Teaching for Understanding Across the Primary Curriculum - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853595969 ISBN 13: 9781853595967

Publisher: Multilingual Matters, 2002

Synopsis

The book discusses the complex nature of understanding and what it means to teach for understanding. The processes and strategies that can support teaching for understanding are then exemplified in the context of different areas of the primary / elementary (4-11 years) school curriculum.

About this title

About the Author

Lynn Newton taught for many years in the North East of England, initially as a primary teacher and then as an advisory teacher for primary science. She moved to Newcastle University in 1987, where she was Director of the Primary PGCE programme. She is now Director of Primary Programmes at Durham University and the tutor in charge of primary science. Her most recent publications are Co-ordinating Science Across the Primary School (Falmer, 1998) and Meeting the Standards in Primary Science (Routledge-Falmer, 2000).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Teaching for Understanding Across the Primary Curriculum

By Lynn Newton

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2002 Lynn Newton and the authors of individual chapters
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-85359-596-7

Contents

Editorial, 1, 
Douglas P. Newton: Helping Children to Understand, 3, 
Sue Beverton: Whatever Happened to Primary English Knowledge and Understanding?, 12, 
Andrew Davis: Teaching for Understanding in Primary Mathematics, 20, 
Lynn D. Newton: Teaching for Understanding in Primary Science, 27, 
Anthony Blake: Developing Young Children's Understanding: An Example from Earth Science, 38, 
Steve Higgins: ICT and Teaching for Understanding, 48, 
John Halocha: Teaching for Understanding in Primary Geography, 56, 
Lynn D. Newton: Encouraging Historical Understanding in the Primary Classroom, 66, 
Peter Millward and Anthony Parton: Expression in the Visual Arts, 73, 
Eve English: Teaching for Understanding: Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, 81, 
Notes on Contributors, 89, 

CHAPTER 1

Helping Children to Understand

Douglas P. Newton

University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Department of Education, St. Thomas' Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK

The nature of understanding and why it is of value is discussed. While understanding cannot be transmitted, a teacher can press for it and support it. Ways of doing this are described in broad terms. Some tendencies and obstacles to teaching for understanding are outlined.

Understanding

Understanding is both a mental process and a mental product. Bartlett (1932) described the process of understanding as a mental attempt to connect something that is given with something other than itself. More recently, Nickerson (1985) has described it as 'the weaving of bits of knowledge into a coherent whole'. The ability to notice patterns, connections, correlations and relationships is probably innate (Caine & Caine, 1994). It can order the world and make it more predictable – a distinct advantage when it comes to survival – but this does not mean that we always use the ability successfully.

Perkins (1986) has pointed out that we understand for a purpose in school and the product of understanding is a knowledge of the structure of the topic, the structure's purpose, and why it serves that purpose. The product is different in different subjects and there can be various kinds of understanding in any one subject. For example, in mathematics, there can be an understanding of patterns, concepts, notations, procedures, equivalences and relationships amongst numbers. In English, there is the understanding of narrative, the relationships between characters, and the structure of the plot. In science, there can be understandings of concepts, procedures, states and events. History, too, has its understanding of events, but this is not like that of science because the nature of causation is different (Evans, 1997). Understanding as inferred relationships and mental structure, however, may not be everything. Reid (1986) has complained of an assumed dualism in understanding in which cognition counts and feelings do not. Music, for instance, has been described as a metaphorical description of a situation but, as Serafine (1986) has pointed out, 'it is not clear what people are knowing or mentally doing when they engage in the business of music'. Nevertheless, she defined music as the product of a search for relationships between tonal-rhythmic events and the identification of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic patterns; but any mental structures could be very different to those derived from words. Similarly, fine art has been described as 'a form of cognitive expression which communicates ideas, feelings and emotions'(Seefeldt, 1995). For Thomas (1991), works of art have significance rather than meaning and some prefer 'insight' to 'understanding' (Hirsch, 1967). Taken together, this makes a wide family of mental products we call understanding (Wittgentstein, 1958).

