• Ideally, tasks or problems for the application of cognitive tools will be situated in realistic contexts with results that are personally meaningful for learners.
• Using multimedia construction programs as cognitive tools engages many skills in learners such as: project management skills, research skills, organization and representation skills, presentation skills, and reflection skills.
• Research concerning the effectiveness of constructivist learning environments such as microworlds, classroom-based learning environments, and virtual, collaborative environments show positive results across a wide range of indicators.
Conclusions and Recommendations
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Overall, fifty years of educational research indicates that media and technology are effective in schools as phenomena to learn both from and with. Historically, the learning from or tutorial approaches have received the most attention and funding, but the with or cognitive tool approaches are the focus of more interest and investment than ever before. Media and technology have many other advantages in terms of repeatability, transportability, and increased equity of access. In addition, although the research evidence is sparse, the costeffectiveness, cost-benefit, and return-on-investment of media and technology may be of great benefit under certain conditions, especially in developing countries.
Longitudinal studies such as the ten year investigation of the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow( ACOT) Project show that pedagogical innovations and positive learning results do eventually emerge from the infusion of media and technology into schools, but the process takes longer than most people imagine.
Large investments in time and support for teachers are especially critical if the adoption of constructivist pedagogies accompany the infusion of media and technology. This is critical given that it is pedagogy that is most influential on learning, not media or technology. Media and technology, however, are integral to the implementation of innovative pedagogies.
The need for long-term, intensive research focused on the mission of improving teaching and learning through media and technology has never been greater. This research should be developmental in nature, i. e., focused on the invention and improvement of creative approaches to enhancing human communication, learning, and performance through the use of media and technology. The purpose of such research is to improve, not to prove. In the final analysis, the esoteric and complex nature of human learning may mean that there may be no generalizable best approach to using media and technology in schools. The most we may be able to hope for with respect to media and technology in education is creative application and informed practice.
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