Andrea Mameli (CRS4, Cagliari)
Antonella Chifari (CNR, Palermo)
Lucia Nuvoli (SMS, Quartu)
mameli@crs4.it

This article aims at describing the first results of a research work on telematics in schools carried out by a group of students from the "Eligio Porcu" Secondary School in Quartu.

The students' response to a theoretical introduction to the Internet and its interactive and communication tools showed that the use of telematics in schools results in an enhacement in learning because of its positive effect on the way students catch information. Moreover, it encourages collaborative work as well as the chances offered by both syncronous and asyncronous communication and by "navigation" across the world wide web.

Further information was given by the students' participation to the didactic project based on the creation of an "on-line" short story launched by the CNR Istituto di Tecnologie Didattiche in Genoa (the project included 10 Italian secondary schools, each with one class).

The students also filled in a questionnaire which stressed on the need to carefully make up the didactic paths and on the importance to properly train teachers for the purpose.