Since the 1980’s researchers and child psychologists have explained the need for children to construct their own knowledge. Touching and experimenting, role-playing and imagining are the ways children develop their own word views. In the technology rich world which today’s students are growing up, they not only construct their knowledge, but have control over how and when they recieve information and with whom they share it. The flip channels, surf the web, download music, add friends to their MySpace accounts and participate in role-playing games with kids they meet online.

Since th19th century, students have arrived at a classroom and sat through lecture, practice and then performed work on their own and finally answered test questions on a paper (or slate) to show what they’ve mastered. How many times are students stillmtold to look a word up in a 5 pound dictionary, when they would be more comfortable using Encarta or Webster’s online?

No wonder students and even their parents feel that school is a separate entity and not necessarily relevant to the world they live in. Educators need to embrace all of the ways people know learn, access, and share information. Learning experiences should be not only student constructed, but also use familiar methods to engage students and provide a link between school and home, making it feel more relevant.