UWA SPOT/SET Project

161)          I have generally understood the material presented

The process of understanding can be influenced by a number of factors, both internal and external to the learner. External factors include the kind of material presented, how it is organised and the method of presentation.

• Hounsell (1997) discusses some of the challenges in teaching for understanding and provides suggestion to meet the challenges. In his view, “when something has been genuinely understood, it has been related by students to their prior knowledge and experience and it is perceived as helping them to make sense of the world around them” (p. 238).
• Section 13 of the “Berkeley Compendium” (Davis, Wood, & Wilson, 1983) lists 21 strategies that can help to check student understanding.
• In the chapter “Learning, understanding and learning,” Donald (2002, pp. 271-299) compares learning, thinking and instruction processes in a number of disciplines.  

 

Davis, B. G., Wood, L., & Wilson, R. C. (1983). A Berkeley compendium of suggestions for teaching with excellence, Section 13: Knowing if the class is understanding you [World Wide Web]. The University of California. Retrieved 20 October, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/sectionlists/sect13.html

Donald, J. G. (2002). Learning to think: Disciplinary perspectives. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Hounsell, D. (1997). Understanding teaching and teaching for understanding. In F. Marton & D. Hounsell & N. Entwistle (Eds.), The experience of learning (2nd ed., pp. 238-257). Edinburgh, UK: Scottish Academic Press.