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Dimensions of Understanding
Dimensions of Understanding

Support for thinking about HOW to design instruction and teach for understanding.

How do you do it?  (short version)
1.  Form group (3-4 people) to focus on one discipline together.
2.  Select an introductory topic familiar to all.
3.  Brainstorm:  What would it mean to understand this topic?
4.  Sort ideas into dimensions of understanding.
5.  Reflect:  How might a dimensions analysis help you in your work?
What are the four Dimensions of Understanding?

KNOWLEDGE (What facts and information do people need to grasp about this discipline in order to understand it?)

PROCESSES (How do people in this discipline work? What kinds of things do they need to be able to do in order to learn and practice this discipline?)

PURPOSES (Why does this discipline matters? Why would someone need to learn and work in this discipline?)

FORMS (What kinds of products and performances do people produce in this discipline?)
Structures
Categories for thinking about WHAT is taught
Teaching for Understanding
Dimensions of Understanding adapted from Teaching for Understanding from Harvard’s Project Zero. Wiske, Martha Stone, ed. Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.