CommunityNet

CommunityNet
CommunityNet is an inquiry based interdisciplinary project that can be integrated into existing curricula in order to blend instructional technologies with the Common Core of Learning and all strands of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.
Through CommunityNet teachers and students will work together to observe all aspects of their community. They will develop an understanding of how the combination of the natural environment, geography, history, ethnic population, and technology has formed and continues to shape their communities. In order to provide an extension of the classroom experience, The on-line projects will encourage parental involvement and partnerships with local institutions.
Students will collect and submit data for various environmental monitoring projects. These data will become part of the EduTel™ database which can be accessed by all participants. Participating students and teachers will be able to analyze, actively explore, and investigate patterns, along with difference, similarities, and comparisons in order to predict trends, test hypotheses, and evaluate viable outcomes.
In addition to accessing databases about the environmental aspects of their community, students will actively explore historical and cultural components and exchange their findings with participants from other communities. Various types of art and literature, including relevant novels and other classics, folklore (written and non-written), oral histories, as well as relative nonfiction works, will be integral to the CommunityNet projects. These studies will insure that students further develop the skills necessary to research the available literature, investigate and understand key issues, and then effectively communicate their ideas and conclusions to others.
Students will share their findings and insights about these historical and cultural components via EduTel™. Their publishing and communication opportunities will include:

Web pages (Students' work and findings will be published on the CommunityNet project through EduTel™)
Teleconference (telephone, Internet-phone, video phone)
The CommunityNet Message Board
Land mail
E-mail
Video tape
Fax
CD-ROM publishing
CUSeeMe VideoConferenceing