Strict adherence to a fixed curriculum is highly valued. Pursuit of student questions is highly valued. Curricular activities rely heavily on textbooks and workbooks of data and manipulative materials. Curricular activities rely heavily on primary sources. Teachers generally behave in a didactic manner, disseminating information to students.
Teachers generally behave in an interactive manner mediating the environment for students.
Teachers seek the correct answers to validate student lessons. Teachers seek the student's point of view in order to understand student learning for use in subsequent conceptions. Assessment of student learning is viewed as separate from teaching and occurs almost entirely through testing. Assessment of student learning is interwoven with teaching and occurs through teacher observation of students at work and through exhibitions and portfolios. In the constructivist classroom the teacher becomes a guide for the learner, providing bridging or scaffolding, helping to extend the learner's zone of proximal development.