Poll: Students Say Web Is Great Help

WASHINGTON--High school students say the Internet is a great help in doing schoolwork and many feel they can meet most of their research needs on a computer. Educators encourage its use, but often caution students not to rely on the Internet alone.American adults in general have mixed feelings on the topic. An Associated Press poll found they were about evenly split on the importance of Internet skills for students. About half said those skills are very important and the other half said they are somewhat important or not important at all, according to the poll conducted for the AP by ICR of Media, Pa.Some educators, like Vermont principal Elizabeth LeRoy, wonder whether the Internet can make things too easy."My concern about using the Internet is that students might take an article directly off the Internet rather than reading it and summarizing it," said LeRoy, principal of the Craftsbury School, a K-12 school in rural Vermont. "Usually, teachers require something besides a Web reference, like an encyclopedia. The students can't just use the Web."Other educators are less hesitant.Bruce Whitehead, a principal at Hellgate Elementary in Missoula, Mont., pushes students to develop Internet skills quickly at his school, which emphasizes technology. The school gets computers into the homes of students through tax write-off and donation programs."Some teachers use it extensively," he said. "Parents can log in and go right to their child's folder, find out what their assignments are."The percentage of adults in the poll who felt Internet skills were very important for students dropped steadily as respondents got older, according to the poll. The poll of 1,006 adults was taken July 27-31 and has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.Residents of metropolitan areas were far more likely than those in rural areas to say Internet skills were very important for children in school. Seniors were less enthusiastic than young adults."I think it's all right to a certain extent," said Lawanda Jackson, a 60-year-old grandmother from Middlesboro, Ky. "But ... they used to need their brains a little bit more."While adults are wrestling with their attitudes about the Internet, young people appear to be plunging ahead.More than two-thirds of teens said they use the Internet as their major resource when doing a big project for school, said Lee Gainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.Trends in public opinion have shown increasing enthusiasm for Internet use as access has grown, said Larry Cuban, author of "Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom." His research has found that word processing and Internet searches were the two most frequent computer activities for students."Most students depend on the Internet to get their stuff," said 16-year-old Jeff Sands of Horsham, Pa. "You can most find anything by going onto Yahoo," an Internet search engine.The use of the Internet for schoolwork has renewed questions about the authenticity of information and the temptation to plagiarize, educators say. While neither issue is new to education, the convenience of the Internet has renewed concerns about both.For Kelly Wehrle, a 46-year-old father of three from Madison, Neb., it's very important for his children to have Internet skills to do their work. "There's so much information they can use for schoolwork, it's easier to look up stuff," said Wehrle.Kalieta Grant, a 28-year-old mother of two from Friendly, W.Va., has a far more cautious outlook for her younger children. "The computer is a great thing, having access to everything," she said. "But I don't think a child should rely on a computer for answers."The Internet is very helpful for projects in science and history, says 14-year-old Brandon Farley of New Smyrna Beach, Fla. He says his teachers require a mix of research from the Internet and from books, though, adding, "I still go to the library."The unbridled enthusiasm for computers and the Internet in education has been tempered in recent years, some researchers say."People are realizing the limits of technology for education," said University of Buffalo education professor Hank Bromley. "The technology becomes an end in itself."Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Poll: Students Say Web Is Great Help

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