AOL gives funding to 54 K-12 schools.

The AOL Foundation, America Online's philanthropic organization, has awarded grants of up to $7,500 designed to encourage innovative uses of technology in K-12 learning environments. Along with the grants, the 54 winning teams will receive technical assistance and free AOL accounts from the Foundation.

A long-term goal of the Interactive Education Initiative (IEI) is to support interactive learning models that can be replicated by other schools and communities. The AOL Foundation will create an online network where grant recipients can share information on their projects and gain access to appropriate Web resources.

The 1998-99 IEI grant recipients, organized by state, are listed below:

Arizona

* Tucson Unified School District, Tucson, AZ ($7,100). The "AOL School/Museum Technology Project" is an innovative extension of the existing partnership between Lawrence Intermediate School and Arizona State Museum. Working in their classroom and the museum Discover Studio, fifth-grade students will use interactive technology to coordinate the development of a partnership Web site that highlights their projects.

California

* Cardiff Elementary School District, Cardiff ($7,500). A low-income district serving 940 multicultural students will participate in a community-based technology project, "Cardiff Kids Take Action for San Diego's Lagoons & Ocean Resources!" Focusing on the San Eli Lagoon and surrounding ocean shoreline, students will create Web pages for kids linked to the UCSD Aquarium-Museum as well as a calendar depicting treasures of San Diego's lagoons and ocean.

* Center for Educational Achievement/Charles Drew University, Los Angeles ($7,500). Through networking classroom study with a wireless LAN system and providing Internet access to faculty and students, "Linking Saturday Science Academy to the Future" will enable students to become computer savvy. The project will prepare students to compete on any level with other students from more privileged environments.

* Citrus High School, Fontana ($7,500). This cross age tutoring project will pair a high school student with an at-risk elementary student from a distant location to build communication and computer skills.

* Creek View Elementary School, Ontario ($3,860). A fourth-grade teacher and a university professor of education will work together developing the "Americalling: Laptop Live" telecommunications project. Armed with a laptop and a digital camera, a teacher's aide will visit a community site such as a museum, hospital or working ranch, and establish a live telecommunication link through America Online between a local merchant and an elementary school classroom where children will be able to ask questions of the experts visited.

* Foundation of California State University, Monterey Bay ($7,497). Partnering Tech Tutors of CSUMC and bilingual university students, "Virtual Outreach" is an after school program comprised of children from Juan Cabrillo Elementary School who will use online resources to conduct research and write reports, as well as create artwork and interactive projects.

* Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, San Francisco ($7,230). The "Internet Publishing Access Program (IPA)" will use this grant to work towards its goals of ensuring access to training in new technology and communications tools for young people living in under-served communities in San Francisco, fostering artistic growth and producing next generation Internet content.

* Little Tokyo Service Center Community Development Corporation, Los Angeles ($7,500). The goal of this project is to improve students' reading and writing skills while they learn about the positive aspects of their community as well as other multicultural communities of the U.S. through interactive technology and the Web. Students will capture images of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles on digital cameras and together with text they will describe lifestyles, heritage and culture to other students via e-mail and their own Web site.

* Mission High School, San Francisco ($7,500). "The Road to the 21st Century" involves four ninth-grade teachers who will combine their knowledge and skills in developing curriculum to improve literacy through the use of technology and online services. Students will study the evolution of transportation technology and learn a variety of computer-related skills, including how to evaluate Web research and the value of the Internet and e-mail communication.

* Richard Henry Dana Elementary School, Dana Point ($7,500). Students are involved in a unique, hands-on whale fossil restoration program, "Pacific Currents." The project works towards enhancing the school's existing program with online technology tools and professional development time. Students will communicate paleontology and marine biology information gathered from Internet research by updating the school Web site with pictures and text about "Splash," a fossilized whale.

District of Columbia

* Children's Studio School, ($7,500). This program will allow the school to work towards its goal of installing Internet-connected computers on a network to implement digital media in all of the studios for students and faculty to research, document and evaluate their work. The artists and teachers will use the technology and the school's current database system to expand and include images, audio and video.

* Gallaudet University's Model Secondary School for the Deaf, ($5,000). "The Friday Science Circle Project" will establish an electronic network between high school science teachers and deaf students for sharing classroom and math activities via the Internet and videoconferencing technologies, creating an opportunity to learn and practice science collaboratively via technology.

* Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School ($7,500). "Washington, DC; A Hands-On Experience" is an enhanced version of the standard third-grade social studies curriculum designed to take students beyond the boundaries of their southeast community to experience other areas of Washington. The program incorporates all of the learning actions that should be included in a performance-based instructional unit, including accessing and interpreting information to produce something of their own incorporating that information, disseminating what they have learned and evaluating their work.

