Although teachers can learn alongside students, discomfort with the content may cause them to limit students experiences and explorations. These computer-supported inquiry programs also require advanced teacher skills in integrating technology into inquiry learning. When students are beginning to generate related ideas for their topic, for example, the teacher needs to recognize at that moment the contribution a software mapping tool like Inspiration might make to students organizing of ideas. Teachers using Geometric Supposer not only need to learn how to use the software but also must be able to apply it to a variety of teaching learning situations. When teachers use and develop inquiry-based curricula that integrate technology, their role in the classroom becomes more that of a coach or facilitator of student learning.
Knowledge making can follow routes unanticipated by the teacher.
For teachers and students to follow these new routes, a curriculum needs to be flexible. Although teachers may see the desirability of this type of teaching role, they often feel vulnerable as they take the risk of shifting from a more comfortable knowledge transmission mode of teaching to inquiry-based teaching. One reason for this discomfort is their appreciation of the difficulty of managing meaning- making across a class and within individuals. When the work students are doing is visible on a monitor or printout, teachers have access to students misconceptions, the ways in which they sort and categorize information, the relationships they form among ideas, and the conjectures they make. However, trial and error is part of problem solving.