Read more
Most educators agree that students need to acquire and use knowledge in ways that go beyond the rote memorization of facts and figures--to develop a level of understanding that will serve them well throughout their lives. Unfortunately, traditional teaching approaches fall short of achieving this goal. This book presents an innovative approach to teaching that develops understanding. Based on a six-year collaborative research project of school teachers and researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the book describes what teaching for understanding looks like in the classroom, and examines how teachers have learned to design and enact such practices.
At the heart of the book is a framework that transforms traditional teaching by providing clear and coherent guidance on choosing curriculum topics, defining explicit goals, designing learning activities, fostering student understanding, and assessing students? performance. Most important, it offers a model to support the ongoing learning of teachers and students.
Written by a diverse group of researchers and teachers, this important resource will convince all who care about schooling that understanding is education?s worthiest goal.
List of contents
Part One: Foundations of Teaching for Understanding.
1. Why Do We Need a Pedagogy of Understanding?(Vito Perrone).
2. What is Understanding?(David Perkins).
Part Two: Teaching for Understanding in the Classroom.
3. What is Teaching for Understanding?(Martha Stone Wiske).
4. How Do Teachers Learn to Teach for Understanding?(Martha Stone Wiske, Karen Hammerness, Daniel Gray Wilson).
5. How Does Teaching for Understanding Look in Practice?(Ron Ritchart, Martha Stone Wiske, Eric Buchovecky, Lois Hetland).
Part Three: Students' Understanding in the Classroom.
6. What Are the Qualities of Understanding?(Veronica Boix Mansilla, Howard Gardner).
7. How Do Students Demonstrate Understanding?(Lois Hetland, Karen Hammerness, Chris Unger, Daniel Gray Wilson).
8. What Do Students in Teaching for Understanding Classrooms Understand?(Karen Hammerness, Rosario Jaramillo, Chris Unger, Daniel Gray Wilson).
9. What Do Students Think About Understanding?(Chris Unger and Daniel Gray Wilson with Rosario Jaramillo and Roger Dempsey).
Part Four: Promoting Teaching for Understanding.
10. How Can We Prepare New Teachers?(Vito Perrone).
11. How Can Teaching for Understanding Be Extended in Schools?(Martha Stone Wiske, Lois Hetland, Eric Buchovecky).
Conclusion: Melding Progressive and Traditional Perspectives(Howard Gardner).
About the author
MARTHA STONE WISKE is a lecturer and researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she co-directs the Educational Techonology Center. She is the coeditor of Software Goes to School: Teaching for Understanding with New Technologies (1995).
Summary
This book presents an innovative approach to teaching that helps students acquire and use knowledge in ways that go beyond rote memorization of facts and figures----to develop a level of understanding that will serve them well throughout their lives.
