This study examined how the teacher's role is dependent on what they know and how what they know is affected by how they learn, focusing on the acquisition of knowledge regarding educational technology by student teachers and their mentors. The study emphasized three types of educational technology knowledge: content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. Participants were three experienced middle school classroom teachers and their three student teachers. They worked in a school that had reasonable amounts of technological equipment. Data sources included field notes from classroom observations and teacher conversations and transcripts from semi-structured interviews. Data analysis indicated that while university coursework was useful for acquiring content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge were more readily acquired within the teaching context. Student teachers brought with them current content knowledge of technology. Mentor teachers served as pedagogical guides in the process of acquiring educational technology pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge. Lack of time and difficulty with classroom management were obstacles to acquiring educational technology knowledge. (Contains 41 references.) (SM)