"EnergyNet: Learning from Year One"
Table of Contents
Introduction/Objectives of the Study
Significance
Theoretical Underpinnings
Design and Procedures
Findings
Recommendations
References

Significance

In the past few years there has been considerable growth in the use of computers in science education. Also, expansion in the popular use of the Internet has started to have an impact on practice in science classrooms. What remains less well understood are the ways in which these developments fit into and alter the teaching/learning environment. Teachers' professional lives are difficult and the contexts in which they work impact the implementation of telecommunications-based projects such as EnergyNet. Successful projects take those contextual factors into consideration along with an appreciation for teachers' lives and professional development. Since most of the contextual factors which were encountered in EnergyNet are likely to appear in most school systems, it is important that these factors be understood and addressed by the science education research community.

In particular, projects which seek to achieve more elaborate changes in the teaching and learning environment need to be better understood. Relatively straightforward telecommunications projects such as the National Geographic Kids Network have proven to take time to become part of a teacheršs repertoire (Blumenfeld et al, 1991; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, and Soloway, 1994; Ladewski, Krajcik, and Harvey, 1994; Marx et al 1994; Blumenfeld, Krajcik, Marx, and Soloway, 1994; Scott, 1994; Jackson, Doster, Tippins, and Rutledge, 1994). Projects such as EnergyNet, which encourages more open ended sharing of data with peers, online discussions, and more extensive analysis of the data collected create an even higher level of demand for technical and pedagogic comfort with the project.