Teaching: Understanding Level

Introduction

One of the primary goals of all classrooms teaching and learning is the transferability of the behavior learned. Transferability refers to the establishment of relation between the new knowledge and skill with several other knowledge and skills and the extrapolation of the new knowledge and skills to different contexts. However, such transferability is possible if the learned behavior is comprehended or understood. This provides a genuine cause for the case of teaching for understanding. Classrooms which nurture students’ understanding do possess qualities quite distinct from those at the memory level. 

Understanding

Understanding is different from "knowing" When a student knows something, the student can bring it forth upon demand- tell us the knowledge or demonstrate the skill. however when the student understands something he is able to perform such mental activities with the topic as explaining, finding evidence and examples, generalizing, applying, analogizing, and representing a topic in a new way. The students are able to perform all such mental performances when they are able o identify the different elements within a given body of knowledge and the interrelationship between those elements.

Understanding is viewed as having a ‘relational’ meaning by M.L.Bigge. He holds the belief that a topic is said to be understood when one is able to look into the links between the incoming knowledge and the store of experiences one already has . Understanding in this sense is then the ability to recognize the pattern.

According to Howard Gardner, understanding is the capacity to take knowledge, concepts, skills and facts and apply them in new situations where they are appropriate. The student is able to identify the elements of the learned material and their interrelationship in some new situation and thus is able to provide a link between the situation in which he has learned and the new situation that he faces. This second perspective defines understanding as the ability to use and apply the knowledge and this definition is termed as the tool use of the term understanding. 

Assumptions:

          Teaching at Understanding Level assumes that the students are able to understand the new knowledge when it is seen in relation to the previous knowledge held by them. The store of previous knowledge is termed as the apperception mass. The assimilation of the new knowledge with the apperceptive mass provides the base to recognize the pattern, similarity of attributes and generalizations and application of the knowledge in new contexts. In other words understanding develops through a conceptual change in the learner. Students have their own conceptions regarding various content (Y), that need to be improved upon.

Teachers Role 

            Understanding means developing associations and linking the incoming knowledge or information with preexisting knowledge and beliefs anchored in concrete experience. However, the purpose of linking is quite distinct from that during memory level teaching. While at memeory level teaching the new knowledge is linked to past experiences to help the learners retain the material by anchoring the new material to the past knowledge. At understanding level the purpose is to aid the learners to observe the relationship between the new knowledge and the previous knowledge and to recognize the similarity or distinctiveness of attributes between the two cases. Accordingly, the teacher designs the interactive stage of teaching. 

               Teaching at Understanding level has the following characteristic features: 

• The content (Y) of teaching is organized around a limited set of powerful ideas.

• The relational aspect of understanding implies that the teacher should effectively tap on the  students’ prior knowledge.

• Thus the mapping of the previous knowledge is the initial strategy for teaching at understanding level. The teacher initially tries to assess the existing conceptual framework among the learner.The teacher then thinks about strategies that produce change and growth.

• The teaching points are identified and the learning experiences are retrieved in the light of their previous knowledge assessed. They should identify and use them as hook for linking the new knowledge. In absence of any such past experiences in the students conceptual system the teacher may create artificial ones. The created experience will be used by the students as the starting point to develop the conceptual system. 

• The variegated teaching activities includes 

                   a. Demonstrations of the knowledge, 

                   B. Explanations through proper reasons, comparison and contrast with other similar concepts so that explanatory understanding may develop among the students. 

                   C. Using analogies and different contexts to show the application of same concept or knowledge.

                    D. Providing the students with opportunities to relate what they are learning (subject matter) to their lives outside of school.

                   E. The teacher creates a social environment in the classroom that provides opportunity for dialogue and thus promotes understanding. 

 Role of Students 

 Teaching for understanding is the creating of teaching learning experiences in a way that the students are actively engaged in the construction of knowledge or meaning making. The students should therefore be considered not as a passive recipient of knowledge, rather he is to be seen as a human agency who is actively involved in drawing from the encounters with his environment. Thus, the students’ role in teaching for understanding is not just to absorb or copy but to actively make sense and construct meaning. Students are involved in reasoned discourse over the topic enabling them to link the new knowledge with their past knowledge and applying the knowledge to different context. The students are further demanded to unpack or demonstrate their understanding through the different mental processes characteristic of understanding such as explanations, evidences, comparisons and application. 

 Environment 

 The classroom environment in Teachiung for Understanding is quite different from that of teaching at the memeory level. Teachiung for Understanding then is developing the capacity of the students to compare and contrast the learned concept with several other concepts as well as to apply the learned concept in new contexts. The teacher then has to provide the ideal encouraging environment. The students are as active as the teachers since they are involved in the construction of meaning. Consequently, there is a democratic environment with the teacher as a group leader leading the students in the right direction towards meaning construction. the teacher provides a creative and encouraging environment wherein the students feel free and motivated to engage themselves in logical and reasoned discourse with the teachers.