Learning with technology. Learning with technology drives much of the current thinking about the use of technology to support learning (Jonassen, 1996). Bonk, Hay, and Fischler (1996) note, "Currently popular ideas about students using electronic tools to be designers of knowledge are akin to Dewey's arguments that children must actively construct and interrelate knowledge by learning in more authentic ways" (p. 95). According to this perspective, when technology becomes an integral part of the classroom learning environment it provides a tool for both teachers and students that can facilitate new roles and new instructional strategies.

Technology used as a tool can serve as a means to seek and process information, and to reflect on one's understandings, beliefs, and thinking processes. Used in this way, technology is "empty" as it allows the learner to enter information and explore new content relationships (Zucchermaglia, 1991). Ordinary application software such as word-processing, spreadsheet, graphics, presentation, and database software; problem-solving software; simulations; electronic mail; and the Internet are technology tools that fit into this category. These applications, labeled Type II by Maddux et al. (1997), give the user control of almost everything that happens, including the interaction between the user and the machine. An extensive repertoire of acceptable responses is provided for. Rather than rote memorization of facts, Type II applications encourage the accomplishment of creative, higher-level tasks (Maddux et al., 1997).

Because of the interactive nature of technology and the power of its information-processing capabilities, Jonassen (1996) proposes that when students learn with technology, it becomes a "mindtool." He defines mindtools as "computer-based tools and learning environments that have been adapted or developed to function as intellectual partners with the learner in order to engage and facilitate critical thinking and higher-order learning" (p. 9). Using commonly available software (databases, spreadsheets, electronic mail, multimedia, hypermedia, and others), learners employ technology to both construct and represent knowledge. This concept is similar to Pea's (1985) conception of a cognitive technology as " . . . any medium that helps transcend the limitations of the mind, such as memory, in activities of thinking, learning, and problem solving" (p. 168).

In a constructivist learning environment technology plays an acknowledged and purposeful role in the day-to-day activities, but does not become the object of instruction (McClintock, 1992). According to its advocates, this environment can provide students with a complex laboratory in which to observe, question, practice, and validate knowledge. The following discussion examines how technology can be used to support the creation of classroom environments based on the instructional implications of constructivist learning theory. This discussion is based on the premise that it is learning with, not from or about, technology that makes computer-based technologies important tools in a constructivist learning environment.

Probing students' prior knowledge, understandings, and interests. Basing instructional approaches on constructivist learning theory suggests that teachers must understand what learners bring to the learning situation and begin there in helping students build new knowledge. Basic, Type II applications offer tools to help with this process. For example, students can use word-processing software or e-mail to share their understandings with student peers as well as teachers. These uses of technology have been demonstrated to improve writing skills, produce more and better ideas for decision making, and increase motivation (Center for Applied Special Technology, 1996; Chun, 1994; Cohen and Riel, 1989; Honey and Henriquez, 1996; Mabrito, 1992; Moore and Karabenick, 1992; Naiman, 1988; Olaniran, 1994).

As Means and Olson (1997) note,

Technology can help to make students' thinking processes more visible to the teacher, something that does not happen when students simply turn in a completed assignment for checking and grading. As teachers observe their students working with computer applications, they can see the choices each student is making, stop and ask about the student's goals, and make suggestions for revisions or different strategies (p. 126-127).

One technology particularly suited to this process is Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments (CSILE), developed by researchers at the Centre for Applied Cognitive Science (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education). CSILE is a software-based tool that provides

a means for students to build a collective database (knowledge-base) of their thoughts, in the form of pictures and written notes. CSILE stores the thoughts entered by each student and makes them available for everyone . . . . The system is a form of hypermedia that allows notes entered as text, drawings, graphs, and timelines to be retrieved, linked, commented on, rated, and so forth. (Scardamalia, Bereiter, McLean, Swallow, and Woodruff, 1989, p. 52)

Students enter what they already know about a topic at the beginning of the creation of a CSILE database. This provides a tool for the teacher both to identify prior knowledge and to document the process of knowledge construction. Using CSILE, students can create and label written notes in a variety of ways. The labels are encouraged "in order to facilitate reflection and to allow the notes to reappear in multiple contexts. In addition, written notes can be placed on a timeline, or attached to a spot on a picture" (Scardamalia et al., 1989, p. 52).

