Learning: Tips for the Wired Classroom
Nature: In Sight and Sound

Sights and Sounds of Nature
I work with home independent study students, providing weekly small group/classroom experiences in science for fourth to sixth graders.

We did an owl pellet investigation activity, and I located several sites which greatly enhanced our work. We were able to hear three different barn owl calls at www.naturesongs.com (a wonderful site for many types of animal, bird, and insect sounds).

An investigation data sheet and study questions can be found at www.ceismc.gatech.edu/zooary/
zoo/tidbit/owl.html.

A set of comprehension questions concerned with predator-prey interactions is located at http://users.nac.net/jmele/
Tyto.pretest.html.

Finally, we were able to view the results of owl pellet investigations from other students and get ideas on how to display our own results at http://bend.k12.or.us/cascadems2/
Johnson/owlpeltlab.htm (click on "photos"). There are numerous other sites with great information on protecting these important raptors, including directions for building nesting boxes!

Julie Barbour
Teacher/science specialist
Chico, California

And Now, the News
Increasingly, schools around the country are offering video production and television broadcasting classes to their students. From small daily newscasts to sophisticated, state-of-the-art film productions, more and more schools are embracing this technology as a way to strengthen communication, build self-confidence, and increase media literacy skills.

As far as we know, the students of Aviara Oaks Middle School in Carlsbad, California, produce the only live middle school news program in the country to be broadcast each week on the Internet.

And to help other schools design their own television broadcasting programs, this school has introduced a new Web site filled with information, tips, and resources. The address is: www.studentbroadcasts.com.

Whether your budget is small or large, this site has all the information you need to get your school programs up and running!

Doug Green
Aviara Oaks Middle School
Carlsbad, California

Help With History
There's a valuable resource designed to help world history teachers tap into the power of the Internet.

It is called Historylink101.com, a site that divides each culture/time period into six main categories: art, biographies, daily life, maps, pictures, and research.

Currently, the cultures of Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, and Rome are complete with links to sites that complement a world history curriculum.

The site is designed for easy use in your class. Each link and lesson is number coded for easy identification and use.

In addition, Historylink101.com has several other excellent resources for history teachers. Resources include: a bank of Internet-based lessons, art history lessons from a World History perspective, history of farming in ancient cultures, and headline news articles from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and more by country and region.

In the works are resources on such topics as art history up to the 1900s, farming history to the current day, an Indian Village picture tour, and descriptions of Mandan Indians. Also being developed are some Early Man link pages.

Eric Rymer
World history teacher
Norton, Ohio

Talk to Us

Have a nifty classroom tip or lesson plan that uses technology? E-mail a description (under 200 words, please!) to wiredclassroom@list.nea.org.

Is there a Web site, CD-ROM, or piece of software you can't live without? E-mail your favorites--and why you love them--to myfavoritetech@list.nea.org.

Or send your responses by regular mail to NEA Today, or by Fax to 202/822-7206, or through the Web at www.nea.org/cet.

Those published here will receive a sparkling NEA Today mug!

Bytes for Beginners

First, let's define MP3. MP3 stands for MPEG Audio Layer-III. MP3's compression capabilities are the single most important factor in the new digital audio phenomenon. MP3 files are compressed to about one-tenth the size of CD audio files without quality degradation.

So, for example, some of the tunes your students may be including in their presentations may have come from a CD that someone across the Net purchased and copied for distribution over the Net. CD audio files are about 10 million bytes (digits) of data per minute of music. The average music CD can hold about 12 songs. The same CD can hold up to 120 tunes if they're encoded as MP3 files!

Now to the more difficult question: Is downloading MP3 files a violation of copyright law? Specifically, as far as MP3 music files go--yes and no. The laws around exactly what is and is not permitted under the latest Digital Millennium Copyright Act are still being interpreted in courthouses across the country.

The sole act of downloading MP3 files is in violation of copyright law when both the person who is downloading the data does not own the original piece being downloaded and/or the person downloading the file intends to use it in some sort of public display or performance.

An after-school event is considered a public performance event.

But there is, to date, no precedent for the same work being displayed in the classroom.

That said, the legal details are far beyond the scope of this article.

The best reading on this subject is The MP3 and Internet Audio Handbook by Bruce Fries.

My favorite Web site

I've created a math page where students can find organized, easy-to-understand help with algebra. There are explanations, examples, and practice problems with hints and answers. Go to: www.homestead.com/stroh/mathpage.html.

Eric Stroh
Math teacher
Owings, Maryland