The recent nationwide salmonella outbreak linked to peanut products prompted Chelsea Brown, a ninth-grade student at Propel Andrew Street High School, into action.

First, she stopped eating peanut butter.

"I'm very worried about peanut butter. I don't think it's safe," said Chelsea, who lives in Homestead.

Then, in order to find out everything she could about salmonella and the sometimes serious digestive illness that it can cause, she started research on a science project in which she created a Web page about how salmonella contaminates food and causes illness. The page even includes a photo of the squirmy-looking bacteria.

That type of practical application of knowledge and independent study is at the core of the curriculum of the Munhall school, which is based on the EdVisions approached promoted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

It is the first high school operated by the Propel charter school organization, the only bricks-and-mortar charter high school operating outside of the city of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, and the only one in the state to use the EdVisions model. It opened in August.

More than 40 students of the 80 students at this school reside in the PG East region.

Chelsea's Web page on salmonella incorporated health, safety, science and technology concepts. The more proficient the student, the more time he or she earns for independent work, said Propel Principal Carolyn Davis.

The first school to use the EdVisions model was the Minnesota New Country School, created in Henderson, Minn., in 1994. Operators of the school decided to do away with traditional structure and have students create projects that included the curriculum mandated by the state. They also decided to let students work at their own pace and created personal work stations for the students.

According to the EdVisions Web site, Bill and Melinda Gates visited the school in 2000 and were so impressed with it, they wanted to see it duplicated. As a result, a $4.3 million grant was given by the Gates Foundation to start 15 more schools.

Now, more than 40 EdVisions schools are in operation around the country. According to the EdVisions Web site, despite having a high number of students categorized as minorities and low-income, these schools have students whose standarized test scores tend to be higher than average.

Students at the Propel high school -- as those at the Propel elementary schools in Turtle Creek, McKeesport, Homestead and Kennedy -- will have to take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests.

The 80 students at the Propel high school, which currently houses grades nine and 10, spend part of their time in seminars, which are organized more like traditional subject classes, and part of their time applying what they learn in independent study and projects.

The school day runs from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the students switch subjects every 55 minutes.

Students are organized into advisories of 16 to 20 students who are assigned to a particular teacher, though they attend seminars with other teachers in their areas of expertise such as science, math or English.

Students earn letter grades in their seminars but are promoted to the next level when they earn a sufficient number of credits. Students earn one credit for approximately every 20 hours they put in on a project.

Simply putting in the hours, however, doesn't guarantee the credit, Dr. Davis said. Goals and expectations must be met for students to receive their credits.

So far, the school has no extracurricular activities that meet after school hours, but one afternoon a week the students are able to participate in activities that range from art to technology to sports.

Of the 80 students, 26 are from the Woodland Hills School District, 16 from Steel Valley, 15 from Pittsburgh Public Schools and 11 from Penn Hills.

In addition there are four from East Allegheny, three from West Mifflin, two from Wilkinsburg, and one each from McKeesport, Duquesne and Clairton.

At the Propel high school, Chelsea has been busy lately not only with her salmonella Web site, but also with a clay animation project with classmate Zackery Elias, of Munhall.

Zackery and Chelsea have created a clay sculpture of the Earth and of an asteroid they believe is similar to that which is theorized to have hit the earth 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs along with 70 percent of life on earth.

Once they build their clay dinosaurs, they can get down to the photography that will eventually create their clay animation production. But in the meantime, they've been busy researching the asteroid strike, including not only science and history facts but also mathematics.

According to their research, the asteroid traveled 61,400 miles per hour, which they say is 150 times faster than a jetliner, and created a crater about 110 miles across in Mexico, near the town of Chicxulub.

Chelsea, who attended a cyber school and the Propel McKeesport elementary program before coming to the Andrew Street high school, said she liked the curriculum at the high school, which allows her to work at her own pace and choose the topics for her projects. But she's found out that takes discipline and a certain sense of responsibility on her part.

"I like being able to pick what I learn about. I'd rather be responsible for myself, but it is harder," she said.

In fact, the ability to work at their own pace and the individualized attention that the children receive is the one of the main reasons some parents gave for choosing the Propel school.

"It's good for students who like to study at their own pace," said Irene Karpan, whose son, Andrew, is in ninth grade at Propel's high school.

In addition, Mrs. Karpan said, the curriculum allows her son to focus his projects on his areas of interest, which are economics and politics.

Her son recently spent time in Ukraine with family members and returned to do an extensive project on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, complete with photos and research he garnered there.

Jan Gerdes transferred her son, Nate, from Woodland Hills High School last year to Propel's high school this year, where he is in 10th grade. She said the initial reason for the move was safety because there were a number of fights reported at the school last year.

Not only does Nate feel safer at Propel, but he's also found that he likes the curriculum.

"He seems to like doing the independent learning and I guess it gives him the choices of learning what he wants," said Mrs. Gerdes, who has two younger children at Propel East in Turtle Creek.

Chelsea and Zack performed the research for their asteroid project and stored the facts for their projects on their individual Dell laptop computers that are issued to each Propel student. Students appear comfortable using the laptops, and there has not been a problem with students remembering to bring them to class every day, Dr. Davis said.

In addition to working on laptops, each student is assigned a workspace, similar to a small cubicle in a corporate office.

The laptops are not just used for the students' academic work. Each student is also required to compose and update his or her own personal learning plan, which is created by using a template that prompts them to answer questions about their strengths, past achievements, learning styles and plans for the future.

On a recent morning, Anthony Hrubetz, a ninth-grader from Penn Hills, was working on his skills assessment. He concluded that he's pretty good at public speaking and demonstrated that skill by giving a relaxed and clear demonstration for a roomful of adults.

But he also was candid about his weaknesses. He knows he has to work hard to get good grades in math, and he knows needs to improve his written and spoken grammar.

As of last week, his presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slide show on his laptop. It opened with a photo of a building that is partially constructed to represent his theme of building himself up. For the final presentation, Anthony hopes to add video.

Before attending Propel, Anthony attended school in Penn Hills, where he said he didn't feel as if he got a lot of individualized attention. There, "math was always a problem for me." But at Propel, he said, his "scores are way up" and he's getting B's in his Algebra I class.

Other students shared Anthony's opinion that the Propel high school was working better for them than their previous schools.

Joel Malloy, of Wilkinsburg, attended cyber school before starting 10th grade at Propel. He's enjoyed having real classmates in place of virtual ones.

"Here you are interacting with each other and more and you get to have school friends," Joel said.

For Fatimah Henry, a 10th-grader who had previously attended West Miffin Area High School, Propel has provided a smaller, more manageable atmosphere.

At West Mifflin, the large physical space overwhelmed her.

"The hallways were so big and there were so many more students in each class," Fatimah said.

At Propel, "it's more comfortable. Classes are closer and the teachers pay a lot more attention to you," Fatimah said.