Students see relationships among ideas and concepts as they plan and experience a theme-based inquiry. Communication processes become authentic as students engage in thematically based learning activities. Students are encouraged to share ideas. As they listen to one another, their personal bases of ideas are expanded. Respect and cooperation among peers are expanded through interaction.
Students become more responsible for, and engaged in, their own learning.
The teacher assumes the role of facilitator rather than information dispenser. A sense of community develops as cooperatively designed student activities are created. Many grouping patterns naturally emerge. Assessment is authentic, continuous, and related to learning endeavors. For the Engles, all content areas are taught in large blocks of time with no separation between the actual subjects.