Assignments are designed to make a contribution to the community. Constant opportunities for teamwork exist. Students are working on aspects of problems no one else has studied. Success can be measured by the student and other adults besides the teacher. Reliance on memory for testing is minimized.
Teachers become facilitators for students who are learning skills.
Many different skill levels are valued in the class at the same time. The Kids' Network sixth-grade science curriculum developed by TERC, The National Science Foundation, and the National Geographic exemplifies this new classroom management model. Basically, classrooms involved in Kids' Network are asked to identify a local body of water in order to collect data about acid rain. Students then enter their data into a national database that can, in turn, be accessed by classrooms all across America. Students in Chicago can use Kids' Network software to pull down charts and maps of acid rain across the Midwest and into New England to try to understand the magnitude and interconnection of the pamphlet.