The future of science text books

From Nature News:

Toxic chemicals leak into a lake and only you — a doctor, environmental scientist or government official — can stop it. Think this is just a game? Actually, it's a science lesson.

Taking some cues from computer experts, educators are considering what science textbooks should look like a decade from now. And it looks like the cumbersome tomes that generations of students have had to lug around might soon be getting a high-tech upgrade.

Some teachers have already thrown out the old books.

"The last time I used textbooks was five years ago," says Paul Bierman, a geology professor at the University of Vermont in Burlington. He helped organize a recent workshop in Washington, DC, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, on the future of the printed science textbook.

Instead of traditional books for his classes, Bierman relies instead on computer simulations, demonstrations and other interactive projects. One such project includes looking at archived online photos of historic Vermont landscapes over the past 200 years, in order to observe and convey the process of landscape change.