A symposium among school teachers and Internet experts was held in December 1997 to discuss how on-line networks could best be used in the educational setting.

In his opening address to the School Page Symposium, Professor Hideo Aiso of Keio University said that Internet technology gives students access to a lot more things than before. It's possible, he said, to experience virtual experiments using chemicals that are hard to obtain.

Aiso added that the Internet allows users to obtain specialized information without having to visit museums, aquariums, or zoos and can help promote international exchange with schools and students around the world.

Following the address, three teachers and one alumnus discussed the Websites they had created for their schools.

Kazuhiko Ichihara, a teacher at Hirano Elementary School in Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, talked about a research project he conducted jointly with 11 overseas schools for Japanese students through a computer network. The first project, he said, was to check the price of a McDonald's hamburger in each community. They also researched the price of gasoline.

Satoru Sawada, who teaches at Handa High School in Aichi Prefecture, and alumnus Yasutaka Hirai described how they designed a school site named "Denno Yugekitai (cyberspace explorer)" in 1996. An appeal was sent to other schools with Websites across Japan asking them to send messages to Handa during its school festival.

In another report, Yasuaki Ishimoto, a teacher at Konoue Middle School in Kumano, Mie Prefecture--where there are only eight students--described the school's attempts to maintain dialogue with schools in New Zealand and Australia."After a while we found that we couldn't keep up because we had nothing more to talk about," said Ishimoto.

Prior to the symposium, an award ceremony was held to honor the winners of a contest for the best school Websites. Eight schools were chosen from among the 374 entries in the second annual School Page Contest. The top prize went to Hirano Elementary School in Otsu City.

Photo: At the School Page Symposium, home pages were displayed on the large screen during discussions. (Asahi Shogakusei Shimbun)