The text called “Understanding by Design” by Wiggins and McTighe tries to explain the importance of the concept “Understanding” in teaching-learning process. Apart from that concept, there is another one:
knowledge, which can be also important for that process, provided that teachers do not confuse it with the previous one.
First of all, the authors starts to explain the concept of understanding by contrasting it with the word knowledge. Before explaining the difference by their own words, there is a quote at the very beginning of the chapter, which introduce the definition of both concepts: “The most characteristic thing about mental life, over and beyond the fact that one apprehends the events of the world around one, is that one constantly goes beyond the information given”. From this statement, the text defines understanding by the ability to analize and apply what we have learned.
Moreover, the text explained that acquiring knowledge is not enough if we can not understand the essential of what we learn and apply it in context. It is important for teachers to distinguish between understanding and knowledge when we are teaching a lesson in a class, because our main objective is to make students learn not only concepts by heart, but also learn how to apply them.
Finally, along with recognizing the difference between understanding and knowledge, teachers must know how to give lessons. Teachers must not make students learn by memory, they must adapt their knowledge and make it easier for learners to comprehend and apply. The text refers understanding as transferability: “Transferability is not mere plugging in of previously learned knowledge and skills”(Wiggins,40). This statement means that we (teachers/instructors) transfer all our knowledge not just by repeating what we have learned, but by transpass our knowledge in as creative and fluent as possible for a new task or new challenge. For example, teachers can transfer new skills by adding examples to a specific topic and give learners activities to perform, in order to assess their performance in class.
