After five years, the programs are used more than ever. While teachers are told to make classes more relevant to the working world, they have little opportunity to visit NASA's Johnson Space Center to get an inside look at the Space Shuttle. Or to discover that BillBoard Magazine hires people for their math skills, not knowledge of rock'n roll. Or to visit a skateboard designer who uses geometry to make sure his boards don't break. Through TV, we make these visits for them.
Some teachers show the programs weekly, some monthly, some daily.
Teachers tape them off the air to use over and over in math, science, and career education classes. PBS tells us Futures is its most popular in-classroom series. The boxes of letters from teachers and students in schools small and large, urban and rural, attest to the real value of these shows. Futures is just one series. There are a variety of programs from all kinds of producers covering math, science, reading, writing, geography, languages, the arts and so much more.