Breakthroughs in science and technology are often not found in additional FACTS but in fundamental changes in the pattern or structure of how we think about them. Getting the most out of learning in this environment mans enabling the fundamental change in the construction of understanding on the part of the student.

FUNDAMENTAL rather than INCREMENTAL change.

1. Requires trial and error for the new construction of knowledge.
2. In most learning we add new CONTENT to old structures. Mastery of new content relies on having structures, which are already understood. In the case of fundamental new learning, we must help the student master new STRUCTURES—so we need to rely on, and anchor understanding in familiar CONTENT.
3. Learning process—different learning styles, rates and ways of processing information (constructing understanding) requires variety of learning opportunities, methods and support. EXPLOIT ALL RESOURCES.
4. Grading is feedback and may be a driving goal for some learners. So, grade on the successful CONSTRUCTION of understanding as well as on the amount of technology functionally mastered. (Contrary to this instructor’s initial beliefs and wishes, students in curricula which is graded in this manner tend to learn more and be more creative than in a non-graded curriculum.)
   Grading scheme was structured as follows:

• A: original problem, original data, and original structuring, high functionality.
• B: Customized problem, original data, standardized structuring, medium functionality.
• C: Standardized problem, data, and structure and prescribed functionality.

Rationale for emphasis on the transformational nature of the course in computer fundamentals was the quantitative learning requirement. Computers are not just calculators/adding machines. They change the way we can solve problems, they change the way we structure and think about problems. The driving force behind the quantitative reasoning requirement was the application-based perception, structuring and solving of real world problems, and the intent of increasing the structuring and dimensionality of students’ problem solving capabilities.

1. Spreadsheets: linearà matrix (2-D) thinking, and various ordering, as well as built in calculation and formula construction.
2. Database (relational): linearà matrix (2-D)à linked (3-D)à networked (n-D).
3. Procedural programming: Linguisticà formal languages (translating patterns) and linear ordering of commands to composition (2-D dynamics of branching and looping)
4. Problem or application-based approach focused away from selecting the right form of a solution from a "cookbook" of options, and focused on critical thinking using a cybernetic control theory approach:

• In a closed system (assigned problem), constructing the transfer function (structure and formulas or instructions) to turn A (data) into B (answers).
• In an open system (original situation), defining the results desired, selecting relevant data and designing the transfer functions to turn the data into the answer or result desired
• In either situation, critically evaluating the answers obtained in terms of applying them to the real-world problem they were trying to solve or question they were trying to answer.

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