UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGNGrant Wiggins and Jay Mc Tighe
Chapter 2
Understanding Understanding
“Doing something correctly is not, by itself, evidence of understanding”
I would like to start this comment on the text “Understanding by design” referring to the former quotation. We teachers aim for understanding. We are always looking for the students’ understanding and ironically maybe we do not have this concept completely clear. The meaning of understanding is not only “a mental act”, actually, according to the author’s definition, understanding is to make connections and tie our knowledge to something that makes sense of things. It is not only doing in the right way, but also is explaining why it is done or it is not done in a particular way. Therefore, we have to be careful when we see our students “acting in the right way”, probably they do not really understand and it is our job to make sure about this understanding and acting. Understanding is thus not mere knowledge of facts, but knowledge of why and how, laid out in evidence and reasoning.
“Developing the ability to transfer one’s learning is key to a good education”
I think we teachers expect our students to be able to transfer information more easily when we have not really given them the tools to do so. We teachers have to help our students to be able to apply all the knowledge we are providing them and put it into realistic practice. Our students must be able to show evidence of what they know; therefore they are able to wisely and effectively use what they know.
“My goodness, didn’t they teach you that in grade X?”
I think we have thought and maybe said this sentence more than once in our teaching experience. And if our students have not shown what they should have understood, we do have to re teach. Understanding is also a matter of degree, furthered by questions arisen from reflection and discussion.
“What understanding really means for teachers has to do with the ability to think and act flexibly with what someone knows”
Hi, Angie!
ReplyDeleteI liked the part when you mention that the knowledge we wantour students to transform into understanding through transfer must be REALISTIC.
Yes, because how can we ask our students to transfer from their previous knowledge if the topic we are dealing with is to alien for him?
There's no way he can make the connection because the slot that is supposed to be fulfilled with new info, doesn't even exist!
We have to be careful with contents then, and make sure that there's something previous inside their brains to tie it to.
Haven't thought about it...
Thanks you !!
Bye!
Vicky
It's difficult to teach understanding when we are constrained by several factors of different nature that affect our everyday academic lives, not only as teachers but also as students. You, for example, as a primary teacher play an essential role in developing all these metacognitive skills you mention from early stages. Now, the point is how to make this really successful and accessible for other teachers in an effective way. Here I guess the role is shared. One important role is played by the Government, whoever they might be, by means of policies which are meant to determine and design materials such as Progress Maps. However, I think that materials in that sense could be efficiently improved if they are complemented with other type of guidance that gets to invite teachers to reflect creatively; thus, making them /us develop and create materials to encourage from the very first years of primary schooling effective control of knowledge with its’ consequent application in different everyday tasks. Nevertheless, I feel that I contradict one point here, which is that of autonomy. If we intend our students to be self sufficient enough, we should start from ourselves, perhaps not depending on institutions which from time to time seem quite alien to the classroom reality. It’s more than clear that we have problems and responsibilities at home, though we are rather detached from that accountability taken from the very first moment we decided to be a teacher (probably we implies too many people, you understand (did I use the word correctly?)) Of course this point can be approached from several angles. Even though, for me at least, the problem needs to be tackled from two perspectives, material support and commitment as I said in my own post.
ReplyDeletexxx
Claudio
As I reffered to in my blog, knowledge and understanding are two different concepts which are usually confused. And in fact, teachers are usually not aware about the main differences between the 'know' and the 'know how'. Indeed, transferability is a key issue here. Clearly, understanding is making meaning of facts and transferring knowledge to new situations, and this is what we have to teach so that students really 'learn to learn how to learn'and not only teach contents or facts which are very likely to be stored in their short term-memories to be subsequently forgotten. It is 'we' teachers the ones who have to use our raw materials to build the bridge to finally walk forwards and come closer to what students know, how they apply and how they explain why they apply their knowledge in a specific way. It is a 'long winding avenue' in which many accidents might occur.
ReplyDeleteSorry, it is short-term memories.
