FOR A FEW HOURS EACH WEEK, sixteen-year-old Peter Lafirenza practices taking off and landing his private Cessna airplane, being careful not to crash. But even if he does, he'll get a second, third and even fourth chance to fly again, for Peter's flight prowess is not being tested at a nearby airport, but in a flight simulator at Redondo Union High School's Discovery Lab.

"It's pretty cool. I like it," said Peter, a high school sophomore. "(Learning to be a pilot) is something I would like to do someday."

Redondo's Discovery Lab is just one piece that makes up Redondo Union School District's technological puzzle, a high-tech mosaic that also includes BeachNet, a student created and operated Web page and Internet Service Provider, and the Futures Academy, a telecommunications lab dedicated to internet-based research and training.

The 6,500 square-foot Discovery Lab opened two years ago in the school's old machine shop with funding provided by private grants as well as budgeted District money.

"Our superintendent, Dr. Beverly Rohrer, is a real visionary," said Discovery Lab Director Rick Thompson. "She and the School Board are always looking for cutting edge technology to bring to the District."

Redondo Union is the only High School in the South Bay to have a fully functioning Industrial Technology Department where students can enroll in Construction Technology, Transportation Technology, Computer Aided Drafting and Design, Graphics Communication, and begin technology core training in the Discovery Lab.

The lab provides a modular environment where pairs of students concentrate their learning in a subject area for ten hours of instruction. All modules have a writing component, a math component directly linked to the subject, and include a presentation to the large group. Any scientific component is defined and put into real world context using manipulatives in the module.

"This lab gives (students) a basic understanding of different technologies and serves as a starting point to more advanced classes in specific areas," Thompson said.

Modules include Aerodynamics, Laser and Fiberoptics, Desktop Publishing, Computer Aided Design, Weather Data, Small Engines, Plastics And Processes, MIDI Music, Health And Fitness, Animation, Structural Engineering, Satellite Communications, Graphics Design, Robotics, Computer Numerical Control Machining, BeachNet, and Electronics. Most lab modules have access to the Internet for student research through BeachNet. The research is accessed through the Lab Intranet.

"The generation of students we are trying to educate for today's jobs must be in a learning environment that matches what they will be doing once they graduate," said Patricia Hosken, coordinator of educational services for Redondo Unified. Within the curricular area of the modules, the students are given the freedom to produce outcomes in their strongest modality, so their best work can be achieved with the highest interest level.

Students are currently building a working model race car in the Engineering, CAD, and Plastics modules, a robotic arm in the Robotics module, and are performing a major facelift for BeachNet, the school's Web site, in the Graphics Design and Web Page modules.

"Working in different modules affords the students the opportunity of learning how different technologies relate to and complement each other," Thompson said.

"There's a heavy emphasis on physical science and math, but also on creativity in the graphics, music and animation modules," he said.

"There's a lot here to do," said Steve Vacarro, 15. "I liked doing animation the best."

Although BeachNet is now part of the Discovery Lab, it was actually created about two years ago. Maintained by students, the independent World Wide Web service provides low-cost Internet access for the surrounding communities as well as information about the South Bay, educational issues and links to various community services and an electronic library.

Complementing BeachNet is the Futures Academy, a 24-hour PC and Mac telecommunications center with video conferencing capabilities, dedicated to teacher and student research via the Internet. In fact, Redondo students are currently working with students at four schools in Texas and in Illinois via email and video conferencing on producing a Musical Theater Project, an original one-hour musical which performing arts students will perform at Redondo Union High School in the spring.

"Hopefully our use of technology will expand in the future, but up to now we have been very pleased," Hosken said.