At the time this site was created, many schools had a slow Internet connection and older computer equipment
and software. In order to give the greatest number of schools the greatest possible access to these resource
materials, a number of features such as sophisticated graphics, sound and video were restricted so the site
would perform well.
Because of the wide variability in school computer technology and Internet access, check with your school's
computer specialist. There are three things you'll need to know in order to decide which activities to use
with your students:
- the kind of browser your school has;
- the screen resolution setting of your computer(s);
- your school's connection speed to the Internet.
This site has been built to work best with a Netscape 3 browser and above. If you're using any other
kind of browser, the site won't function as designed. You can check the kind of browser you have by looking
in the list of programs stored on your computer.
This site has been designed for a screen resolution of 800X600. If your computer is set for a
different screen
resolution you may need to scroll from left to right to see the contents of a screen -- something that may
frustrate some users. Check with your computer specialist to determine your screen resolution. Your computer
specialist may be able to help you change your screen resolution if necessary.
The connection speed, measured in bits per second (bps) is important. It refers to the rate at which
information flows into your computer. The site has been designed with a single 28.8 bps
connection in mind.
At the time of the site's release, this rate was still a common connection speed. If you have a modem, check
the speed. If your school's computer lab has a 28.8 bps connection to the Internet and if 20 computers are
sharing the same line, the rate at which information flows will slow to a trickle and students will not be able
to complete activities such as the Quiz within the assigned class time. One solution to this challenge would
be to break the class up into several small groups and stagger the times each group has access to the computer
lab. See "How to use this site as a teaching tool" in the Guided Tour
for more suggestions on how to deal with poor Internet access to the site.