Florida

* Andrew Robinson Elementary School, Jacksonville ($7,264). "Project Across the C's: Collaboration, Communication and Construction" will link fourth- and fifth-grade students in Florida and New Zealand via videoconferencing as they plan, design and build bridges and animal habitats. Business partners and mentors from a state university will serve as consultants to the students as they apply math and science concepts to real-world problems.

* Stanton College Preparatory School, Jacksonville ($7,394). The "Stanton Online" project will use a school-wide network for cross-curricular communication and project collaboration. Inter- and intra-departmental activities, lessons and projects will be posted on the school's Web site to extend and share ideas and knowledge culled from the Internet with other teachers and students throughout the world.

* William M. Raines Senior High School #165, Jacksonville ($4,235). Students participating in the "Riverlink Project: The Pumpkin Hill Nature Preserve Survey" will use interactive capabilities of the World Wide Web and other online resources to conduct research of the biological features of the Pumpkin Hill Nature Preserve, an environmentally sensitive section of the Jacksonville metropolitan area. Students will collect data relating to water quality and disseminate the findings to other schools within the city and throughout the world through the creation of a Web site.

Georgia

* Fort Valley Middle School, Fort Valley, ($7,500). In "Pest Management: The Peachtree Borer," an eighth-grade math teacher and a seventh-grade science teacher will work collaboratively with the Department of Entomology at the University of Georgia to help peach farmers with their pest management programs. Students in these classes will learn the importance of using technology in math and science and recognize the significance of integrating these disciplines in solving problems while learning the importance of research.

Illinois

* National Lekotek Center, Evanston ($7,500). The National Lekotek Center and the Brian Piccolo Elementary School have created the "Lekotek WebPlay Program," which will enhance the learning opportunities available to economically disadvantaged children by offering a weekly voluntary, after-school, year-round family play group. The program will provide an opportunity for children and their parents to learn online skills by involving parents in their children's school and learning activities.

Iowa

* Irving B. Weber Elementary School, Iowa City ($7,500). "Count on US: Iowa Feeds the World" interweaves concepts necessary to understand that the world is a global marketplace. Using technology, students will gather data about food from around the world, study local and state agriculture, create school gardens and work on service learning projects related to food and hunger issues.

Kansas

* Atchison Middle School USD 409, Atchison ($7,500). "Heroes for Life in a Community Classroom" is a team of special education teachers along with a Girl Scout volunteer and a senior citizen workshop leader who will collaboratively plan and implement this project to strengthen the writing skills of special education students and increase the use of the online medium via portable classrooms.

Louisiana

* Loyola University, New Orleans ($7,500). A collaborative effort that pairs Loyola University and at-risk disadvantaged kids from Fortier High School, "Project Jumpstart" will provide a mobile destination PC/printer/network access station that will serve as a model of how to bring technology to an underprivileged community. The project will train faculty, students and parents in effective use of the network to access the Internet in a meaningful way.

Maryland

* Alice Ferguson Foundation/Hard Bargain Farm, Accokeek ($7,500). "Bring the River to the Classroom" will be administered by The Hard Bargain Farm, which has been bringing classrooms to the Potomac River for 27 years. This project will develop an interactive Web site with a series of multidisciplinary environmental education activities that will be used in classrooms throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The activities will improve students' knowledge and understanding of the Potomac River watershed and foster environmentally responsible behavior.

* Pine Crest Elementary School, Silver Spring ($7,484). "The Stream Teams Online: Improving Our World with Technology" project focuses on the use of videoconferencing in science education. Through this project, students will be able to telecommunicate with other schools and local ecological experts where they will use the equipment to produce a multimedia encyclopedia that shows the different structures and habitats of local stream macroninvertebrates.

Massachusetts

* Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Dorchester ($7,500). The "Genetic Profile Project" is an interactive Web-based project that will allow students to create individual Web pages and deliver presentations of what they learn about genetics through researching their own families' history and creating family trees.

* Marshall Pre-Vocational Middle School, Lynn ($7,500). "The Marshall Jump Start Initiative" enables a city of low economic means to have a full-time learning center that integrates the Internet as a primary learning tool into its curriculum. The program is a joint effort by the public school system and a local church. The center will serve as an alternative school using the motivational approach during the day, a jump start after school enrichment program and as an adult education center on nights and weekends.

* Mary Lyon School, Boston ($7,450). A Web site will be created to serve as a forum between teachers from the school and other teachers across the country to share information on best practices for accelerating student learning through literacy. In addition, information online will be shared pertaining to "leveled" pieces of children's literature along with key questions and follow-up instructional activities to go along with the books to teach children at each grade level.

