It is no secret that some feel there is little correlation between the amount of money spent per student and the mastery of mathematics per student. Nor is it news that U.S students trail fourteen other industrial countries in mathematics. The demographics of the community in which I teach high school mathematics characterizes us as an inner-city school with a high turn-over rate (66% are children of military parents), single-parent households, and a large percentage on the free-lunch program. The teachers, school administrators, Fort Hood's Third Armored Corps Commander, City Council, and commercial businesses are all dedicated to the children of the community, and make every effort to improve student mastery of mathematics. Each of our schools, for instance, has a Army brigade or battalion as a sponsor to assist each school with volunteer work.

Math computer lab is provided before, during, and after school. Tutoring is provided in the evening. Class scheduling has been modified to provide 90 minutes each day for math education, thereby providing more time for in-depth teaching. Due to these efforts, there has been some improvement in changing the level of student mastery in mathematics. But, student interaction with learning in general and the subject of mathematics in particular, has remained relatively static; that is, until this school year.

With a single internet connection to a computer in my classroom, I have seen a decisive influence on student interest in not only mathematics, but in reading and writing. Given the financial resources, I would envision a cyberspace classroom in which there is a computer platform on the desk of each student. All locations being the same distance in cyberspace, the student would be in a classroom virtually without walls. Mathematics lessons would be solved by each student collaborating with students from other geographic areas using teleconferencing techniques (with headphone, microphone, and a digital camera). The teacher would be a coach and facilitator for exploring deeper levels of mathmatical connections.

The following stories are ongoing experiences in the lives of our nation's children, to the extent that my classroom at Ellison High School in Killeen, Texas is a microcosm of our society, and illustrate the potential for revolutionary changes in the delivery of education as we move into a computer-mediated classroom.

Sabrina Adams - From Vacationing to a Global Economy
Esther Malabed - Cybermarketing
Faith Charfauros - It's a Small World and Getting Smaller
Hector Ramos - The Virtual Classroom
Ruthy Googins - Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow