ABSTRACT
Jerry Squire, a 20-year veteran science teacher in a mid-western urban high school, was sitting in the audience at a staff development conference listening to a speaker from a science education research and development center present ideas about the benefits of online or web-based teaching and learning. The speaker, a very well known science educator, indicated that the Web was one of the keys to reforming science education, and that schools needed to move toward creating more online opportunities for students. In the question and answer session following the presentation, Jerry stood and addressed the speaker. Jerry commented and asked,“For the past 20 years we have tried to integrate computers into the classroom, and with little effect. We’ve used them in our science department with mixed success. Why do you think web-based teaching, and the use of online resources is going to be any different from our experiences using technology in the past? The record is dismal. Please show me how it can be better.”
