It may also breed parent complaints. Nina Hansen, project inventor and coordinator, shared a story one day of an irate parent questioning the value of spending half a day on the beach. The science, the social studies and the mathematics lessons eluded this parent who could not recognize them unless they were presented within the confines of a rectangular space occupied by rows of desks. Evidence mounts that the most dramatic benefits from new technologies like telecommunications emerge when teachers organize their classrooms around student learning rather than teaching. The teacher orchestrates investigations and projects, helping students to construct meaning and develop insight rather than ladling it out with silver spoons.
Constructivist teachers encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative.
Constructivist teachers use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulative, interactive, and physical materials. Constructivist teachers encourage student inquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and encouraging students to ask questions of each other. This passion may be available to fuel the dramatic shift Hodas mentions if teachers come to see technologies and student centered classrooms as offering something as magical and transcendent as the instincts which first brought them to teaching. We must offer teachers adult learning experiences with the new technologies which excite them, appeal to their deepest selves and model the kinds of learning we hope to see developing as we move into the next century. These adult learning experiences must be, quite simply, inspirational.