A grant from Ameritech Corp. will help the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and four other Midwestern groups put their exhibitions and other educational materials on the Internet.

The company announced the recipients of its Technology Program for Arts and Cultural Organizations, which awarded a total $486,500 to groups in Ameritech's five-state "home region."

The Chicago museum received $155,000, the largest grant awarded in this round. It will use the money to launch its first Internet extensions of two exhibitions, "Reusable City" and "Enterprise", as part of its Learning Lab curriculum.

There were four other grants:

• $103,500 to Michigan Historical Center Foundation in Lansing, Mich. for a project on the state's ethnic immigrant groups.
• $82,000 to the Freetown Village Living History Museum in Indianapolis for creation of five "interactive, virtual field trips"
• $80,000 to Discovery World Museum in Milwaukee for its "Education on Telemedicine" project with two local public elementary schools
• $66,000 to the Ohio Historical Foundation in Columbus for the "Dig Ohio" archeological education program

The program awarded grants to those groups that had plans to launch or expand their Internet and other distance learning programs. Priority was given to projects that demonstrated "innovative uses of communications technology to merge the world of art and culture with that of education," according to Ameritech.

Ameritech provides local telephone and other communications services to customers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.