The Internet: Information power or pitfall? An ethnographic investigation of the teaching and learning practices of the Internet

This ethnographic study of sixth and seventh grade middle school students is an investigation of the use of Internet technology in school. Drawing from the bodies of scholarship relating to educational technology and classroom interaction studies that focus on discourse, this study aims to address the theoretical and empirical challenges posed by the rapid influx of Internet use by students in school settings.; The study examined through a combined methodology of ethnography and discourse analysis, the everyday activities of students as they used the Internet in order to understand how Internet literate practices are interactionally accomplished and socially constructed over time. The following questions are posed for analysis: What counts as Internet literacy in this setting ? How are Internet literate practices constructed? What opportunities are students afforded for learning Internet literate practices ? Did students demonstrate any acquisition of these literacies over time?; Data analysis revealed the cultural practices of the classroom community, with a focus on literate actions having to do with using the Internet in a classroom setting. I explored how the cultural practices of the group effected the opportunities that were afforded students for learning to become Internet literate. Individual students were studied as well as students in a group setting.; Results showed that interaction plays an important role while students are using the Internet. As members of the classroom community interact while using the Internet opportunities for learning are created. The interaction is unique for each individual member as the knowledge that is socially constructed out of these interactions varies by whom they are initiated and to whom they are available for take-up. The relevance of these findings is raised in a discussion about the implications for researching and teaching the Internet at the conclusion of this study.