So far, understanding has been discussed as a mental particular; but another way of looking at it is in terms of what it does (Fodor, 1998). Instead of asking about what is represented in the mind, Perkins (1994) has also described understanding as 'the ability to think and act flexibly with what one knows'. This side-steps the question of what enables a mental flexibility and points to an attribute generated by understanding. Hence, a mental configuration which bestows this attribute is understanding. Nevertheless, knowing something of the mental configuration may guide teaching.

All understandings are personal but, in some subjects, certain understandings are favoured. For instance, the understandings taught in science are endorsed by the community of scientists and the teacher is often required to target them. In other subjects, understanding can amount to making connections of a unique, personal significance, as when reading some kinds of poetry. A teacher's role is to foster the construction of understandings and have children reflect upon them. In all contexts, understanding has an emergent quality. Zazkis (1998) writes that, 'to understand something better means to assimilate it in a richer and more abstract schema'. More than that, understanding may expand and change over time as it is extended or re-organised.

Why Understand?

Why concern ourselves with understanding? Repetition is an effective way of committing information to memory. It may be tedious but it can be quicker and easier than achieving an understanding. Why not memorise what we need to know?

Some events, like fastening shoe laces, are essentially the same every time we meet them. Memorising how to deal with them is generally adequate. But each day is never an exact re-run of the previous day. Understanding confers flexibility in thought and action so it can help us respond appropriately to novel events. Consequently, it imparts feelings of competence and confidence. It enables us to think for ourselves, make reasoned choices, evaluate ideas and avoid exploitation (Halford, 1993; Johnson-Laird, 1985; Meijer, 1991). But this is not all. The historian, Henry Adams, said, 'I don't give a damn what happened, what I want to know is why it happened' (Miller, 1996). People like Adams seek an understanding of situations that may have little immediate or practical consequence. The process is a creative one that offers some intrinsic satisfaction. In practice, understanding may satisfy several personal needs at one and the same time. It is a powerful and satisfying way of knowing.

Understanding can also facilitate further learning. For example, Hiebert and Wearne (1996) studied children's learning in mathematics as they moved through grades 1 to 4 (6 to 9 years). In the children's earlier years, teaching was centred on understanding place value, addition and subtraction. The children were not taught algorithms but had to develop their own procedures and explain them to others. Hiebert and Wearne found that this understanding helped the children make sense of later instruction. There was increased retention, greater competence and more rapid progress. This is not to say that those who understood always gave more correct answers in tests: correct answers can often be obtained without understanding. The gains were in the speed of learning new procedures, in answering novel questions and in retaining new material. Given that understanding is a good thing but is in the hands of the learner, can it be fostered?

Pressing for an Understanding

To press for understanding is to require children to deploy their mental resources in a positive attempt to construct a relevant understanding. Consider a mathematics lesson in which the teacher sets a problem for the children to solve. She moves from group to group and monitors progress, helping where she feels it appropriate. She is not satisfied with unsupported descriptions of procedures but persistently asks for explanations, justification, elaboration and reasons (Kazemi, 1998). When the children's mental resources are insufficient for the occasion, a teacher who presses for understanding may attempt to improve those resources and support the child's mental processes.

Teachers with very different ways of working can press for understanding. Garnett and Tobin (1988) describe the lessons of two Australian teachers. One tended to use whole class teaching, identifying prerequisite knowledge and skills, providing logical frameworks and clear explanations and linking new knowledge to old knowledge. The relevance of the work was made explicit and his questions demanded more than recall. The other used a lot of independent work, the learners had a significant amount of responsibility for their own progress and the teacher was more like a facilitator. The students tended to support one another while the teacher ensured that learning was appropriate. Yet, in different ways, both teachers pressed for understanding as both had it as a prime goal and were single-minded about reaching that goal. What is it that makes a press for understanding?

