There are very thin textbooks with eight or nine basic concepts on two or three topics integrated across mathematics, science, and societal issues. Learning is not book-centered, but centered on information access, management, and use. In the classroom of the future, Learning takes place in teams of students and is based on themes that are relevant to students and society. Teachers show students how to learn with analogies, by posing questions, and by demonstrating methods of finding answers. Teachers are linked or partnered with scientists in research facilities or related businesses.
Students work on actual problems in the business, medical, and research worlds.
For example, student teams work with local agencies and companies to examine local problems in transportation, urban water supply, waste disposal, recycling, and new-product development. Students write up their observations and interpretations in their personal journals. Students gain access to data from the National Institutes of Health, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other agencies to work on real problems with teams from other high schools in other states and countries. Students have direct access to the questions being posed by research teams, to their data, and to the teams themselves. Instead, many options are available, such as year-long classes, evening classes, and work credit related to team involvement in community projects that real address real issues and solve real problems.