Cognition, Thinking & Understanding

Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice

This book describes an innovative approach to teaching that helps take students beyond the rote memorization of facts and figures to levels of understanding that will serve them well throughout their lives. The book is filled with rich examples gathered during six years of collaboration between reflective classroom teachers and researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At the heart of the approach is a framework that transforms traditional teaching by providing clear and coherent guidance in: choosing curriculum topics; defining explicit goals; designing learning activities; fostering student understanding; and assessing students' performance. ISBN: 978-0787910020

The Teaching for Understanding Guide

The Teaching for Understanding Guide: What does it mean to understand something? How do students develop understanding? How can teachers know how well they understand and support the development of understanding? Teaching for Understanding describes an approach to teaching that requires students to think, analyze, problem solve, and make meaning of what they have learned. Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice introduced the approach and the research that supports it. Now this companion workbook shows teachers how to use the four critical components of the Teaching for Understanding Framework.

Based on extensive research conducted by Project Zero and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, The Teaching for Understanding Guide offers teachers a practical way to apply the concepts of the Teaching for Understanding framework—both in the classroom and in curriculum planning. Using classroom examples from science, mathematics, language arts and social sciences, and reflecting the input of practicing teachers, the workbook shows how teachers can:

• Choose topics that engage student interest and connect readily to other subjects.
• Set coherent unit and course goals.
• Create activities that develop an demonstrate students' understanding.
• Improve student performance by providing continual feedback.

Brief case studies of teachers using this approach illustrate the process in action. Simple planning sheets and teaching units make this guide a useful resource for developing curriculum. Reflection sections at the end of each chapter suggest related activities, issues, and questions to facilitate further exploration of the chapter's ideas. The challenging process of rethinking classroom practice can lead to a new level of student understanding and learning. This how-to guide gives teachers the practical tools for making understanding more achievable in the classroom. ISBN-13: 978-0787909932

Gifted Children: Myths and Realities

In this fascinating book, Ellen Winner uses case studies and the latest biological and psychological evidence to explore nine myths about giftedness. Considering the role schools play in fostering exceptional abilities, the author castigates schools for wasting resources and advocates elevating standards for all children while focusing gifted education on those with extreme abilities. ISBN: 978-0465017591

Smart Schools: Better Thinking and Learning for Every Child

In this book, David Perkins draws on over twenty years of research which indicates that students from the first grade through college often have only the most superficial kind of knowledge even after considerable instruction in a subject. Here he reveals some commonly misguided strategies students use in trying to understand a topic, and why traditional-teaching approaches often fail. ISBN-13: 978-0028740188

Putting Understanding Up Front

A simple four-part framework gives teachers a language and strategy for enhancing their efforts to teach for greater understanding.