Disciplinary & Interdisciplinary Studies

The Project Zero Classroom: Views on Understanding

What do Project Zero's ideas look like in practice? This book offers perspectives by teachers and researchers, including Howard Gardner and David Perkins, on several strands of Project Zero's research. Approaching the instructional goal of teaching for understanding, this volume is filled with examples that practitioners seek to help close the idea/action gap. Any of the articles provides a basis for reflective conversations among teachers and administrators working toward using Project Zero's ideas in their own schools. ASIN: B004S69940

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

Teaching through Projects: Creating Effective Learning Environments

The ideas in Teaching through Projects can be used in grades 3-6 for both classroom and out-of-school programs. Projects can make learning meaningful to students lives in ways that subject-by-subject teaching cannot and can motivate students to take charge of their own learning. Teaching through Projects helps teachers become coaches and mentors by setting up a model for integrated learning. You'll find successful projects, teaching strategies, and project design to increase students interest and motivation while meeting curriculum demands. The approach will help your students develop literacy and thinking skills by building on a wide variety of activities and interests. 1996, ISBN: 978-0201495072

Thinking Connections: Learning to Think and Thinking to Learn

Thinking Connections includes step-by-step instructions and practical suggestions for teaching three strategies: Mental Management: A strategy that develops an awareness of how the thinking process works and presents a three-step method to control and improve thinking for any task in any subject. Decision-Making: A strategy that presents a series of three questions to be considered and answered in order to evaluate of make thoughtful decisions in or out of the classroom.Understanding through Design: A strategy that allows students to analyze and evaluate almost anything in a systematic way in order to discover its meaning and achieve a genuine understanding of it. Thinking Connections was designed to be used across the curriculum, beginning in upper elementary levels and continuing through teacher training. ISBN: 978-0201819984