What does it mean to learn? Include thoughts and definitions regarding knowing and understanding? (Final conversation due Feb 20th)
We learn to know, and in knowing, hopefully come to understand. But what does that sequence really suggest? What do these concepts of learning, knowing, and understanding really mean? Perhaps knowing is having possession of the facts, but understanding is the grasp of the meaning behind those facts (Wiggins & McTighe, 2006, p. 38). Simply stated, I know that 2+2 equals four, but I understand that if I add one more I get 5. Or I know that being approximately 93 million miles from the sun it takes light approximately 8 minutes to reach earth. From that I can extrapolate, given I know the distances from the sun of other planets, the length of time needed for light to travel to them from our central star.
The authors propose “An understanding is a mental construct, an abstraction made by the human mind to make sense of many distinct pieces of knowledge” (p. 37). Any creature with a brain can learn and know. Pavlov showed us that a dog can come to associate particular stimuli with the introduction of food. Mice learn that a stimulus can presage the introduction of a pain stimulus and will act accordingly even though that second stimulus never comes. But these actions, in and of themselves, do not constitute an understanding. These animals have learned and know what to expect, but in possessing such knowledge, are they able to apply what they know to other situations? This, I believe, is the foundation of understanding – being able to take a piece of knowledge and use it to solve a different but related problem. Perhaps, understanding then is a recognition of patterns in things; having one piece of knowledge we can then see how that knowledge relates and can be used in other instances.