ReplyDeleteHi Angelina,
ReplyDeleteI entirely agree with you when you mention the idea of "if our students have not shown what they should have understood, we do have to re teach." and it is quite common for us to find ourselves in this situation. But I think the problem is the way we ask our students, the questions we make to check if they've got the right information or "knowledge". If we don't ask the apporpriate questions, or if we don't contextualize it's really difficult for students to focus and show what they know. As you say, it's essential to provide them real tasks which might help them to test and put into practice all they have in their minds.
Good point Angie,
Bye, Scarlette
Hi Angie,
ReplyDeleteIt is a fact that teachers are weak on the issies you have pointed out. First, making sure things are done well, not only once, but several times and at different times. I am convinced that learners' production (not drilling) and creation are the best ways to consolidate effective learning.
I agree with you with the reteaching in terms of consolidating previous knowledge and recycling previous contents.
I also believe we have to provide our students the tools to be independant and autonomous learners who are able to keep stuyding and not giving up when something was not clear. When students realise they forget 'everything' after the test is over, it is time to do something and provide the learning tools they need.
Hi Angie!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that you posted about the fact that is not enough having our students act the right way, but we must also be able to have them put in practice the same contents but in different contexts, in other words, transferability is the key to successful teaching-learning. Now here is the question: do we have the necessary conditions to help our students go into the next step? Factors such as resources, planning and scheduled contents, and the lack of time makes it difficult and even frustrating for us teachers to develop such abilities in our students.
Hi Angie!!
ReplyDeleteWe usually take for granted fundamental things in the pursue to reach our goal (teach all the contents planned for the term, have enough marks, be accurate with the planning, etc). We are leaving aside the application of the language, in other words, what we really should be doing. We are not being able to make our students use what they know because they don´t know how. We haven't tought our students how to use something that they know in different scenarios. Then, it's worth spending a minute or two reflecting on what are we doing that our students have become "bank accounts" but unable to "invest".
I did not know the term 'transfer' till last year when I came across with it in Mrs Abrahams class. Now I feel that I can 'transfer' that 'knowledge' in this class,
ReplyDeletebut before that I didn't think about asking the students to transfer anything.Or if I did, I was not aware of.
Hi dear!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you about “Doing something correctly is not, by itself, evidence of understanding”. We as teachers are used to apply these so strong preconceptions about acting or doing "well", but do we really understand what it means? Not till now, I guess... Transferring seems to be the key to achieve the goal of effective teaching - learning process, at last that's what I understand now, I mean, I ask myself what have I been doing as teacher till now? .... what about you?
what is "doing something correctly"?, how do we know when we do something correctly? now WE (post graduate students) have a notion on what is correct,but what about the rest of the teachers? Do they know?. teaching is not just a matter of one single teacher, it is of the entire society. if we do IT correctly, is it enugh?
ReplyDeleteMy dear Angie...
ReplyDeleteI'm still thinking about what Lorena posted in my blog... Our aim is to make our students apply what they know, ie, transferability; however, what if students are not the problem? What if the problem is teachers? How can we expect our students to transfer if we do not know how to do so? Perhaps we do not practice what we preach. These questions refer to your second point; it really doesn't matter whether teachers and students select the right meaning or use of the words "know" and "understand"... What is important is to know how to achieve the latter by knitting and assembling the former. The real problem seems to be that it is us the ones who cannot "understand", unfortunately, some teachers only "know". Therefore, our students will never achieve understanding or transferability...
Look after urself!
As you mentioned in your comments, teachers ‘ aim has been labeled as the search for students ‘ understanding, ignoring what is the real meaning that it has. This lack of knowledge has brought negative consequences to the teaching and learning process, because students are not able to perceive the usefulness that contents have, and teacher can not achieve the expected learning on them. That’s why it is necessary to revert the view that we have nowadays, practicing the concept of learning by doing instead of regarding student’s mind as simple empty containers that need to be filled up with non applicable information.
ReplyDeleteAngelina
ReplyDeleteI would like to comment on the following quotation: “My goodness, didn’t they teach you that in grade X?”
As teachers, we have to be flexible and effective if we want to success in teaching understanding. Blaming other people is not the key to solve problems. I think that teachers who are really aware of the importance of understanding have to take the first step to change education, no matter the school where they work or how bad the previous teacher have taught students. Considering changes, they do not have to be violent; i.e. there should be a gradual development as many books point out evolution not revolution.