Students spend a full school year working on computational science projects of their own choosing, and they learn the tools necessary to support their efforts.
Most students have mentors, with whom they communicate through e-mail.
Students join discussion lists, search Web sites of research institutions, and comb through data sets to learn about their topics. From the beginning, the AiS program staff has worked to develop a complete curriculum and to provide a range of resources and supports that enable students and teachers to succeed with the AiS program. Teachers attend intensive, two-week long summer workshops when they begin participating in the program, and they return for shorter workshops every summer thereafter. The Department of Energy provides Internet connections, at 56 kilobytes, for the computers it supplies. It also provides access to a supercomputer to support compiling, running parallel programs, and general Internet access.