A press for understanding is not tied to a particular teaching strategy. It arises more from the concerns, inclinations and expectations of a teacher and can be present in a variety of ways of working. Applied to children, a press for understanding is likely to be accompanied by support for the thinking processes that construct understanding and some provision that motivates the children to engage those processes.

Explaining, direct experience and problem solving

Since understandings cannot be transmitted, merely telling children the relationships in some topic seems unlikely to provide much of a press for understanding. Nevertheless, explaining can work, particularly when attention is given to its form and content. For instance, a conceptual model such as an analogy or an example can highlight what is important and make connections easier to notice (Mayer, 1989). Beck et al. (1991) illustrate how explanations can be improved by giving attention to background knowledge, providing information to activate an appropriate context, clarifying connections between events, and avoiding ambiguous or distant references and an unduly high density of concepts. Children, however, might listen to these explanations but not attend to the parts that matter and fail to establish relevant relationships. Explanations only stand a chance if a child engages with them in appropriate ways. Direct experience of what is to be learned, as in some forms of practical activity in science, is often assumed to be good for understanding simply because it is direct but it is similarly constrained. In practice, the outcome depends crucially on children's prior knowledge. Even when that is adequate, it does not guarantee a worthwhile outcome (Asoko, 1996; Cavalcante et al., 1997). Problem solving is also commonly assumed to be good for understanding. In practice, it may fail because children may choose to work backwards from the goal. This can be effective in solving the problem but may not greatly enhance understanding (Sweller, 1994). Such strategies often lack a press for understanding and support for its processes.

Questioning to press and support understanding

The learning context may neither press nor support understanding so children's thinking may go nowhere or anywhere. There will be times when their mental engagement could benefit from orientation and direction. At the same time, the teacher may need to monitor the child's thinking. Questioning can do both and, in doing so, provide a press for understanding. Some kinds of question are better at this than others (Newton & Newton, 2000). When questions are directed towards relationships, causes and effects, and reasons, they encourage the integration of ideas and related facts into the coherent wholes we call understanding (Newton, 2000; Seretny & Dean, 1986; Sundbye, 1987). For instance, asking learners for an explanation in their own words is known to enhance understanding, presumably because it obliges them to make the mental connections needed to construct a response (Chi et al., 1994). Amore focused example is when asking for a forced prediction. A forced prediction requires a learner to predict subsequent states (Newton, 1994). A simple example would be: In the series of numbers 2, 5, 11, 23; what would be next? A task like this usually requires a fairly detailed mental processing of the relationships in the information (Harlen, 1985; McNay, 1993 and see Newton, L.D., this issue: pp. 143–153, 182–188).

Such questions can focus attention on what matters and increase the likelihood that a relationship will be constructed. These questions are also asked in the expectation that the child will construct an answer. To the extent that the expectation is fulfilled, questions press for understanding, direct it and support it, and give the teacher some insight into the child's thinking which can guide further questioning. Oral interaction of this kind can respond to a child's thinking immediately and re-direct it as needed. This immediacy makes for a persistent press.

Of course, the teacher does not have to ask the questions. Critical Squares is a game-like activity that directs thought towards producing an understanding (Tishman & Andrade, 1997). For example, one activity comprises tasks arranged in a Noughts and Crosses grid. In the 'Whyzit' game (the Whyzit being, for example, the topic of Civilisation), one task is, 'All players: Brainstorm at least four ways to change the Whyzit (Civilisation) to make it better ...' The sequence of games is intended to mobilise prior knowledge and direct attention to what matters on the way to an understanding. In the process, it presses for understanding. The games are intended to induce particular kinds of thinking in the learner in an ordered way so they progress from orientation to constructing understandings in a topic. While it takes some of the demand off the teacher, it cannot respond to an individual's particular thinking needs.

