● Being able to explain: systematically and reasonably explain phenomena, facts and data through induction or reasoning; Insight into the connection between things and provide examples.
Students can not only understand the facts themselves, but also explain what they have learned and give reasonable reasons to support their explanations, or infer the reasons and processes of the facts with concrete evidence and logic. Questions such as "why" and "how" can be designed to evaluate students' understanding.
● Can clarify: tell a story with depth; Provide appropriate conversion; Reveal the significance of opinions and events from a historical or personal perspective; Understand through pictures, anecdotes, analogies and models.
Meaning can be transformed into understanding, and the object of clarification is meaning, not just a specious explanation. Communicate ideas through powerful stories rather than abstract theories.
There are connections and differences between explanation and clarification, and the theory is universally applicable. Clarification depends on specific conditions. The inherent uncertainty of specific topics, data and experience requires the cultivation of clarification ability, which is not only needed by teachers, but also by students. If students want to find meaning in knowledge, they must master the first-hand information of the process of knowledge creation and refining.
● Applicability: Effectively use and adjust what we have learned in various real situations.
"I feel very shallow on paper and don't know how to do it." Understanding is the ability to apply knowledge, and "application" is different from knowing and simply understanding: first, students don't need specific knowledge tips; Second, the problem is not a cliche.
Understanding needs to match our thoughts, knowledge and actions with specific situations. If students understand it, they will know how to do it in concrete and real problem situations, and can successfully complete tasks calmly and tactfully under pressure.
Fill in the blanks, short answers and oral questions and answers in class can provide clues for students' understanding, but usually more in-depth tests are needed, or new questions, open dialogue and careful observation can determine the level of understanding.
Piaget's view is more radical: a real understanding of a concept or theory means that students recreate it. In his view, the applied problems in the field of mathematics are not really new problems, and can not fully show the degree of understanding. Applying innovation and naturally using knowledge to re-create are the standards to test true understanding.
● Insight: look at and listen to opinions critically; Seeing things has a certain breadth and depth, and we can look at problems from a global perspective.
From this perspective, understanding is to look at things with a calm and indifferent attitude and try to ask some questions: Who put forward this view? What are the advantages of this practice? What are the assumptions or default conditions to achieve this effect? What are the conditions to guarantee it? Is the evidence sufficient and reasonable? Are these views credible? What are the limitations? How can we improve its limitations? What would you think of this matter from another angle?
Insightful students can think critically, and they will be able to reveal all kinds of plausible and untested assumptions or conclusions. Insight is a mature thinking, which requires the ability to look at things from different angles.
● Enthusiasm (empathy): You can find value from what others think is weird, strange or incredible; A keen perception based on previous direct experience.
This is the ability to put yourself in others' shoes and get rid of personal reactions to get others' reactions. When we try to understand a person, a nation and a culture, we should try our best to be absorbed-feel the feelings of others and see what others see.
Insight is cold, things are interpreted by onlookers, and transposition makes people feel warm.
This ability allows us to transcend those seemingly strange, different or incredible views or people and experience something meaningful. Sometimes our habitual thinking will hinder us from understanding other people's viewpoints, so we need to put deep thinking into our learning experience in order to better understand abstract concepts. When evaluating students, we must pay more attention to whether students are self-centered, selfish and present-oriented when answering and explaining questions.
● Self-knowledge: having metacognitive awareness and ability; Detect factors that promote or hinder understanding, such as personal style, prejudice, psychological projection, thinking habits, etc. Realize that there are some things you don't understand; Reflect on the significance of learning and experience.
What are the limitations of my understanding? What are my shortcomings or blind spots? What prejudices, habits or experiences do I have that will make me misunderstand? We know the whole world by knowing ourselves.
A person's ability of accurate self-evaluation and self-adjustment reflects his understanding; Metacognition refers to how and why we think, and also designs the relationship between our adaptive learning style and understanding (or inability to understand).
These six dimensions show the ability of transfer, embody the different connotations of understanding, and become indicators to judge whether you really understand. In the three-stage thinking of reverse design, the infiltration of the above six dimensions can help us understand the required understanding, the necessary evaluation tasks and the learning activities that are most likely to promote students' understanding.
If understanding is the goal, then our teaching design must make specific knowledge and skills meaningful in solving problems, and help students realize that what they have to do is not only to accept what they have been "instilled", but also to actively "reveal" what is hidden behind the facts and think about their meaning. This is also the idea of constructivism: knowledge cannot be acquired by teachers, but can only be constructed by learners themselves through clever design and effective guidance.