KIRYAT GAT, Israel—In this small town in the south of Israel, junior-high students have discovered a great new place to spend their after-school hours. Project Cool brings together young teens with teachers-to-be who offer individualized help using computers for research projects. The kids aren't the only ones who benefit from this virtual learning community. Future teachers get a chance to put theory into practice, working with real students on authentic tasks.

The community-based project includes two parallel but integrated learning tracks:

• One for junior-high students from Gross and Rabin Comprehensive Schools, who learn to conduct research in a telematics environment
• One for teachers-to-be from Achvah College, who tutor the junior-high students and also participate in an online learning institute that provides them with a "virtual" support staff of experts

Project Cool was developed through a partnership involving Achvah College, the Perach mentoring program for university students, Kiryat Gat Department of Education, and Intel.

Junior high students select their own research projects to explore. A student who recently researched the origins of World War II said the experience helped him "discover new facts about the war. I enjoyed working with a partner, and surfing the Web was very interesting. I also learned new computer skills, such as creating hyperlinks."

Another student studied the immigration of Jews from Ethiopia. "Even though I was born in Ethiopia, I learned new things on the topic," the student said.

For college students, the project has provided "the opportunity to experience teaching and preparing lesson plans," one participant said. Noted another, "The virtual course and the supervision in instructing gave me a lot, educationally speaking. Today I feel more confident about going out to teach." College students also were impressed by the interest level of the junior-high students. "They showed themselves to be real researchers who always want to know more," said one participant.

Teachers who supervise the project see additional benefits for the younger participants. "Because the college students worked individually with the school students, the sessions were adapted to each child. You saw it in the results," said one teacher. "The school students worked hard, searching both the Web and books. The projects were quite interesting."

Project Cool takes place in the computer lab and library at Gross Comprehensive School, an Orthodox school. School librarian Yaffa Kolevkar contributes her sizeable experience to the project, guiding not only computer use but also "the social molding of the group," adds Dr. Ofra Nir-Gal, who is a lecturer in the School of Computers in Education at Achvah College. Nir-Gal also teaches in the distance learning center at Achvah, and researches teaching and learning processes in these new virtual environments.