Lots of Questions....

Chapter 5: Essential Questions: Doorways to Understanding

In this chapter, the author makes us reflect about essential questions enhance better learning and real understanding.
Wiggins is very clear about the importance of questions, since they stimulate thought, spark more questions as they reach the big ideas, and offer real transfer possibilities. In addition, they present students the possibility of bridging a gap between the content and their reality, engaging them with the subjects.
Regarding the lessons, Wiggins suggests that teachers’ planning should start from the answers which want to be reached. Thus, a family of questions lead to the aimed answer and demand the building of the knowledge by the students themselves. The phrasing of essential questions is a complex process which has to consider the purpose of the questions, the audience and the impact which they aim at. Consequently, topical and overarching questions have to be phrased in such a way that critical thinking and inquiry are elicited.
Whilst motivated students are to learn how to formulate essential questions, their own questions reach different set of learners, and elicit different learner styles. Last, but not least, students perceive the building of their own knowledge. Regarding the latter, the teachers’ role is fundamental as the classroom is a space which provides the confidence to inquiry and phrase questions. As a consequence, the discussion is fruitful, and arrival to important understandings is reached.
As a reflection about teaching training, I can only recall a couple of teachers who were able to state essential questions and make the class an opportunity to inquire and develop critical thinking skills. It is certainly an issue which, if done, would entail learner centred lessons, students’ engagement, and better learning, which - at the end of the day - is the main goal everyone is looking for.

This is what I understand

Understanding by Design - G. Wiggins

Chapter 2: Understanding Understanding

When we think of school education, there is a series of lacks which are evidence at the level of classroom teaching and the quality of students’ learning.
True understanding is the final product of a well planned process which has been carefully developed and thought by a teacher.

Understanding is about going beyond the information given.

Considering Bloom’s taxonomy regarding cognitive skills, the main issue which arises is that students are usually asked in the first two categories, i.e. knowledge and comprehension, which do not consider high order thinking. Therefore, their results reflect knowledge, which is short-termed. However, when higher order thinking is required, i.e. application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and creation (the latter has been added lately), learners usually struggle to success if there has not been a guided process in order to achieve them.
Consequently, teachers can pursue the achievement of the desired understanding by engaging students’ previous knowledge, applying it within known and unknown situations. Learn by doing.

Understanding thus involves meeting a challenge for thought.
It implies the ability to ask and answer many why-questions. Hence, there is an avoidance of randomly correct responses. When students themselves are able to perform the latter successfully, the goal is attained. Nonetheless, it is a cyclical process, i.e. it has to be restarted as many times as necessary by all the educational participants.

We cannot cover concepts and expect them thereby to be understood; we have to uncover their value – the facts that concepts are the result of inquiry and argument.

The main concern is to know and be aware of the mental process to reach a product, i.e. understanding. Children are to be able to provide evidence of the output and intake of the means, and so do teachers. It is certainly a conjoined task.