In the course of learning, students frequently produce things, such as essays and art projects and lab write-ups, whose quality can be assessed. But these artifacts are just so many byproducts of the act of making meaning. The process of learning is more important than the products that result. In a learning environment, teachers want to help students engage with what they are doing to promote deeper understanding. Students' interests may therefore help shape the curriculum, and a growing facility with words and numbers derives from the process of finding answers to their own questions.
Skillful educators tap students' natural curiosity and desire to become competent.
They provide information about the success of these explorations and help students become more proficient learners. Not every student relishes every aspect of every task, of course, but the act of learning is ideally its own reward. Things are very different in a classroom where students are put to work, as Hermine H. Marshall at San Francisco State University has persuasively argued in a decade's worth of monographs devoted to the difference between work and learning environments. What counts is the number of right answers, although even this may be seen as just a prerequisite to snagging a good grade. In fact, the grade may be a means to making the honor roll, which, in turn, may lead to special privileges or rewards provided at school or at home.