Beyond the Press

While we may press and support children's thinking, we would probably prefer that they worked at it themselves. Can we teach them what they need to do to understand? At one level, probably not. As Smith (1992) says, 'No-one has to learn to think' as it is probably an intrinsic property of the structure of the brain. But, while most children have the necessary hardware, not all construct an understanding successfully. It could help, of course, if children recognise those occasions when they do not understand. Very young children may not be aware of their thinking or use self-help strategies intentionally or consciously. Young learners can regulate their learning after about four years of age but they need support to do it (Pressley & Ghatala, 1990). When asked if they understand, children may say yes but that should not be taken at face value (Barnett & Hixon, 1997). By 10 years of age, however, there seems to be a fairly shrewd idea of what constitutes understanding in others. For instance, children are more likely to select someone who says that the lesson 'hangs together' than someone who says it was 'enjoyable' (Newton & Newton, 1998). Given these constraints, a teacher may try to inculcate ways of thinking that will be deployed unconsciously.

While 'the equipment, ability, and general predisposition to think may be innate ... specific ways in which we make sense of the world are learned' (Meyers, 1986). For instance, what counts as causal understanding in science is not the same as in history. Saying that the Spanish Armada sank because the ships were too heavy for their size would not attract praise in history, just as in science the response that the ships were in unknown waters in a storm would not be accepted. What counts has to be learned because understanding is context dependent.

A carefully structured press for understanding could help children acquire potentially productive habits of thought. It may also be possible to teach certain aids to thinking. For example, constructing a graphic organiser – a scaffold in the form of a story map, picture, diagram or chart – can guide thought (Adger et al., 1995; Roth, 1990). At times, the teacher might model thinking towards an understanding by asking and answering questions herself. In modelling the recall of prior knowledge, she might ask, 'What do I already know about ...?' 'Where have I seen this kind of thing before?' She might continue, 'Now I have to explain why ... so I need to find out about ...' She might end, 'Have I explained why?' In due course, she might become more reticent and expect the children to think towards understandings themselves. A press for understanding also shows children that it is a valued product. The products let them know what counts in a given subject. With older children, knowledge of the attributes of what counts could be made conscious through discussion.

We should not, however, assume that every child is willing to make the mental effort to understand. Motivation is also important. Eccles and Wigfield (Wigfield, 1994) consider that learners' perceptions of the value of the task and their expectation of success are the primary determinants of learning behaviour. To have value, the task must offer something the learner desires, wants, needs, believes to be important or sees as worthwhile. This could be a longer break, a gold star or praise but it could also be the instrinsic interest and perceived relevance that the task offers. Relevance is not something that is necessarily apparent to young children and it may help if it is made explicit. Practical utility is what might come to mind first but care is needed as not all that is considered worthwhile can be justified on such grounds. Learners are also more likely to engage in a task if they feel that they have some control over it (Deci et al., 1991). Thismaybe achieved by allowing some flexibility in what is done and how it is done. The expectation of success can be coloured by prior experience and, in particular, how the learner attributes past success and failure. If the cause of failure is felt to be outside the learner's control, motivation is likely to be low. Goals should be clear, specific and achievable. Modelling what is expected may help and effort should be rewarded as that is in the learner's control. Tests of learning need to give some reason for maintaining a positive expectation (Newton, 2000). Pintrich and De Groot (1990) add emotion to value and expectation. The risk of shame or humiliation can result in task avoidance (Ingleton, 1995). The difficulty with anxieties of this sort is that they are complex, but learning needs to be managed to minimise the risk of such feelings. In effect, the intention is to develop children's mental resources so that they are able to engage successfully and willingly in the construction of understanding (Bailin, 1998).

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Teaching for Understanding Across the Primary Curriculum by Lynn Newton. Copyright © 2002 Lynn Newton and the authors of individual chapters. Excerpted by permission of Multilingual Matters.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853595969
• ISBN 13: 9781853595967
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96
• Editor: Newton Lynn D.