JJC bricoleurs rely relatively little on lectures as a learning activity. Instead, they encourage active participation, design hands-on experiments, ask challenging questions, and give students time to wrestle with ambiguity. The students responded clearly to these activities. The JJC students we interviewed talked explicitly and animatedly about the fun they had in labs, the way they were able to apply concepts learned in class to experiences they had outside it, and the value of student-to-student teaching. They clearly conveyed excitement about their learning. It seems to us is that these students experienced a transformation both in the way they learn and in themselves--their physics course clearly left them more curious, self-confident, and resilient learners.

Likewise, the JJC bricoleurs who teach these students reaped benefits. Seeing student performances improve, they felt that their efforts to teach were rewarded. Instead of spending hours preparing a lecture only to realize that the students "don't have a clue" what's going on, they saw in student engagement and heard from student comments that they "get it." In addition, when these faculty networked with colleagues on campus or across the nation, they found energy to continue trying new strategies, in addition to finding information and support. Finally, the faculty gained intellectual stimulation when they adapted technology to meet the learning goals they have for their students. We must point out, however, that these benefits were earned through hard work, commitment, and willingness to take risks.

In sum, the transformation of science courses at JJC has provided meaningful and exciting learning experiences for students and faculty alike, as well as impressive student outcomes. This transformation depends on the JJC faculty's synergistic use of second-generation software tools that foster a predict-observe-explain¹ learning process, and computer-independent formative assessment and group work/guided discussion activities that encourage students to struggle with new concepts and to participate and teach one another.