Teacher and student roles are transformed. Teachers focus less on how to prepare a lecture that transmits knowledge or how to organize materials in a way that invites discovery. Instead, greater emphasis is placed on choosing challenging activities and organizing participation to provide for everyone's growth. In classroom learning communities, teachers model or demonstrate expert performance and assist students, but students may also assist each other and the teacher. Students are active rather than passive.
Information is shared in a more conversational way.
The concept of learning communities may be expanded from the classroom to other levels of the education system. The notion of assisted performance suggests that administrators might view themselves as participants in chains of assistance supporting classroom practice, rather than as occupants of niches in hierarchical chains of authority. This kind of fundamental change requires extensive learning and behavioral' change throughout the education system. Because we are still learning what this theory means for practice, our Institute is investing in further research. At left is a description of our current grants.