The Role of the Teacher

The implementation of the ideas of Constructivism, Project-based learning and Democratic schools requires a new role of the teacher or any adult taking care of the child’s learning. 

The teacher takes on a mediational role rather than being an instructor. Teaching "at" students is replaced by assisting them to understand and help one another to understand.

The teacher’s role is to be a facilitator, a counselor, a mentor. He or she does not provide ready-made answers but guides the students to find the answers by themselves. For example, instead of direct instruction the teacher will guide the students to find their learning style. 

A 10-year research program at the University of Technology, Sydney, demonstrated that by helping students to understand their own learning styles, improved comprehension levels and reduced attrition rates were achieved[1].

Psychologically our model is based on the following tenets:

• Knowledge is not simply transmitted from teacher to student, but actively constructed by the mind of the learner;
  
• Children don't get ideas; they create ideas;
  
• Learners are particularly likely to make new ideas when they are actively engaged in making some type of external and socially meaningful artifact: a robot, a mechanism or a computer program, which they can reflect upon and share with others.
  

In the project-based classroom the teacher:

Searches for compelling projects, which are meaningful and relevant to their lives;
Motivates: powerfully activates students’ need to know what they’re being taught;
Facilitates: creates situations, which inspire students to search for solutions, shows the students how to use tools and equipments; 
Organizes events for students to publicly present their project;
Helps children discover; exposes children to many potentially interesting facets of the world;
Arranges a physical environment, which provokes curiosity, encourages children to follow up on the interests stimulated by the environment;
Places children in active, creative roles of explorers, hunters, inquirers, designers, performers, etc.; 
Provides ample scope for individuals to test their learning in new and odd situations.
Selects content from basic human activities and makes these activities vivid and exciting;
Uses the children's background of experiences and provides a rich variety of new experiences;
Involves children in multi-sensory experiences that are natural to them;
Asks open-ended questions designed to elicit divergent thinking.

[1][55 Wilson, Jenny, 2004, Understanding learning styles: implications for design education in the university, University of Technology, Sydney, January.]

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