that many other excellent materials will evolve. I plan to keep an active home page myself to use with my own students.

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ON THE DOWN SIDE

While I feel that there is much educational potential for the World Wide Web, there are some concerns that need to be acknowledged. For one thing there currently is no censorship, which means that students can access some inappropriate material. Congress is currently examining this.

A second concern is that at present there is no systematic information system--much like a major city with everyone having a telephone number, but no one having a telephone book or directory assistance. Hence, it becomes a major challenge to locate materials. At the same time many people are building pointers to their favorite links, and I believe ultimately good reference materials will evolve.

Another potential problem is that, since this is an on-line service and can be updated in a minute, it provides a dynamic process of updating and modifying materials regularly. However, since a number of people move or relocate their addresses, an active address one week may lead to a blind alley the next.

These problems will ultimately be resolved if enough people see them as problems and work together in order to provide uniform standards. However, the potential gains far outweigh these problems, and I hope people will work together to resolve them.

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FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Technologically, the capabilities will continue to grow. The use of fiber optics and faster and more capable communications--through cable, telephone, and digital satellite systems--will continue to expand. At present with high speed modems and higher level microcomputers, text, graphics, and photos are being transmitted in real time. Sound and video are being transmitted in a download form. As fiber optics become the standard, perhaps video and sound will become more viewable in real time, as well as moving more to interactive video and sound.

Some school systems are aggressively moving to take advantage of the World Wide Web. For example, in Florida, FIRN (Florida Information Resource Network), a statewide network, has already been established for linking educators throughout the state. That network is now being upgraded so that people can take full advantage of the World Wide Web. Within the next few months, WWW will be available to school systems throughout the state. It is then up to the school systems to make it available to individual classrooms through upgrading the wiring and getting appropriate hardware and software.

Education holds the potential for empowering students and teachers. I often tell teachers that they must deal with technology because the "haves" will get it in spite of or because of the schools and the "have nots" will become farther behind without schools becoming proactive.

Many aspects of life hold the potential of being affected by the growth and availability of the World Wide Web. Already many commercial companies, educational institutions, government agencies, and organizations are opening sites on the WWW. Some schools have already established sites on the WWW as well, and more will follow. Growth is occurring quite rapidly. I suspect that the World Wide Web could not be stopped at this point even if anyone wanted to.

WWW holds the potential of providing a very open approach to education where students no longer are dependent upon their teacher or a textbook as their sole source of information. Students may learn a variety of topics in a number of ways. A social environment is provided by the society of the world or in a small related study or newsgroup, either of which is not necessarily restricted by a geographic region. WWW also holds the potential of raising the standards of education.

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References

Evans, C. (1979). The micro millennium. New York: Washington Square Press.

Forman, G., & Pufall, P. B. (1988). Constructivism in the computer age . Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Harel, I. (1991). Children designers: Interdisciplinary constructions for learning and knowing mathematics in a computer-rich school. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Kanaley, R. (1995, March 26). From sublime to ridiculous, it's all caught in World Wide Web (p. 2C). Tallahassee Democrat.

Naisbitt, J. (1982). Megatrends: Ten new directions for transforming our lives. New York: Warner Books.

Naisbitt, J., & Aburdene, P. (1990). Megatrends 2000: Ten new directions for the 1990Ős. New York: William Morrow.

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. New York: Basic Books.

Papert, S. (1993a). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas (2nd edition). New York: Basic Books.

Papert, S. (1993b). The children's machines: Rethinking school in the age of the computer. New York: Basic Books.

Vella, Z. (1995). Personal communication.

Wertsch, J. (1985). Vygotsky and the social formation of mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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