One of the most recent technological enhancements to broadly impact schools has been the national mission to provide classrooms with high-speed connectivity to the Internet. This connectivity serves as a gateway to the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) and its countless sites that contain information, resources, and activities that promote student learning. Consequently, a growing number of special education teachers have become proficient in browsing and searching the WWW. They effectively access Web-based resources that support their personal productivity and teaching responsibilities, and extend to their students opportunities to access the WWW as part of the curriculum. Recent compilations focusing on Web-based resources, such as Edyburn (1999), Male and Gotthoffer (1999), and Wissick (1999) are excellent examples of the range and depth of this growing knowledge base that is available to special educators and students.

Many of today's teachers are committed to providing their students with active and dynamic learning environments. As they strive to accomplish this goal, teachers are discovering that effective classroom-based applications of technology go far beyond simply knowing about technology. When students possess the knowledge and skills regarding when and how to apply technology strategically, they can solve instructional problems with greater success. Therefore it seems reasonable to examine strategies and resources that empower teachers to purposefully integrate the Web into the curriculum and use it to accommodate and enhance all students' learning in creative and exciting ways.

One way teachers can promote technology outcomes and curriculum standards are to use Web resources to enhance thematic units (Wissick and Gardner, 1998). A thematic unit is a set of related learning activities and experiences that effectively support teaching multiple content areas and skills organized around a central topic, idea, or theme (Burns, Roe, and Ross1992). This definition is unpretentious and flexible. The teacher selects a theme, such as whales and depending on the classroom structure and the students' needs, develops a series of lessons. Thematic instructional activities are meaningful and organized across the curriculum based on specific content and skills. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to discuss (a) a variety of principles for Web-based activities that promote meaningful learning, (b) specific steps and strategies to follow that will assist teachers to enhance thematic units with Web-based activities, and (c) creation of Web-based activities using online tools.