Knowledge Merely A Click Away Elementary School Students Compete In Internet Decathlon, Searching World Wide Web

The solution was just a few clicks away.

Mouse in hand, 30 students raced from one Web page to another, scanning the glowing computer screens for an answer.

“That’s it,” said fourth-grader Joshua Rathbone, pointing to the Beverly Cleary Home Page in his search for the author of “Ramona.”

“We got it!”

The Bemiss Elementary student was a participant in the Internet Decathlon, a competition Thursday at Gonzaga University that required students to search the World Wide Web.

The decathlon was part of First Links, a computer project that teaches technology skills to teachers and students.

More than 200 fourth- and fifth-graders in Spokane and Toppenish, Wash., have been involved in First Links, a Gonzaga program started a year ago with a $100,000 grant from Seafirst Bank.

They come from Kirkwood Elementary in Toppenish and three local schools: Bemiss in north Spokane, Seth Woodard Elementary in the West Valley School District, and St. Thomas More, a Catholic parochial school in Spokane.

First Links is more than just putting computers in classrooms, said John Wagner, Seafirst’s regional senior vice president.

“It’s also about creating an environment and how that can apply to life,” he said.

Besides chatting and trading ideas via e-mail with students from other schools, children also learn how to use the Internet for book reports, math problems and to answer questions that can’t be found in textbooks.

Maureen Durheim, a teacher at St. Thomas More, couldn’t find any books for her fourth-graders on the Shroud of Turin, she said. But when they searched the Web, they found more information than they needed.

Kids also say they’d rather do their research on the Internet.

“It’s easier to do it on the computer,” said Bemiss Elementary fifth-grader Alex Kern. “It’s more current. All you have to is click.”

And it’s fun, too, said Chelsey Mankin, a fourth-grader at Seth Woodard. So far, she has used various search engines to find information on her favorite bands, including The Spice Girls and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The students gathered at Gonzaga for a barbecue and to meet their e-mail pen pals. About 10 students from each school later met at a Gonzaga computer lab for the decathlon.

They were divided into groups of six, each student equipped with a MacIntosh computer. Using Netscape Navigator, they answered questions like, “If you want to check on the latest adventures of ‘Ramona,’ which author would you click?” or “Which Web site will you click on to get information about a striped beast?”

There were no winners, really. All three schools received tiny video cameras for their computers that will allow them to view their counterparts at other schools.

“It was sort of fun but it was hard,” said Hollister Denman, a Bemiss fourth-grader.

First Links started in May last year when the Gonzaga School of Education approached Seafirst for a grant.

“It was money well-spent,” said Vicki Foege, Seafirst’s corporate contribution manager. “It’s a wonderful fit for the business community. … We’re preparing future employees. It’s (a program) that will make a difference.”

Teachers and school administrators say it’s done wonders in the classroom.

Students at Bemiss who had discipline problems are now becoming motivated by computers, said Principal Dale McDonald.

They’re also learning how to work together, he said, as well as integrate computer know-how with math, science and other school subjects.

“It offers a new world to students,” McDonald said, noting that 86 percent of Bemiss’ student body receives free or subsidized lunches. “Some of them didn’t know that (the Internet) existed.”

The four elementary schools involved were selected for the diversity of their students, said June Lemke, chairwoman of teacher education at Gonzaga. Kirkwood has many native Spanish speakers. Bemiss has a large Russian student population. Next year, the program hopes to add fourth- and fifth-graders from the Coeur d’Alene Indian School in North Idaho.

“Through e-mail, the kids have gotten to know other kids from totally different cultures,” she said.

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