The LCRC was born out of a mutual recognition that recent research on student learning in schools continually supports the theory of constructivism in education.  This modern theory, with antecedents throughout history from Greek, Roman, European, and American theorists, holds that learners create their own understandings by actively rebuilding or adding to their existing knowledge base – essentially constructing knowledge rather than having it handed to them by others.  The theory implies teaching strategies that support learning to think, rather than merely accumulating facts and concepts:

          The essential point - the inner intent - that seems so seldom grasped even by
          teachers eager to embrace the current reforms is that in order to learn the sorts
          of things envisioned by reformers, students must think.  In fact, such learning is
          almost exclusively a product or by-product of thinking. By "think" we mean that
          students must actively try to solve problems, resolve dissonances between the
          way they initially understand a phenomenon and new evidence that challenges
          understanding, put collections of facts or observations together into patterns,
          make and test conjectures, and build lines of reasoning about why claims may
          be true or not.  Such thinking is generative.  It literally creates understanding in
          the mind of the learner.  …Students do not get knowledge from teachers or from
          books. They make it by thinking, using information and experience.
                                       (Thompson & Zueli, in Darling-Hammond & Sykes, 1999, 346) 

As organizations dedicated to the professional development of teachers and to their professional preparation, all five charter institutions of the LCRC acknowledge the value of constructivist theory and feature it in their programs and curricula.  The LCRC also sponsors an annual summer Constructivist Design Conference on Educational Improvement, in which teams of educators from schools and colleges immerse themselves in a constructivist environment to complete self-assigned tasks to solve their own institutional needs.

It is axiomatic that the most fundamental constructivist teaching strategies are learner-centered – they begin with the student – a proposition first elaborated by John Dewey and underscored by scholars and researchers throughout the last century.  The fundamental approach to constructivist teaching is based on three principles:

     1.  Student engagement with information must precede teacher explanations.

     2.  Instruction (guidance) should come in the form of interventions as students engage with information, ideas, and concepts.  

     3.  Authentic tasks create an environment for student engagement, teacher interventions, and assessment of achievement.
                                                                    (Flynn, Mesibov, Vermette, and Smith, 2004)

These principles subsequently provide the basis for teacher development and teacher education.  Attendant concepts for constructivist education include the development of educational settings and strategies that 

• allow for flexibility in grouping
• feature multiple resources for learning
• integrate multiple forms of learning, authentic assessment, and subject matters
• promote diversity in all aspects of education
• promote engagement and respect for all members of the educational community
• evidence high standards for learner-initiated work
• assure carefully mediated reflection on experience, and
• embed an ongoing process of professional and organizational self-renewal based on research and reflection on outcomes.

It is this combination of concepts that comprise the view of education held by the editorial board of JPACTe and its reviewers.
 
In his 1991 groundbreaking report, Carnegie Foundation President Ernest Boyer identified the “scholarship of application” as an emerging paradigm for rigorous scholarship in professional fields.  In the scholarship of application, “new intellectual understandings can arise out of the very act of application – whether in medical diagnosis, serving clients in psychotherapy, shaping public policy, creating an architectural design, or working with the public schools.” (Boyer, 1991, 23)  The continuing, long-term, interactive association between practicing school professionals and higher education faculty creates new knowledge through application of theory, rather than through discovery of new knowledge in isolation.  As a consequence, JPACTe is divided into two sections:  Constructivist Theory and Research, and Voices from the Field.  One section provides an outlet for publications by scholars and researchers in education.  The other section provides an opportunity for practitioners to contribute to our understanding of ways they are applying constructivist theory in their school settings.  Both sections are blind-reviewed.  Submissions are encouraged from anyone interested in contributing to this e-journal.  Just click on “Submissions” to learn more about the standards for publication and the peer-review processes involved.

 We hope you enjoy JPACTe, not only in this issue but in many more to come.