Thus, teachers should first determine the degree of their pupils' prior knowledge of a subject. This can help teachers alter the curriculum so study units can open with students' expressing their current assumptions; teachers design subsequent lessons to help students form a more accurate understanding of the subject matter by working with primary materials and raw data. Some constructivist teachers also modify a curriculum to cater to students' distinctive learning styles.

In contrast, constructivist teachers assess student learning while they teach to gain insight into students' understanding as well as the level of their cognitive development. Right and wrong answers are important to constructivist teachers - but so are opportunities to gain insight into their students' current understanding and the chance to enhance that understanding.

self-efficacy beliefs touch virtually every aspect of people's lives�whether they think productively, self-debilitatingly, pessimistically or optimistically; how well they motivate themselves and persevere in the face of adversities; their vulnerability to stress and depression, and the life choices they make. Self-efficacy is also a critical determinant of self-regulation.

As a consequence, people's accomplishments are generally better predicted by their self-efficacy beliefs than by their previous attainments, knowledge, or skills. Of course, no amount of confidence or self-appreciation can produce success when requisite skills and knowledge are absent.

Learners remain active throughout this process: they apply current understandings, note relevant elements in new learning experiences, judge the consistency of prior and emerging knowledge, and based on that judgment, they can modify knowledge.

First, teaching cannot be viewed as the transmission of knowledge from enlightened to unenlightened; constructivist teachers do not take the role of the "sage on the stage." Rather, teachers act as "guides on the side" who provide students with opportunities to test the adequacy of their current understandings.

teachers must note that knowledge and provide learning environments that exploit inconsistencies between learners' current understandings and the new experiences before them. This challenges teachers, for they cannot assume that all children understand something in the same way. Further, children may need different experiences to advance to different levels of understanding.

teachers must engage students in learning, bringing students' current understandings to the forefront.

learning experiences incorporate problems that are important to students, not those that are primarily important to teachers and the educational system.

Teachers can also encourage group interaction, where the interplay among participants helps individual students become explicit about their own understanding by comparing it to that of their peers.

Ample time facilitates student reflection about new experiences, how those experiences line up against current understandings, and how a different understanding might provide students with an improved (not "correct") view of the world.

Constructivist professional development give teachers time to make explicit their understandings of learning (e.g., is it a constructive process?), of teaching (e.g., is a teacher an orator or a facilitator, and what is the teacher's understanding of content?), and of professional development (e.g., is a teacher's own learning best approached through a constructivist orientation?). Furthermore, such professional development provides opportunities for teachers to test their understandings and build new ones. Training that affects student-centered teaching cannot come in one-day workshops. Systematic, long-term development that allows practice - and reflection on that practice - is required.

Teachers teach as they are taught, not as they are told to teach. Thus, trainers in constructivist professional development sessions model learning activities that teachers can apply in their own classrooms. It is not enough for trainers to describe new ways of teaching and expect teachers to translate from talk to action; it is more effective to engage teachers in activities that will lead to new actions in classrooms