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The second half of the twentieth century has seen frequent and rapid changes in our understandings of the growth of knowledge and its development. Dynamic reconfigurations have taken place in theories of learning (from an emphasis on the behavioural to a concern with the cognitive and social nature of thinking); in theories of mind (from a belief in tabula rasa to a consideration that there may be innate capacities like language syntax); and in theories of knowledge (from the notion that knowledge is cumulative to ideas that knowledge is often reconfigured, adapted and even abandoned). Such changes have led to arguments which would suggest that (a) classroom instruction needs to be centred around students' active learning and take into account research that demonstrates that students' prior knowledge is a significant factor affecting learning; and (b) that the focus of student's work should transcend the …