LEARNING

AND
UNDERSTANDING
Dr Sadiah Baharom

LEARNING LEARNING,
UNDERSTANDING
UNDERSTANDING

DISCUSSION 1
Why is there a
need to
understand how
students learn?

Learning with Understanding

Learning with understanding is a
sense making activity
Understanding develops as a person
uses what s/he already knows (i.e.
prior knowledge) to construct
meaning out of new information
The person determines relationships
and connections among new ideas
and facts and prior knowledge

Learning with Understanding

Through understanding knowledge
about a topic not only increases
quantitatively, but changes
qualitatively by becoming more
differentiated and elaborated.
The result is a representation or
mental model that structures the
conceptual knowledge

Learning with Understanding

Contrast with rote learning person
tries to copy information into
memory
Although the individual may be able
to replicate the material, s/he does
not necessarily grasp the
relationship among ideas and facts
Formation of inert knowledge
information that can be recalled but
cannot use productively for other

Learning with understanding produces

a well differentiated mental model in
which
the
person
establishes
relationships and connections among
facts and ideas. But learning with
understanding also entails knowledge
in ways that demonstrate and advance
students grasp of the subject matter.
(Cerbin, B. 2000. Learning with
and
teaching for
understanding)

.an ordinary degree of understanding

is routinely missing in many, if not
most students. It is reasonable to
expect a college student to be able to
apply in a new context a law of physics,
or a proof in geometry, or a concept in
history of which she just demonstrated
mastery in her class. If when the
circumstances of testing are slightly
altered, the sought-after competence
can no longer be documented, then
understanding in any reasonable
sense of the term has simply not
been
achieved.
(1991, The Unschooled
Mind, p.6)

Understanding
students learning
Understanding how people learn has the
potential to significantly influence the
nature of education and its outcomes.
Help guide development of curricula
Pedagogy
Assessment
Design of educational programs
Rote learning vs meaningful learning

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN

LEARNING I. Principled Conceptual
Knowledge
Learning with understanding is facilitated
when new and existing knowledge is
structured around the major concepts and
principles of the discipline.
Expert content knowledge is structured
around major organizing principles and
core concepts, the big ideas
Ideas lend coherence to experts vase
knowledge base; help discern the deep
structure of problems & recognize
similarities with previously encountered
problems

Experts thinking strategies for

thinking and solving problems are
closely linked to rich, well
organized bodies of knowledge
about subject matter
Their knowledge is connected and
organized and it is
conditionalised to specify the
context in which it is applicable.

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN

LEARNING
II. Prior Knowledge
Learners use what they already know to
construct new understanding
Learners come to class possess
knowledge, skills, beliefs, concepts, and
misconceptions that can significantly
influence how they think, approach new
learning and do problem solving
(Wandersee, Mintzes and Novak, 1994)
Successful learning involves linking new
knowledge to what is already known.

Learners use what they already know

to construct new understanding
Links can take different forms;
adding to, modifying, or
reorganizing.
How these links are made vary in
different subjects areas and
among students with varying
talents, interests and abilities
(Paris & Ayers, 1994)
Learning with understanding
involves conceptual change and

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN

LEARNING
III. Metacognitive Strategies
Learning is facilitated through the use of
metacognitive strategies that identify, monitor and
regulate cognitive processes

Effective problem solvers need to be able to

determine what they already know and what else
they need to know in any given situation.
They must consider both factual knowledge about
the task, goal and abilities and strategic knowledge
about how and when to use specific procedures to
solve problem being metacognitive.
Students who are metacognitively aware perform
better than those who are not (Garner & Alexander,
1989)

Cont.
Learning is facilitated through the use
of meta cognitive strategies that
identify, monitor and regulate cognitive
processes

Basic meta cognitive strategies include

(1) connecting new information to
former knowledge (2) selecting thinking
strategies deliberately (3) planning,
monitoring, and evaluating thinking
processes

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN

LEARNING
IV. Learner Differences
Learners have different strategies,
approaches, patterns of abilities, and
learning styles that are a function of the
interaction between their heredity and
prior knowledge

Different potentials
Different cognitive ability linguistics,
spatial aptitudes, ability to work with
symbolic entities etc
Use of concept maps individual, group

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN

LEARNING
V. Motivation
Learners motivation to learn and sense of self
affects what is learned, how much is learned,
and how much effort will be put into the
learning process
Motivation (intrinsic/extrinsic) strongly
affects students willingness to persist
in the face of difficulty
Strong connection between learners
beliefs about their own abilities in a
subject area and their success in
learning about that domain
Believe that ability to learn is
substancially a function of effort is the

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN

LEARNING
VI. Practices and activities
The practices and activities in which
people engage while learning shape
what is learned.
If goal of education is to allow
learners to apply what they learn
in real situations, learning must
involve applications and take
place in the context of authentic
activities (Brown, et al., 1989)

Cont.
The practices and activities in which
people engage while learning shape
what is learned.

Importance of situating learning in

authentic activities: (1) students learn
about the conditions for applying
knowledge (2) they are more likely to
engage in inventions and problem
solving when learning in novel and
diverse situations and settings (3) they
are able to see the implications of their
knowledge (4) They are supported in
structuring knowledge in ways that are

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN

LEARNING
VII. Social Support
Learning is enhanced through socially
supported interactions
Learning is enhanced when
students have the opportunity to
interact and collaborate with others
Communities of practice have
opportunities to test ideas, & learn
by observing
Social interaction is important for
the development of expertise,
metacognitive skills and formation

Teachers need to know more than their

subjects. They need to know the ways
it can be understood, what ways it
come to be understood, what counts as
understanding: they need to know how
individuals experience the subject. But
they are neither required nor able to
know
these
things.
(Laurillard, Rethinking
University Teaching)

DISCUSSION 2
For each of the seven
principles of
understanding, discuss
its implications to
teaching and learning
in the classroom.