Unlike many research teaching tools, RPW places observation squarely in the forefront of the research task, thus reflecting the real world experience of researchers. Students need to watch carefully what is happening. The images and animations are an important component. They need to open their eyes and minds to record their own observations in their own language. The action builds, making the software fun and stimulating during a process that is often considered drab and boring.
Students quickly become engaged with lots of oohs and ahhs as events unfold.
After the hijacking, students conduct interviews from a substantial menu of sources. Here the software broadens to include a variety of themes including law enforcement, the psychology of the hijacking experience, public policy issues in prevention, strategies and policies in hijacker negotiations, and the reactions of victims during captivity. Students begin to discover their interests before embarking on a database search looking at scholarly articles about the narrowing focus of their research. The program contains its own database and offers instructional modules to help students do both library and electronic searching outside the software. The program includes tips and lessons on how to write and document their papers and develop a works cited list following MLA guidelines.