Beyond Wild Justice
Grades: 9-12
Ongoing? Yes
This excellent project from Canada, with content more appropriate for mature students, has them take the role of a reporter covering the trial of two young women accused of causing the suicide of another girl with their taunting and bullying.  Students research the case in actual news articles, write editorials, and express their feelings about the real case with poetry and art.  The project provides for great learning about the Canadian justice system but is excellent for any high school classroom dealing with government, sociology, journalism, or writing.

The Charter Challenge
Grades: 9-12
Ongoing?  Yes
This online simulation gives high school students an opportunity to communicate electronically about issues related to the protection of fundamental liberties, freedoms, and human rights while also examining national security issues.  Each year, students roleplay lawyers who are assigned cases.  They prepare briefs on the cases and submit them online for judging by expert mentors from the legal community.  This is a great site to consult for curriculum ideas on government and politics, regardless of your national origin.

The Election Co-nection
Grades: 3-12
Ongoing? Yes
Here's a great way to encourage students to become actively involved citizens while teaching them about our political system. The Election Co-nection site was created as a Webquest with free registration required to participate. Two weeks before the 2000 U.S. general election, students from all overthe country held a mock presidential election. In addition, some studentscreated fictitious candidates--according to the required presidential qualifications--and ran for office in a parallel election. One highlight of the site is election results broken down by state and demographic profile. Resources for teachers include: clearly written instructions for how to use the various sections of the site, a wide range of suggested curriculum applications (from social studies and language arts to math), assessment rubrics, and a long listof links for additional election-related information.

Federation Role-Playing Game
Grades: 9 -12
Ongoing? Yes
Join the characters of Star Trek in an exciting new adventure! FRPG is a very well-organized and long running email role-playing game. Individual participants create characters based on the Star Trek Next Generation series (40 years afterward). To apply, participants submit a three-page application story involving the character they created. Players do not need to be Star Trek experts, but do need to be able to express themselves clearly in writing (and willing to commit the time to the role play).

Kids Voting Canada
Grades: 9-12
Ongoing? Yes
This professionally designed site brings technology and democracy together to inspire student interest in the political process.  Developed in conjunction with the Canadian government and media, the site offers curriculum materials about upcoming elections in Canada and links users to media resources for classroom use.  The site also provides a useful link to those looking for the American inspiration for Kids Voting Canada, Kids Voting USA, and explains the process for establishing mock elections in your school.  Regardless of its Canadian content, all teachers looking for curriculum examples in political science or current events will find them here.

Mars Academy
Grades: 9-12
Ongoing? Yes
Students work on "collaborative projects to study the problems involved in the design of a manned mission to the Red Planet." The site includes "courses" on topics like Mars basics and space medicine, a trajectory calculator, and a guidebook on scientific design.

Mars Landing
Grades: 9-12
Ongoing? Yes
Here is an exciting challenge for students: land your ship on Mars without being able to look out a window! An Exploring the Environment project in which students study Viking Images of the Mars landscape in order to find a safe and interesting place for their simulated space ship to land. In the process, they learn how to use tools in the application NIH Image. In addition to a basic outline of how to facilitate the project, this problem-based learning module includes detailed instructions for teachers who lack experience in this kind of approach. Assessment tips and rubrics are included.

Project Pioneer/Mars Millennium Project
Grades: K-12
Ongoing? No
This is an amazing example of what can happen through online collaboration. K-12 students from two schools in New York City and one school in Sao Paolo, Brazil collaborated online to create ! a virtual "community" living on Mars in the year 2030. The project was multidisciplinary, including subjectsfrom the sciences, arts and humanities, and student work was guided by inputfrom the U.S. Department of Education, the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the J. Paul Getty Trust. 

The Ugly Islands Home Page
Grades: 6-12
Ongoing? Not sure
Do not sail on by the Ugly Islands! This primarily text-based siteis unassuming, but more than worth a stop. The Ugly Islands are an entirely fictional, yet lifelike, detailed, and truly funny set of islands set somewhere in the South Pacific. The site describes their history, geology, biology, and current political situation and sets up a variety of problems for students to try to solve. These problems range from endangered habitats to difficult political decisions. The key to the site lies in an easily- overlooked "teacher's information" link from the home page. From there, teachers can find ideas for using the site with their classes and a link to the author's homepage.

Westward HO! 
Grades: 3-8
Ongoing? Yes
Students share travelogues, stories, and classified ads, written from the viewpoint of 19th-century U.S. pioneers travelling westward. The look and the language create a digital ambiance that will take you and your students back in time.