Literature Review

Today's student lives in a fast paced world full of exciting computer technology. Their lives are filled with fast paced television programs, high energy video games, and rapid and pervasive intenet access. American school students live in the wealthiest country and on average enjoy a very high standard of living compared to that found in other countries.

In order to motivate students to do their best it has become increasingly important to reach them in ways that they are comforable with. The days of lecturing to students, using chalkboards, assigning

Some teachers have a love-hate relationship with technology. This is most apparent among teachers who have established a comfortable routine in their teaching strategy.

PowerPoint in the science classroom

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Whiteboard use

Manufacturers of whiteboards report that their boards outsell chalkboards by a margain of three to one due to many reasons (Folmar, 2000). Whiteboards are dust free which rids the classroom of the familiar allergies, messy erasers, and stained hands and clothing from the days of yore. Today's computer equipment is very suceptible to damage from chalk dust and chalkboards are being left in the dust.

Whiteboards are more visually appealing to students, are easy to clean, and have many vibrant colors which please kids (Folmar). Most new school construction and renovation projects employ whiteboards. Although the initial cost is lower than that of chalkboards, the required dry erase markers are much more expensive than chalk. Schools can purchase this material from local home improvement stores at a cost of $10 per 4' by 8' sheet rather than the typical $250 cost for a manufactured unit. This makes the renovation process much less expensive and provides significant benefit.

Concerns have been raised by teachers and parents about the potential health risk associated with the use of dry erase markers. Many chemists, toxicologists, and physicians have concluded that there are no risks associated with these markers (Tucker, 2000). The only way they can be a risk is if they are purposely misued over a long period of time.

The web and its role in communication and education

The internet has grown at an exponential rate since its inception. In the period October 1998 to October 2001 the volume of internet traffic has increased 26 fold and the access rate has increased by a factor of 25 (Network Technolgy Laboratory, 2001). It is clear that the amount of data transferred over the internet is closely related to the connection speed. This increase in connection speed affords the ability to transfer large video, audio, and text files with great speed.

It is clear that most students use the internet on a regular basis. The Pew Foundation conducted an extensive study on how the Internet impacts education (2001, Lenhart). The findings are as follows:

In the early 1900s, T.S. Eliot put into words what others have realized for centuries. In "Choruses from 'the Rock,'" he makes a very profound statement about the very foundation of knowledge,

All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.
Where in the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Eliot was wrestling with the notion that as we age we learn more and more about ourselves and everything around us. Everything we learn, no matter how trivial, opens up a host of questions that beg an answer. This innate quest for knowledge drives the human mind forward into unknown reaches of our intellect and forces us to experience new things.

It is through learning that we begin to realize the possibilities that lie before us.

When we are young we feel that we know everything. As we begin to learn more and more about the world around us we start to realize that there is an unending supply of knowledge that humans have already learned and that we too can master. This is only exceeded by the amount of knowledge we have not yet begun to understand. Every person at some point in their life realizes that the more they learn the less they realize they really know

Randy Bass (2001) begs to add another line to this poem,

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

There are a few ways to look at this. First, when Eliot's works were published it required a great deal of time, energy, and resources to put knowledge into a form that could be mass distributed. This limited the with great wealth or influenceToday it is possible for a child in a public school to publish a web site that can be viewed by millions in

Bass argues that there are at least two World Wide Webs. He calls these the sacred, or ideal, web and the web we actually have. J.J. Lagowski's August 1995 editorial in the Journal of Chemical Education bluntly defines the quality of work on the web as ranging from those found in the "systematic holdings of the finest libraries of the world" to "outright garbage (from an intellectual point of view)." Teachers have a duty to help students separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff when they conduct their research.

For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals,
Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imaginations:
We learned to talk.
Speech has allowed the communication of ideas.

Using advanced information technology is not necessarily the most economical way of educating science students (Lagowski). It is not obvious that it saves time, increases student retention of knowledge. The dollars required to purchase computer systems, hire support staff, and train educators stretch school budgets. The short lifespan and high depreciation rate of computers makes them worse investments than an automobiles.

Lagowski assets that if used correctly information technology can have real and lasting benefits. Teachers can connect one-on-one with their student through e-mail contact outside school hours, providing more "teacher time" for the students. Locating information can be done quickly and easily by both teachers and students - something that was time consuming and required access to good resources in the past.

Educational resource web sites that are hyperlinked from a teacher web site should be analyzed for their effectiveness. This should be done through the use of a rubric. The American Chemical Society has conducted extensive research into this topic and has provided its members with a six part test for teachers to use when evaluating web sites (Barry, 2001). Good science web sites must:


Works Cited

Barry, L. (2001, February). News from Online: Criteria for an "Outstanding" High School Chemistry Web Site. J. Chem. Ed., 154–155.

Bass, R. (2001, Sept. – Oct.). The Web, Sacred and Profane. Educational Technology, 23–28.

Eliot, T.S. Choruses from 'the Rock'

Folmar, K. (2000, June 26). Leaving Chalkboards in the Dust. Los Angeles Times, C-5.

Lagowski, J. J. (2000, August). The Impact of Technology on Education. J. Chem. Ed., 669.

Lenhart, A., et. al. (2001, September). The Internet and Education: Findings of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retreived September 2, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.pewinternet.com

Network Technolgy Laboratory of NECTEC (2001). Growth of Internet Information Research Traffic Volume. Retrieved October 4, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://ntl.nectec.or.th/intenet/route/pie_throughput.html

Tucker, R. (2000, March 20). Do Whiteboard Markers Cause Brain Damage? Fortune, 36.