The first day of class began with an introduction of all the staff at Shodor. Bob1 spoke about the meaning of Internet Science Explorations. He described the meaning of each word and how they would examine these types of things throughout the class.

The next thing each student did was get their own e-mail. After a short lesson on e-mail etiquette the students opened their mailbox to find mail from Jon Phillis, one of the interns. The students then learned the ins and outs of Eudora, their e-mail software.

After sending their classmates email the students learned about the history of the internet from JP. Most students were surprised to find that the internet originated in 1969. They had thought it was much later. Next, the students did an activity led by the interns to help understand how the internet works. Each student was assigned a job as either: a computer that sends the message, a router or a computer receiving the message. The sending computer devised a message, cut it up into smaller "packets" to be sent down the router. Once the message was passed down the router the receiving computer's job was to put the message back together. There were a couple of problems along the way that showed how routers can mess up and that computers really need to communicate. After the activity the students briefly discussed web page operation and technique with Monte and Kirstin. The students then explored the function of the tools in the toolbar. Later, Kirstin led the students into an understanding of the internets search engines.