Expand tax credits to companies that invest in alternative, emission-free fuel technologies; make low-interest mortgages available to homeowners who increase the energy efficiency of their homes; make recycling mandatory in all public facilities, such as schools, parks, and beaches; and include global warming and climate change in today's school curricula--these were some of the top ideas that students worldwide came up with to address the problem of global warming in a Google-sponsored exercise that used technology as a collaborative, project-based learning tool.

In partnership with the Global SchoolNet Foundation, Google Inc. invited students from around the world to take part in a brainstorming exercise meant to call attention to a cause the company strongly believes in. The assignment also was aimed at promoting the use of Google's free, web-based document creator, Docs and Spreadsheets, as a vehicle for online collaboration and project-based learning in schools.

More than 80 schools in 20 different countries participated in the project, Google said--and the results were published in a full-page ad that appeared in USA Today on Nov. 27.

"The concept ... was to bring this specific tool to bear on a fun project that would have educational value--and on a topic that we really believe in," said Jen Mazzon, product manager for Google Docs and Spreadsheets. "We were trying to bring attention to students' ideas on such an important topic, as well as to highlight that they were collaborating globally while using Google Docs and Spreadsheets."

Students at the various schools were asked to come up with ideas about how they could address the effects of global warming and what could be done to slow or prevent it. Each participating class then contributed their ideas to a spreadsheet created for their region. From those spreadsheets, Google chose the top 50 ideas, which appeared in the USA Today ad.

Because they were using a web-based application, students were able to edit the same document at the same time. This gave them the opportunity to see exactly what each person was writing, Mazzon said, which allowed them to brainstorm ideas quicker and easier.

That's not to say students used the software without a hitch. "In one large class, students had trouble editing the same page at the same time," said Anne Lambert, library media teacher at John Muir School in San Diego, one of the participating schools. "But once they worked through that, they could see the benefit of collaborating on the same document."

It's this kind of collaboration that Google aims to make possible for students and teachers alike, according to the company.

"Imagine a teacher who wants to give feedback to a student on [his or her] assignment throughout the course of [the project], rather than waiting to give a grade at the very end," said Mazzon. "Or a student who wants to get input on something from a writing tutor, or a grandmother from a few towns away, or even a group of students who are working on a project together. These are all very common examples of areas where having really seamless ways to share documents, spreadsheets, and homework assignments online comes in handy ... which is why we've seen a lot of adoption among students and teachers."