Thanks to the emergence of a new set of technological tools, we can offer students a more
authentic learning experience based on experimentation and action. With the help of the
Internet and a variety of communication, visualization, and simulation technologies, large
numbers of undergraduates can begin to reconstruct the past, observe phenomena using
remote instruments, and make valuable connections with mentors around the world. With
access to online research communities, learners are able to gain a deeper sense of a
discipline as a special “culture” shaped by specific ways of seeing and interpreting the world.
They begin to grasp the subtle, interpersonal, and unwritten knowledge that members in a
community of practice use (often unconsciously) on a daily basis. “Learning becomes as
much social as cognitive, as much concrete as abstract, and becomes intertwined with
judgment and exploration,”1
just as it is in an actual workplace.