WIFI transforms school bus into learning center

Parent Cafe
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<p>"VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).But on this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops.</p>

<p>Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned — and unexpected — result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared.</p>

<p>“It’s made a big difference,” said J. J. Johnson, the bus’s driver. “Boys aren’t hitting each other, girls are busy, and there’s not so much jumping around.”
[Wi-Fi</a> Turns Arizona Bus Ride Into a Rolling Study Hall - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html?em]Wi-Fi”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html?em)</p>

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<p>“Learning”. I’d bet there is lots more surfing, gaming, and Facebooking going on but if it keeps the peace, why not. Do they have siteblockers on Wi-Fi? Could be some real interesting learning going on.</p>

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<p>LOL, barrons! Especially about facebooking and myspacing :)</p>

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<p>You are spot-on, barrons!!</p>