This article discusses an initiative at San Diego State University to develop a one-semester physics course for prospective elementary teachers that uses the same pedagogy and computer-based materials as developed for the NSF-supported Constructing Physics Understanding in a Computer-Supported Learning Environment project (or CPU Project). The course is structured to support a learning environment where students take primary responsibility for developing valid and robust knowledge in physics. Rather than depending on the instructor as the source of knowledge, in the CPU classroom students develop, test and modify their own ideas through experimentation and discussion with their peers. This does not mean there is no organized structure to the classroom. Indeed, there is a carefully designed sequence of activities and a pedagogy that promotes and values extensive intra-group and whole-class discussion. Students also make extensive use of the computer. However, the students' own ideas, supported through experimental evidence, become the standard of authority. In this paper, I will briefly describe the CPU pedagogy, and then focus on the myriad ways that the computer supports learning.