Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice (Jossey Bass Education Series) [Hardcover]

Martha Stone Wiske (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787910023 | ISBN-13: 978-0787910020 | Publication Date: October 15, 1997 | Edition: 1st

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. 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 use it.

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 ExtAnded in Schools?

Martha Stone Wiske, Lois Hetland, Eric Buchovecky

Conclusion: Melding Progressive and Traditional Perspectives

Howard Gardner

Martha Stone Wiske is a lecturer and researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she co-directs the Educational Techono

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is equal parts theory and practice. It is a superb example of what educators in universities and schools can accomplish when they engage in sincere efforts to benefit students." --Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

"A remarkable work, conceptually bold and practical. It makes the best of contemporary practices seem eminently reasonable, while also offering a framework for making teaching for understanding accessible to our teachers." --Deborah Meier, author of The Power of Their Ideas and founder, Central Park East Public Schools, East Harlem, New York

"At last, a new volume from a team of scholars at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and Project Zero that takes teaching, learning, and understanding, as both theory and practice. My congratulations to Howard Gardner, David Perkins, and Vito Perrone for a project well-conceived and well-conducted, and to Stone Wiske for a useful, educator-friendly book." --Lee S. Shulman, president, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

"As the authors acknowledge, teaching for understanding is an old idea and a simple one. But their lucid and thorough exploration of it is fresh and richly generative--and compelling too, in a way reserved for ideas that seem as practical as they are provocative. A whole range of people who care about teaching will be drawn to this book, and they will be well served." --Joe McDonald, director of research, Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University

From the Inside Flap

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (October 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787910023
• ISBN-13: 978-0787910020
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A new way of teaching, October 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice (Jossey Bass Education Series) (Hardcover)

This book makes a lot of sense. It is surprising and disappointing to find that most teachers do not teach this way. The book is full of research and examples of how to ensure that students get the most out of any curriculum. Hopefully the teaching strategies outlined in this book will become the standard instead of the exception.