EssayService Essay Writer Phil Collins on What Does Understanding Mean in Education
What is understanding in education, and what does it look like? Phil Collins from EssayService shares a definitive guide with [cultbox.co.uk] readers to answer these questions!
According to many experts, understanding is one of the most fundamental concepts in education. For decades, the primary mission of every educator was not to make students take the studied material for granted and memorize it but to help them understand why and how things work. Nevertheless, evidence is good that the biggest part of students still lack a deep understanding of the fundamental concepts they’ve studied, even after many years of formal education.
Needless to say, without sufficient understanding, students can’t truly acquire the knowledge we are giving to them. To help them succeed academically and in life, we have to help them acquire it. The only question is – what exactly understanding looks like in students? In this article, an expert online essay writer from a trusted essay writing service will break it down for us and help us see what understanding really means.
What Does “Understanding” Really Mean?
According to experienced essay writers and many industry experts, the lack of understanding is the primary thing that holds students back from success. While it’s quite easy to read a rule/idea/concept and memorize it or mimic a shown solution and apply it to a similar problem, developing an in-depth understanding is much harder. Not being able to do this, students start struggling and feel frustrated when they face a problem different from the one broken down in a textbook. As a result, they begin seeking where to buy essay online, tutorship or start underperforming. And the only thing that can help them overcome the challenge is to gain that understanding.
So, what is understanding in the first place? In its basic terms, “understanding” is a process of developing awareness of the relationship between things, events, concepts, ideas, and their meaning, background, consequences, and inner processes. In learning, this concept is also called “grasping” or “comprehending.”
What Does Understanding Look Like?
Answering this question is somewhat harder. For decades, assessing students’ understanding was among the most complicated tasks facing educators and academic institutions. The problem is that understanding can look different in different people. Respectively, there is no one-size-fits-all metric to use to assess it. However, there is a tool that can help.
The expert from a professional essay writer service advises educators to adopt the methods presented in “Understanding by Design,” the book by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. This book offers a flexible educational planning approach that strives to help students develop a deeper understanding of the studied concepts. In particular, the book explains the “6 facets of understanding” that clearly explain what understanding should look like in students.
Let’s quickly go over these facets to see what understanding looks like:
1. Explanation
First, when students understand a particular concept, they must be able to explain and justify it. This facet ensures that students don’t just give out a solution or answer but actually know why it’s the right one.
2. Interpretation
The second sign of good understanding is the ability to interpret the given concept or idea. Students should be able not only to give a textbook definition but actually interpret the concept using their own words, examples, arguments, etc.
3. Application
The next facet is the ability to apply the studied concept in real contexts. For example, if students have just studied a new math axiom, they should be able to apply it to solve a new problem.
4. Perspective
To develop a true understanding of something, students need to have a perspective on it. Simply put, they should be able to see the significance of the idea, be aware of different points of view, and be able to analyze varying points of view critically.
5. Empathy
This facet stands for students’ ability to walk in others’ shoes and find value in what others do, think, and say. To develop this ability, you need to teach students how to look at ideas and concepts from different viewpoints, without judgment, and embrace the diversity of thought.
6. Self-Knowledge
Finally, the last facet of understanding is self-knowledge. In simple terms, this is a student’s ability to recognize one’s own prejudices, as well as the things that one doesn’t know yet. And it also stands for the ability to recognize the value and importance of what is being studied.
According to a professional essay writer, this system of facets works great for assessing students’ understanding and guiding the curriculum to develop a better understanding. So be sure to adopt it too!
The Bottom Line
According to numerous surveys and studies, students do lack understanding of the things they study in schools and colleges. And as was mentioned earlier, this has a negative impact on their academic, professional, and personal achievements. Luckily, thanks to this guide by an expert from a reliable essay writing service, you now have the power to change this.
Now you know what understanding means and how to assess it in your students. Use this article as a guide to help your students achieve more!