In order to unleash the remarkable power of the Internet, students must have a compelling reason for communicating with others and for searching out and analyzing new information. iEARN provides a model in which students cooperate with others in seeking solutions to common problems through action-based project work.

A key to iEARN's success is the leading role that participants play in determining the content within the network. All projects within iEARN are designed and facilitated by participants to fit their particular curriculum and classroom needs and schedules. When schools join iEARN, the network opens to all teachers and students at a school, with resources available for finding multiple entry points across age levels and disciplines into iEARN project work.

Participants may join existing structured on-line projects or work with others internationally to create and facilitate their own projects within the following areas:

• environment/science/math
• social studies/economics/politics
• arts/literature/language
• Learning Circles (a project structure which partners 5-8 classrooms for semester long-exchanges)

iEARN teachers negotiate their own participation in iEARN projects, adapting them to fit their own particular classroom and curriculum needs. All iEARN projects must clearly outline their goals and expected outcomes in the form of a standard Project Template when they are announced to the network. (http://www.iEARN.org/handbook/template.html)

And, all iEARN projects involve a final "product" or exhibition of the learning that has taken place as part of the collaboration, as a demonstration that students CAN make a difference with what they are learning in the classroom. These have included magazines, creative writing anthologies, websites, letter-writing campaigns, reports to government officials, arts exhibits, workshops, performances, and many more examples of youth taking action as part of their education.