Editor's
Note
Voices
of a Global Community
This summer
issue of Meridian invites you to experience the many interactive articles
that support the use of innovative technologies in middle schools.
As a journal, we are combining global voices, facilitated by the digital
environment with the publication of the article, "Computer
Education in Nigerian Secondary Schools" and the article,
"Parental Involvement in Children's Education"
translated into Russian. Featured articles in the areas of language
arts, science, and environmental science using Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) and in practice in math, express the broad uses of technology
in schools. We continue our living article by a discussion of web
accessibility and how it affects the use of technology with responses
to Alan Foley's article, "Integrating Accessible
Design into the Educational Web Design Process". Our combined
voices, collaborations, and expressions help us all to expand and
explore the many new and dynamic relationships in technology education.
We welcome additional responses to the living article. Please submit
them to meridian_mail@ncsu.edu
with the words "Living Article" in the subject line of the
message.
Meridian continues
to search for the best expression and communication of research and
innovations in technology in the digital environment by creating dynamic
relationships from the static environment of the written page. Our
first multimedia article, "Virtual
Circles: Using Technology to Enhance Literature Circles & Socratic
Seminars", illustrates the power of teacher research and
combines video, pop-up web pages, and linked appendices to illustrate
the words with actions. We invite you to experience the research!
Likewise, the article, "When Technology
Integration Goes to Math Class", shows how teacher and web
resources can be used to make statistics come alive for students.
This issue
debuts some new features to help make Meridian more useful to its
readers. Each article now contains icons that will allow you to access
a printer friendly version of the article, save a PDF of the article
or even email the abstract with a link to the article to your colleagues,
students or your favorite listserves. We feel that these added options
will make it easier for you to use and share Meridian articles.
Additionally,
each article now includes a Related Article section that allows readers
to explore research articles in Meridian with related topics. For
example, the article, "Urgent
Emerging Issues Related to Technology Applications in Schools"
by Peter Martorella, Winter 1998, is given as a related article for
"Computer Education in Nigerian
Secondary Schools", in this issue. Peter Martorella was a
Professor of Social Studies Education and Instructional Technology
in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at North Carolina
State University from 1985 to 2000. His many books and articles continue
to inspire social studies practitioners who look for foundational
information that supports the field. Each year the Peter
H. Martorella Award for Advanced Research, donated by the family
and friends of Peter Martorella, is given in his honor to enhance
scholarly culture at the College of Education. The Martorella Colloquium
is held each spring inviting both student research presentations and
nationally-recognized educators.
The articles
published in this issue of Meridian exemplify our mission as we combine
and communicate our many voices in a global community of teaching
and learning with technology in middle school classrooms and beyond.
A very special thanks to Dr. Beckey Reed, our managing editor, and
our advisors, Dr. Edwin Gerler and Dr. Lisa Grable, and the entire
Meridian editorial board for all
their continuing invaluable efforts, diligence, and leadership.
Rita A. Hagevik
and Elizabeth Snoke
Co-Editors, Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal
