TRUE Brave new technologies have changed the urban classroom. Spreadsheets, podcasts and multi-media computer programs provide diverse new ways to express knowledge and assess learning. Our goal is to make these tools available to urban learners and then to utilize them in a way that's culturally relevant.

What hasn't changed is our fundamental understanding of how we learn.

Information from cognitive science and constructivists' perspectives give teachers a way to negotiate the changing landscape. We know from psychological research that technology can best enhance learning when it's used in a variety of ways to accomplish different things since "students learn by interacting in multiple environments" (Niess, Lee & Kadjer pg. 254). We also know that teachers must scaffold their students' learning with the technology "within the context of the subject matter so that they learn about the technology as they learn with it" (Niess, Lee & Kadjer pg. 254).