Graphics, in full color, enliven web sites like The Yuckiest Site on the Internet, above and below, and Bill Nye's home page, at bottom.

Hawaii may be anchored in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but its students are zipping around the world to find the answers to questions.

For instance, when teacher Karen Chang at Waiakea Intermediate School in Hilo, asked her students to define a helpful Web site, they wanted "interesting information with color graphics."

Sounding suspiciously like television programs, a good Web site should also have sound and graphics that can be run full screen, the kids said.

Jo Link, head of the Computer Science Department at Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Waimea, said research is a major reason for students to use the Internet.

Here are some suggestions from Hilo:

http://web66.coled.umn.edu/schools.html - "I like this one because you can visit schools in the world! It shows pictures and everything. I just visited South Africa!," Serena said.

http://nyelabs.kcts.org - "Bill Nye, The Science Guy's Home Page. Has lots of good graphics and can download sounds. Tells about today's show. Has links to other science sites," according to Naupaka.

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu "Volcano World. Everything you want to know about volcanoes in the world.Information about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is included here, too, so you can learn about touring the park and see its special features," said Chaslyn.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Welcome.html "The White House. Learn about our country's history, tour the White House, get the latest news releases (in Spanish, French, Russian, and Arabic, if you wish), and send e-mail to our President and Vice-President," said Juliana

http://www.nasa.gov "Extremely excellent! Great opening page, lots of pictures, sound, videos, and tons of information on spaceshuttles. This site has everything about space travel. It's neat. You can even download movies, pictures, and sound clips," said Naupaka.

http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/sjl/froggy.html "The Froggy Page. It is educational because it teaches about frogs, has sounds, and stories, too. The section on frog dissection is interesting," Jason and Tiana observed.

If sliced up frogs on the Internet isn't gross enough, the students at Waialua Elementary School have a personal favorite:

http://www.nj.com/yucky/index.html. "It is 'The Yuckiest Site on the Internet' which is a delightful science site for children. Learn about earthworms, cockroaches and other yucky creatures," says Dale Yoshizu, a second grade teacher at Waialua.

Because the students are too young to be surfing the 'Net unsupervised, Yoshizu checks out the sites for the youngsters.

Some favorites, according to Yoshizu:

http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/. The Nine Planets: "You can explore the solar system. The children enjoy learning about the planets of our solar system through sounds and movies provided at this site.

http://www.leland.stanford.edu/~platyase/sanrio.html. Hello Sanrio: "Children can't get enough out of this page. Terrific pictures and information on Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty and Keroppi."