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”
