1. Knowledge is constructed, not received

We see, hear, smell. feel and taste, and construct our sense of reality out of all the sensory input we receive and that process begins in the crib.

2. Mental models change slowly

Teachers are called to craft assignments in a way that allows students to try their own thinking. come up short, receive feedback, and tryn again. They give students a safe space in which to constuct ideas, and they often spend a great deal of time creating a kind of scaffolding to help studentds engage in that construction. Rather than telling students they are wrong, they often ask questions to help students find their own mistakes. 

3. Questions are crucial

Questions help us construct knowledge. They point to holes in our memory structures and are critical for indexing the information that we attain when we develop an answer for that inquiry. If memory does not ask the question, it will not know where to index the answer. The more questions we ask, the more ways we can index a thought in memory.

4. Caring is crucial

People learn best when they ask an important question that they care about answering, or adopt a goal that they want to reach. If they don' care, they will not try to reconcile, explain, modify. or integrate new knowledge with old(Bain, 2004, pp.26-32).

The most effective teachers help students keep the larger questions of the course constantly at the forefront. Donnald Saari states WGAD?, telling us that at any moment in class students are free to ask questions, however abstruse and minuscule a piece of the big picture it may be - is important!