セント・メリーズ・インターナショナル・スクール

(1) Internet Resource Center

We have set up 3 PowerMac 6410 computers with 17-inch NEC monitors in the High School Library that are available to students to do assigned research papers.

(2) Email

All School Faculty and Staff have email addresses and students may also have an address when they are using the email for finding information for class work.

(Email access is not open to all students, for students who want to use email for personal letters, they are allowed to use free email services (such as Microsoft Hot Mail) when the machines are not being used for research. Many students are already using their own family email accounts.

(3) School Librarians

High School and Elementary School Librarians have their computers directly connected to the Internet. For use in ordering books on-line and helping teachers find resources.

(4) Computer Labs Servers

The HS and Elementary School Computer Labs each have a single connection to the Internet which is assigned to the server. When the teacher wants to work with a website in class, they download the complete site to the local server, students then access the local copy.

Web surfing is not part of formal classes.

1997-98 Results

(1) Research

Research was conducted on a wide variety of subjects.

Debate classes used it to research their topics, such as the death penalty, and use of the atomic bomb. Art classes visited pottery galleries on the internet for photos of different pieces of clay.

(2) Elementary school use

Elementary school used email to communicate with a school in the USA to talk about the lifestyle of foreigners living in Japan.

(3) Faculty use

Faculty use the email extensively to keep in contact with their associates and relatives in their home countries.

(4) Classes using Internet Web sites

Teachers have been able to base classes on information and pages posted on the internet.

They have taught about recent solar eclipses using beautifully made web sites updating solar eclipse photos every minute. Photography classes have visited large and small photo galleries that are set up on the internet. Biology classes have followed the new cloning process and read about the pros and cons of this research.

(5) Real World Contact with Software Writers

The programming class has been able to keep in contact with actual programmers of real commercial software and talk to them about their projects and experiences.

(6) Posting Projects

The programming classes also used the school website to post their project coding and applications for other students to view and the teacher to evaluate.

(7) Harvard University Business Simulation Competition

The Business classes has been very active in a program sponsored over the internet for high school students in a competition for best results in modeling a company, every day the students examine the status of their simulated company and alter the business plan, one of our groups has made it into the top 50 performing companies from out of a group of over a 650 schools who are competing internationally.

(8) Mars Pathfinder Robot Car Simulation

HS Programming and Internet Classes along with the elementary school have been working on an on going project to simulate the Mars Pathfinder Project. The main goal of the project is to have a robot car with two remote cameras be connected to the internet and be commanded by internet users. When completed, students from schools all over the world will be able to maneuver and see the movement of an actual radio controlled car. Finally a competition will be held for best control of the radio car. Please contact us if you are interested in trying it out.

100 Schools Project Evaluation.

We are very grateful for the chance to cooperate in the 100 schools project and the annual conferences in Shinjuku, Tokyo. We have greatly expanded our use of computers at our school as a result. The idea of using the computers for communication is very valuable. Everytime we use the internet we find ourselves reaching out across the world to people we would usually be able to meet. It has been very rewarding. Also we must say how much we appreciate the upgrade to ISDN, the increased speed made the whole experience much more exciting.