THE CORE PART 3
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ETAP623 : THE CORE, PART 3 This page last changed on Jan 23, 2008 by wikiadm1.
Unit 3.3 - Understanding Performances. Understanding performances are those performances that, quite simply, show that a student understands and topic and also helps promote further understanding of said topic. These performances usually consist of some sort of action - explaining, generalizing, applying, and so on may all be considered understanding performances, as long as in doing these actions, they help students move forward in their education. Be advised that "many performances are too routine to be understanding performances - true-and-false quizzes, standard arithmetic exercises, and so on." (Perkins and Blythe, 1994, p. 6) The acts that you have your students do to show understanding must, by definition, be those that help the students build their understanding, and allow this understanding to grow to new levels. (Please note that just because some acts are not performances of understanding, you shouldn't entirely neglect using them. They have their place in education, but they must be used in the appropriate context, i.e. one that is not intended to provide for understanding at that moment in time.) Eliciting Performances of Understanding. There are three aspects of thinking in what Newton refers to as "pressing for understanding". Pressing for understanding (which is essentially what teachers do to elicit performances of understanding from pupils) involves the analytical, creative, and practical aspects of thinking. (2000, p. 46) Newton lists some examples of these aspects. They are organized in the following table:
(Newton, 2000, p. 46) Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, and while not all activities intended to promote understanding will use all of these actions, excellent examples of those that do intend to promote understanding will use at least some of the actions from each of the categories. An example of such an activity is provided by Newton, in relation to learning about public services. "In learning about public services, a primary school child might acquire the concept, design a public service, describe its purpose and why it will achieve its purpose, and relate it to other public services." (2000, p. 46) In this example, the students not only gained knowledge about something, but they also used that knowledge (practical) in order to design something relating to the topic to be understood (creative), and they described and explained why their creation works and related it to other models (analytical). Employing these actions in lessons will help students make connections by engaging them in ways that promote higher levels of thinking and deeper understanding. Activity for Unit 3.3. Take your lesson plan that you were working on in the previous activity. Look at your understanding goals and think of an activity that your class can do that will press for understanding using as many of the three aspects of thinking listed above. Make sure to take your time and not to worry if you can't fit all three aspects in the activity at once. If you can't do this right away (and most people won't be able to), keep trying. Ask colleagues for ideas. Revise your lesson plan as many times as it takes in order for you to feel confident that students will come to understand the topic. Reflection. How did making sure to use a generative topic help you to find activities that will promote understanding? Why do you think that employing all three aspects of thinking helps promote understanding? Compare your earlier thoughts to your current thoughts on the best methods to teach for understanding. Note. Randy DeVett has created a wonderful companion mini-course to this one. In her course, she has added an excellent example of a lesson plan designed to teach for understanding. You can check it out on the webpage found at Culminating Activity. Please move on to the next portion of the unit using the link below: |
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| Document generated by Confluence on Aug 31, 2008 15:05 |