Michigan

* Ann Arbor Public Schools, Ann Arbor ($7,500). The school will launch an intergenerational Web site production project that partners at-risk teenage students with senior citizens who have overcome significant obstacles in their lives to develop lessons learned from life experiences. The Web site will focus on lifestyle choices made during teen years, the long-term effects of those choices and what living well means.

* Roberto Clemente Student Development Center, Ypsilanti ($7,495). In the "Civil War Unit," students from the U.S. History, Biology and Technology classes will participate in three-hour sessions and apply information acquired from each one to complete a final project.

Minnesota

* Courage Center, Golden Valley ($5,000). "Do It College Preview Camp" is a nine-day residential program for high school students with severe disabilities. The goal is to provide a comprehensive computer technology learning experience and offer opportunities to experience a college environment. Students will meet others with disabilities who have college potential, interact with science/math professionals, receive in-depth computer education, and learn how to use the Internet and sophisticated software programs to pursue science, math and engineering interests.

Nebraska

* Elliott Elementary, Lincoln ($6,200). Working on the "Elliott Owl Journal," students from a sixth-grade classroom will use interactive technology the online medium provides to network with students around the world to enhance research skills and learn appreciation for multiple perspectives.

New York

* Mary's Nativity School, Flushing ($4,900). This pilot program, "Treasures of the City," will partner junior high school students and local senior citizens in an intergenerational arts enrichment program that will utilize existing resources available in the city and make use of cultural resources available through America Online.

* New York University, New York ($7,500). Students and teachers at high schools in Harlem and the East Village and a middle school in Chinatown will work with NYU Science Education faculty and students on science research projects using Web resources. These projects will be exhibited in a school science fair and in an interactive online science fair to be held in a collaborative virtual learning environment.

* Northern Parkway School, Uniondale ($7,500). "The Architecture of New York City for Young People" will use emergent technologies such as the Internet, CAD and e-mail to study more traditional technology such as architecture, engineering and construction. Students generally underserved by computers and underrepresented in these disciplines will have an opportunity to develop a deep knowledge and appreciation of them.

* W. Tresper Clarke Middle School, Westbury ($7,090). This collaborative technology learning program will enable students in a Service Learning Program to provide computer instruction to senior citizens. Families lacking computer access will be given access for instruction as well as the ability for students to work on school assignments.

Oklahoma

* Walters Elementary School, Walters ($6,780). "The KATTs Team" is comprised of small groups of students who will be taught Internet skills on several levels. As each level is mastered, students will work with a partner to teach the material to others. Primary modules will include online safety, using a browser, Internet research, Internet communication and Web page design.

Oregon

* Eugene School District 4J, Eugene ($7,500). The goal of this project is to use interactive technology to provide new educational opportunities for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students whose primary language is Spanish. By developing and offering a bilingual (Spanish/English) History of the Americas class over the Internet, LEP students will benefit from the distance-learning model that Eugene School District 4J provides and they will overcome many of the barriers that typically hinder academic success.

* J.B. Thomas Middle School, Hillsboro ($7,500). "Changing the Channels at JBT: Tuning Into Citizenship" is a project that focuses students on developing two multimedia channels at the school's JBT Web site. Using the sample Citizenship Test Questions as a focus, the History Channel will provide information on the background and structure of the U.S. Constitution. The school Community access channel will allow students, newcomers and community members to learn this information interactively.

Pennsylvania

* Altoona Area School District, Altoona ($7,500). This grant will enable the school to purchase the software needed to create a highly interactive dynamic Web site called "VASTRA." The site will provide an instructional, team-oriented environment through which students, educators, and professional mentors will engage in problem-solving learning scenarios through simulated experiences designed to develop critical thinking skills.

* Craig House, Pittsburgh ($5,270). "Project Discovery" is an interdisciplinary approach designed to enable emotionally disturbed students to broaden their awareness and exposure to the world via Internet access. To stimulate reading and understanding of a diverse global community, the English classes will participate in online book discussions and research the author. In coordination with this, the science and social studies classes will e-mail with other classes to learn about the history and environment of the area in the same region of the world as the setting of the novel.

* Gilbert Spruance School, Philadelphia ($6,650). A small learning community consisting of students in regular education, special education and computer science will develop a Web site stressing a 360 degree panoramic tour of the historical, scientific and artistic contributions of Colonial Philadelphia to modern day Philadelphia. Educational sites developed will include the Independence Hall complex, the Philadelphia Art Museum, the Franklin Institute Science Museum, Academy of Natural Science and the Port of Philadelphia.

