Rather than graduating students on the basis of fulfilling the required hours of seat-time, students must now demonstrate mastery on a set of basic standards and build on foundational skills through the more rigorous profile of learning. The profile of learning must measure student performance using performance-based assessments compiled over time that integrate higher academic standards, higher order thinking skills, and application of knowledge from a variety of content areas. This element embraces an inquiry-based model of teaching. In an inquiry model, students become active investigators of phenomena rather than passive readers of textbooks. They are actively involved with designing and carrying out explorations of these phenomena in order to construct their own knowledge and conceptual understandings.
Teachers become facilitators rather than dispensers of knowledge.
Have students devise their own questions to ask of the situation. Involve students with planning their approach to the question. Individually, or in small groups, carry out the work on these investigations. Interpret collected data in ways appropriate for the investigation. Communicate the results of the investigation.