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Teachers who have been struggling with how to make fuller use of technology in their day-to-day lessons now have access to a guide full of practical advice.

The 373-page publication, 鈥淣ational Educational Technology Standards for Students: Connecting Curriculum and Technology,鈥� was released last week at a press conference here by the Eugene, Ore.-based International Society for Technology in Education.

ISTE published standards for what students should know about technology and be able to do with it in June 1998 as part of the group鈥檚 National Educational Technology Standards, or NETS, project. This second publication is meant to show teachers how the standards can be linked to their regular lessons.

鈥淲e knew that putting the standards out there was not enough,鈥� Lajeanne Thomas, the NETS project director, said at the press conference. 鈥淭his will be an important resource for teachers to use in integrating technology with the content standards they have to meet.鈥�

The U.S. Department of Education is paying for every school district and state education department in the country to receive a free copy of the guide.

Specific Advice

The guide consists of dozens of lesson plans written by teachers from all over the country. Each lesson contains references to which specific technology and content standards it covers and a list of relevant software or World Wide Web sites.

One such lesson, 鈥淓arth Movement in Real Time,鈥� is designed to teach middle school students how scientists monitor geological activities. The guide advises teachers to assign students to groups of five to seven members, with each group responsible for a different geographical area.

Among other activities, students check a Web site that tracks earthquakes and then graph the data over a period of several weeks.

While ISTE clearly advocates a 鈥渃onstructivist鈥� philosophy of education鈥攊n which students rather than teachers direct their own learning鈥攖he guide is designed to appeal to traditional as well as nontraditional teachers.

鈥淣ot every activity is at the bleeding edge,鈥� Ms. Thomas said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 leave traditional learning environments immediately. A transition time is necessary.鈥�

Cheryl L. Lemke, the vice president for education technology for the Milken Family Foundation, one of the funders of the guide, predicted that the book would open up teachers鈥� eyes to some of the ways that technology could transform their classes. 鈥淭eachers don鈥檛 know what they don鈥檛 know,鈥� she said.

But having schools make good use of technology on a wide scale takes more than simply creating awareness among individual teachers, said Margaret Honey, the director of the Center for Children and Technology in New York City, who was not involved in writing the guide.

鈥淯nless there鈥檚 a concerted effort at the district level or building level so technology is used to support the local community鈥檚 objectives, the use of technology will remain occasional,鈥� she said.

As its next step, ISTE will begin writing standards for what teachers should know about and be able to do with technology.