* M. Hall Stanton Elementary School, Philadelphia ($6,673). The "Widening Our World Through Cyberspace" project will require students and parents to become information detectives by accessing the Internet as they gather meaningful information on various countries and states, view Web sites of schools and complete a portfolio of their experiences. Students and parents will assist a consultant in designing and implementing a giant world schoolyard map. Teachers will utilize the giant map as an educational tool in the state mandated curricular areas.

* Samuel H. Daroff School, Philadelphia ($7,350). The "Living History Project" will use the students' community as a resource to investigate the personal experiences of community and family members who have lived through the Civil Rights Movement. Using multimedia technology to extend their oral and written history, the students will create a permanent record of the historical inquiries, which will be linked to the district's Web page.

* Today's Children-Tomorrow's Leaders, Inc., New Kensington ($2,160). As part of its commitment to children, TCTL's concern for high quality education is expressed through "Project Try-ology Coursework Development." Primary students are introduced to hands-on illustrations of biology, chemistry and ecology through their work in a fully operating greenhouse. The goal is to develop online curriculum that will introduce students to related subject matters and expose kindergarten and preschool students in a testbed for the long-range goal of a student-directed Web site.

Tennessee

* The University of Memphis, Memphis ($6,150). The "System Smart" program partners the UNITUS at the University of Memphis, the SMART House and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra in a program that brings together music professionals, financially disadvantaged students and senior citizens via electronic learning systems and the concert hall. Participants will correspond with music professionals, record their telecommunications demonstrations and write concert reviews.

Texas

* Maverick Boys & Girls Club of Amarillo, Amarillo ($7,500). This project will allow students to go online with homework questions and conduct research in an effort to enhance the Club's homework assistance program. "POWER HOUR Online" will allow Club members to expand on their computer skills learned in school by incorporating Internet access into an already successful program. Overall, the goal is to continue to improve grade point averages among the 450 daily attendees.

Utah

* Lynn Elementary School, Ogden ($7,500). The goal of the "Lynn School Technology Uplift Project" is to build upon an existing technology-in-teaching platform and dramatically increase its productivity through America Online resources and existing in-house national expertise for using technology in education.

* Salt Lake City School District, Salt Lake City ($7,500). "Virtual Tours" is an online toolkit created by a team of educators in Utah. Elementary school teachers will learn how to use the toolkit to create a virtual tour or field trip of an historic, natural, scientific or unusual site in Utah. Teachers who complete the training will be rewarded with a digital camera for their school to create more virtual tours with elementary-age students.

Vermont

* Vermont Center for the Book, Chester ($7,370). The Vermont Center for the Book focuses on literacy and its project "Taking a Stand: Books and the Internet" is made up of 20 disadvantaged Vermont residents from a low-income housing complex in an Internet-based book discussion. In this program, ten middle school students and ten parents/guardians will be trained in Web site design and maintenance as well as given the opportunity to read and discuss the novels, face to face and online.

Virginia

* Fairfax County Public Library Foundation, Inc., Fairfax ($7,500). "The Computer Clubhouse" at the Woodrow Wilson Community Branch Library offers an environment for "digital invention" for children ages 10-18 who live in a low-resource community and represent a diverse group. Developed by the MIT Media Laboratory and the Computer Museum, the Computer Clubhouse has proven itself effective in actively involving children in technology, developing skills and offering a positive use of after school hours.

* Lunenburg County Public School, Victoria ($7,500). "The Lunenburg County Public School Virtual Mentor" program will pair at-risk students in an impoverished agricultural community with high-tech business leaders who will act as tutors and mentors via the Internet, e-mail and videoconferencing. Distance learning projects built into the school's Comprehensive Career Development Program strengthen academic and technical skills and work to motivate students through projects led by real-world experts.

* The Phoenix Center for Alternative Education, Waynesboro ($7,464). "The Waynesboro Community Resource Information Project" will provide a comprehensive, user-friendly database of information for private citizens to access resources that will be helpful to them and their families. The database will be created and maintained by at-risk students at the Phoenix Center for Alternative Education.

* Southside Area Health Education Center, Farmville ($7,480). "The High School Wellnet Project" is a joint collaboration between the leading regional health education center (SAHEC) and a rural high school (Randolph Henry High School) to use online technology to decrease student at-risk behaviors and to encourage academic excellence toward careers in rural health practices.

Washington

* College Place Elementary School, Lynwood ($7,388). This project is a children's online multilingual library where ESL students fluent in English will illustrate and write children's picture books, which will be published online in both their own language and English. Once the book is loaded onto the server, young children all over the world will have access to it via the Internet.

Nearly 100 AOL employee volunteers assisted in the first stage of the proposal review process. A panel of AOL Foundation Board members and outside experts made the final selections. AOL Foundation, Dulles, VA, (703) 265-1342, www.aolfoundation.org.

Online Reader Service #205