Knowledge mapping software (such as Inspiration^TM) is designed to capture and organize brainstorming and idea generation sessions into concept or knowledge webs. This is a useful technology to help teachers uncover students' existing knowledge about a topic. For example, the teacher can pose a problem or suggest a content topic to students. Using the software, students can create a diagram of ideas, consisting of one or a few words, connected by "links," which may be lines or arrows or a text label. These webs of ideas may be linked to other webs, links may be changed easily, and notes may to be added to each idea in the web. All of these elements may also be converted to an outline format (Neuburg, 1997). As the teacher examines the webs or diagrams created by students, a visual representation of their prior knowledge is available for analysis.

Hypertext and hypermedia may be used by students in a like manner for assembling and linking information to present their understanding of almost any topic. Hypermedia is software built on non-linear interrelationships among text and other elements. When text is linked to related text using programming commands, it is called hypertext. By adding elements that allow the user to move through text, images, and sound, a hypermedia environment is created. Hypertext and hypermedia are structured so that the user accesses information in ways that are meaningful to him or her (Jonassen, 1996) rather than through a linear presentation. As students create hypermedia stacks, their existing knowledge is represented.

Simulation software also offers an opportunity for uncovering and examining student prior knowledge. "Simulations put the student in an active role in an environment that has a set of rules" (Maddux, et al., 1997, p. 219). As a student begins to interact with a simulation, prior knowledge guides the choices s/he makes when selecting from the options offered. Simulations such as The Would-Be Gentleman require the user to choose strategies designed to increase her/his social mobility in France during the reign of Louis XIV. Maddux et al. (1997) note that "players find it difficult to succeed if they do not have considerable knowledge of the period" (p. 219). Observing the choices made as the student begins the simulation and discussing the reasons for those choices provides a rich opportunity for both the teacher and the student to explore the student's prior knowledge.

In addition to the prior knowledge and understanding students bring to the learning situation, they also bring interests. As noted previously, teachers who create learning environments that enable the learning process structure activities that build on students' current interests. Technology can be used to help identify those interests. Allowing students to create hypermedia stacks or to use knowledge mapping software to create idea webs about self-selected topics can provide teachers a clearer picture of students' interests.

Once student interests and prior knowledge are identified, teachers guided by constructivist learning theory base learning experiences on both. Often, however, teachers cannot respond to the multitude of student interests due to lack of resources available in the classroom or the school. Technology can provide access to resources that build on students' interests (Irving, 1991; Riel, 1994; Swan and Mitrani, 1993). Databases of information available on CD-ROM or on the Internet, however, allow students to examine a multitude of topics that may be of unique interest to an individual student (McDaniel and McInerney, 1992).

Means and Olson (1997) found technology can support teachers' efforts to engage students in long-term, complex projects by dramatically enhancing student motivation and self-esteem. Numerous other studies have demonstrated the increased motivation and engagement of students when they use technology (Brownlee-Conyers and Kraber, 1996; Dimock, 1996; Deal, 1995; Ferneding-Lenert and Harris, 1994; Harasim, 1989; Lowry et al., 1994; Mason, 1989; Moore and Karabenick, 1992; Ross et al., 1990; Ryser et , 1995; Sandholtz et al., 1997; Velayo, 1993; Williams, 1995). One study, focused on students with limited English proficiency (LEP) who used videodiscs as part of instruction over a three year period, reported that these students had significantly stronger agreement with statements such as: "I like my science class," "We do fun things in science," "My friends like science," and "I would like to take more science" than LEP students in conventional classrooms (Barrutia, Bissell, Rodriguez, and Scarcella, 1993).