Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Clockwise from left, sixth graders Lauren Young, Mark Weiner, Philip Sung and Connie Lai work in the Redwood School Lab.

Plugging In

Students are beginning to use the Web for classroom research

By Cecily Barnes

Beth Polito's sixth-grade core class filed into Redwood Middle School's media center, where 15 brand-spanking-new Power Macs crowded wooden fold-out tables. The kids pulled plastic chairs up to the computer terminals and loudly told one another, "Ssshhh, be quiet."

Mrs. Polito's class was about to surf the Web for information about the rain forest. Divided into groups of three or four, they researched a rain forest-related topic. Once the cybersurfing was over and the kids accumulated the information, they returned to their classroom and held a debate on the pros and cons of cultivating the South American rain forest.

In preparation for projects such as these, the Saratoga Union School District's technology specialist Milt Grover spent all summer stringing wires in and out of the school district's archaic equipment to get students hooked on, plugged in and ready to cruise the information highway.

"It's been a far cry from purchasing a modem and slipping in your free America Online disk," said Redwood's computer teacher, Tony Clancy.

"It's a very complicated and fragile system," Superintendent Mary Gardner explained. "And the reality of it all is that keeping the whole program together will be an awesome task."

And while there have been some glitches and mishaps, the new computers are working out great. The students in Mrs. Polito's sixth-grade class can attest to that.

"We just typed in our topic, global warming, pressed search, and it pulled stuff up," said 11-year-old Sarah Applegate. "You didn't have to look for anything."

"It wasn't hard," said sixth-grader Judy Wang. "We just put in 'rain forest' and 'beef,' and then [the computer] found it."

And while the kids unanimously agreed that Internet searches were a breeze compared to the old system of sifting through library shelves, they had to struggle with a few technical difficulties.

"Our computer didn't work two times, and we had to go to a new computer," said William Chu, expressing a frustration of many of today's users.

Polito explained that while it was an exciting educational experience, both she and the students learned more about the Internet while on the computers than they did about the rain forest.

"We need some time to just play around," she said, "because right now, it's the blind leading the blind."

Few teachers in the district are fully prepared to step up and instruct their students on how to use the Internet as an educational tool. For many, their first-time Internet experience will be like Polito's--trial by fire.

"What we have now," Redwood's Clancy explained, "is a generation of teachers who were teaching before computers were being used and didn't even get to take computer courses in college. Once they get to a certain level they'll be fine, and they can take care of it themselves."

Until then, every school has designated one teacher to be its online expert. This makeshift techie will act as a mentor to the other, less-experienced teachers, taking on the responsibility of troubleshooting and advising. However, even these designated experts liken themselves to technological tyros.

"I'm just trying to keep up," confessed Clancy, Redwood's designated tech guy. "I'm trying to learn so many different areas of the computer: I end up trying to repair computers and software, and I'm learning new programs constantly, and that leaves about 10 percent of the time to learn the Internet. I've got to keep up with the software so I can teach the kids, and I have to keep up with how to physically take a computer apart and repair it. It's overwhelming!"

Until teachers get up to speed, the school's technology docent program will call upon Saratoga's Silicon Valley parents to be substitute troubleshooters. Through this program, teachers are paired up with parents who will act as their online mentors.

While parents are happy to help as their children test out the Web's waters, some have expressed concerns about the R-rated information on the net. Though the district did not purchase child-proof software, they have come up with a game plan. Children in kindergarten through third grade will be restricted from cruising the Web, and only permitted to visit sites pulled up by their teachers.

"They are going to get an opportunity of getting online," Saratoga Elementary's Principal Lily Ogden said. "But with our concerns about what is out there on the Internet, the teachers will make the decision about what will be pulled up."

But fourth- and fifth-graders on up will be trusted with mouse pad power, after signing an acceptable-use policy with their parents.

"Each student and parent will sign a slip saying they will use the Internet in a correct manner," Grover explained.

Saratoga's technological transformation followed the trend kick-started by President Clinton's Telecommunications Act of 1996. This legislation, which was passed in February, states that "upon request, individual telecommunication carriers must provide service to schools and libraries at affordable rates."

"The FCC [Federal Communications Commission] must act to ensure that cutting-edge telecommunications technology is available in the schools-- and classrooms in those schools--around the country on an ongoing basis," states the FCC's fact sheet on this act.

As it stands now, school districts must self-motivate and take advantage of these services available to them. The Saratoga Union School District took these steps and has, for the most part, successfully completed the monstrous project of getting their schools online.

Judy Wang learned on the Internet that acres of rain forest is cleared daily to make room for cattle-grazing. She also discovered that too much meat can cause bad health. Another student succinctly explained what was meant by the term "national debt," a term he encountered online. All of the kids in Mrs. Polito's class stood up and made confident presentations about the information they had learned over the Internet.

As with learning anything new, Saratoga's schools will probably stumble along and acquire a few bruises as they learn the tricks of the technology trade. But so far, it looks like they are doing great.