Understanding Understanding

I found the topic of “knowledge” and “understanding” very interesting and crucial to design and assessment. The ideas of knowledge and understanding made a lot of sense when I thought about it. I use to think understanding was the act of knowing but learned that it is not just knowing but knowing why and how this knowledge can be applied in a different situation to fully demonstrate transfer and that optimal learning has occurred. I think of the idea of transfer when planning lessons. Students are expected to learn a skill and apply it to the next progression demonstrating that they have learned the previous skill. For instance, if I’m teaching a child the steps to safely perform a forward roll, the steps are fresh in their mind at the time of the introductory practice. Once the unit progresses and they learn backward rolls and cartwheels, they then are asked to put them together as a sequence or routine. If the steps to the forward roll are forgotten or the idea of arm support previously learned in forward rolls did not transfer to backward rolls, transfer did not occur. This means that the child might know how to perform the skill, but did not truly learn or “understand” it enough to transfer that concept of arm support to a backward roll or forward roll in a sequence of skills naturally. I find that to help children reach transfer and “understanding”, they need to know why a skill should be performed that way. They need to see why that is the better way and know the reason why the other way is wrong. In addition, they seem to be very interested when concepts are applied to other things. It then becomes more relevant and meaningful. When an individual can attach a piece of information to a reason or learn it in a certain context, it can be more easily retained and the context and real life situation it is useful for can be recalled and applied. The “misunderstanding” concept was also an important concept. It is not just a mistake to be corrected. Misunderstanding is an unsuccessful transfer of information to be rewarded without reinforcing the same mistake or discouraging future participation. It reminds me of s student’s ability to ask questions. A student may be confused about something but if they can develop a logical and practical question relevant to the topic, they at least partially grasp the idea. It show’s if nothing else, at least their paying attention!