n this chapter we explore three learner-centered classrooms. While the focus of the activity is on the student, the teacher establishes the lesson context and provides the tools and structure to complete the activity.

As part of the fifth grade language arts strand, students met twice a week to explore folktales from around the world. First, each student found a folktale to read, learn, and tell to the class. Some of the stories came from the school library, some from talking with their family or from stories the students already knew. Some were from the local area, but others were from around the world. The student marked the tale's country of origin on a world map posted in the class. While they listened to the various stories, the students talked about what they liked about them, how they thought the story had originated, and how some stories were like others. As the tales continued, a class list of different story characteristics emerged from their comments.

After all the stories were completed, the teacher divided the class into working groups of three students and asked each student to write a two-page tale, remembering the characteristics from the class list. Members of the working groups read each other's tales, provided feedback and suggested additions, which the author could use or not. The working group also illustrated the tales, providing at least one picture for every story. By the end of the unit, the class had a collection of stories and illustrations bound in a class booklet.

The lesson, while presumably adhering to the curriculum, was based on student interests. Students chose a folktale that held particular interest or meaning for them and the teacher encouraged them to critique each folktale. Through reflection (discussion) about each folktale and collaboration (peer editing), students could construct their own understanding of folktales and gain another perspective on interpretation through the comments of fellow students.

Students enter school with estimation skills, aware of their approximate height or age, for example. By building lessons around this prior knowledge, teachers can help students develop a personal understanding of mathematics. In real life we estimate all the time--for example, when determining the number of hours to reach a destination or when figuring out how much money to leave for a tip.

In this activity for a fifth grade classroom⁴, the teacher breaks the class into several small groups and introduces three estimation exercises. First, students are given a cluster of ten dots. They must estimate several other clusters as "fewer than ten," "more than ten," or "about ten." Students discuss "good" estimates--how close the estimate must be to the exact number--and then emphasize that in some situations, an estimate is just as good as the exact count. Students estimate the number of candies in a jar and pencils in a box, documenting how they arrived at their estimate.

Next, students choose strategies to respond to the problem "What is the sum of 243 + 479?" One group adds hundreds and tens to produce an approximate sum of 700. Another estimates a sum of less than 750 by rounding 479 up to 500 and 243 up to 250.

Finally, students estimate the dimensions of classroom objects. To calculate the height of the door, one group places their tallest member against the doorjamb. He knows that he is five feet tall and reaches slightly more than halfway to the top of the door, so the door is about nine feet. One girl, measuring the teacher's desk, recalls reading that a child's hand is about five inches. Her group decides that two "hands" equal a foot and estimates the desk length to be four and one half feet.

These estimation exercises encourage numerical flexibility, mastery of a certain level of mathematical computation, and reflection about spatial and mathematical concepts. Such skills are especially important when using calculators or computers, since students must have an estimate available for comparison with the calculator's answer.

By posing problems that demand reflection and self-generated meaning, teachers can help students build their own understanding and gain a better sense of what the numbers represent. In the above example, students draw upon their pool of knowledge (the boy as five feet tall, the size of a hand) to create a way to solve the problem.

Let's examine what the learners and teacher did in this activity. First, the estimation exercise provides students the opportunity to use their prior knowledge to solve real world problems. Second, students accessed a variety of tools (clusters of dots, candies in a jar, and classroom objects) to construct their own understanding of the mathematical principles involved. Finally, by posing problems that demand activity, reflection and self-generated meaning, the teacher helped students build their own understanding and gain a better sense of what the numbers represent.

The following example was a three-week exercise, originating in a Latin class, that could also be used for an interdisciplinary literature, government, or history class.

Most students at some point or another study the death of Julius Caesar or read the play by William Shakespeare. The death of Caesar raises still-relevant questions about political, personal, and national ambitions. Because all societies, 2000 years after the fact, still wrestle with such issues, the class decided to engage in a mock trial of Caesar's murderers, Cassius and Brutus.

To prepare for the trial, students watched and read the play Julius Caesar and viewed parts of the film Cleopatra. Through a weekly Roman history class, they learned about events leading up to 44 B.C. Based on their points of view about the murder, students formed a prosecution team (those representing Rome) and a defense team (those representing Brutus and Cassius). Each group voted for its lawyer, produced a set of witnesses (e.g. Marc Antony, Cleopatra, Caesar's widow), chose witness roles, and began planning its legal strategy.

Since the trial was modeled on the American legal system, two lawyers from the community provided in-class consultations about various legal and courtroom procedures and placed themselves on call after school. Students were very excited at having such "real-life" expertise at their disposal and approached the exercise with tremendous seriousness.

All additional necessary library research was conducted during and after class. Groups presented daily research findings and witness questions to the teacher. She returned them the next morning with questions to encourage further research or to refocus those who were off track. In class, the teacher circulated between the groups, listening to their strategies, and through her questions guided students to a particular strategy or issue that they may have missed. On the days of the trial, students from a seventh grade English class served as jurors. One teacher gave up her planning period to serve as the judge; another videotaped the trial.

The trial is a good example of how learning can transcend content area mastery toward the development of a set of academic life skills. Students gained content knowledge of Latin legal phrases and historical information about the last days of the Roman republic. They learned the nuances and complexities of reasoning and how to anticipate and address opposing arguments. Most important, they were excited about the authenticity of the exercise and felt that history had come alive for them.

All the students participated in the evaluation of this activity by critiquing themselves and their peers. Students were forthright about their efforts and the efforts of their group members. Their grade was based on the process (group cooperation, communication, preparation, and individual effort) and a final product (their performance in the videotaped trial).

As with the other learner-centered examples presented in this chapter, several constructivist ideas are evident in this activity. Each team of student lawyers constructed their own belief system about Brutus's and Cassius's actions based on their interaction with resources (the two lawyers, the teacher and their team members), materials (class lecture notes, film, Shakespeare's play, historical documents) and their accommodation or rejection of the information presented each day. By reflecting on the day's trial and by interacting with their peers, students developed a greater understanding about both subject area content and legal procedures.