Using the Internet in Earth Systems Courses

To predict the future use of the Internet to foster global scientific literacy is an impossible task, but the avenues to that future are being built today. Programs such as GLOBE, the Earth Systems Science on-line courses developed by the Center for Educational Technologies, and the many and varied data archives maintained by government and institutions are paths down which future program and course designers will travel to use the Internet as a bridge to Global Science Literacy. There are many agencies, institutions and individuals who have gone unmentioned in this chapter. They labor each day to further the goal of global scientific literacy by developing on-line courses, maintaining on-line data archives, and mentoring students and colleagues in K-12 education.