Understanding Understanding

What are the enduring understandings that teachers must grapple with?

Does philosophy get closer and closer to the ultimate truth as time goes by? Epistemology, the branch of philosophy that addresses what it means to know and understand knowledge and understanding and how knowledge differs from belief and opinion, is a key facet of understanding. Wiggins and McTighe state, "To understand the world we must first understand ourselves. Through self-knowledge we also understand what we do not understand." This refers to the process of metacognition, self-knowledge about how we think and why and the relation between our preferred methods of learning and our understanding. Going back to ancient Greek times, educators were philosophers. The Oracle at Delphi clearly stated, "Know thyself" to wisdom seekers. Currently, in most teacher certification programs aspects of psychology are studied that focus on the ultimate goal on Maslow's hierarchy of human needs: self-actualization, or the ability to recognize your self-potential. In order to identify an understanding that is considered 'enduring', one must first possess an open mind that is able to question its ways of seeing the world to be better able to see beyond itself and eventually achieve understanding, or personal truth. As educators we have been trained in the self-reflective nature of the profession and should be continually investigating and substantiating our fluid understandings of our work.

The concept of a reasonable person lies at the heart of philosophy and of education itself. The reasonable person respects others and is prepared to take into account his or her views and feelings to the extent of changing his or her mind about issues of significance and consciously allowing personal perspectives to be changed by others (Sharp and Splitter, Teaching for Better Thinking). In short, the social disposition of reasonableness means that the person is willing to be reasoned with. Possessing reason, one is able to focus explicitly on big ideas that connect and bring meaning to discrete facts and skills, thereby creating a more holistic picture of education. Questions and philosophy are natural allies. Enduring ideas in the form of essential questions aim to stimulate thought and enable students to uncover the value of a topic. Not only do essential questions promote understanding of the content on a particular topic, but they also spark connections and promote transfer of ideas from one setting to another (Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design).

Enduring understandings use discrete facts or skills to focus on larger concepts, principles or processes. They derive from and enable transfer: They are applicable to new situations within or beyond the subject. According to Lynn Erikson, "Universal generalizations have the same characteristics as a concept: broad and abstract; universal in application; generally timeless-carry through the ages; and represented by different examples." This means that generalizations are the enduring understandings, the recurring ideas that should be framing the coursework for study. For a thought provoking proposition to be considered a worthy understanding, it must be enduring-proven to be important and useful and will not be erased from memory once the course of study is completed. Understandings should specify something to be understood, focus on the abstract and transferable big ideas, and require inquiry and deep thought to eventually uncover their importance.

With that being said, what enduring understandings would an assumed enlightened educator focus on studying? As someone who is continually trying to reach so-called 'understandings' in respect to my profession, I can only speak from... my understanding. I feel that teachers today struggle to piece together the ideas behind how people learn and how to connect it to the infrastructure of their respective content areas in the classroom. The main goal is to have a deep understanding of the craft of teaching, so that every problematic situation with a learner can be met with a bountiful supply of solutions. Any teacher would revel in a classroom where the words left his or her lips and met with the minds and souls of the students to result in a communion of understanding. If teaching and learning happened this seamlessly, imagine how much engaged learning and how little tomfoolery would occur in school.

Maybe teachers should take time to think about the purpose of their careers and its effect on society today. There are some 'enduring understandings' that everyone, teachers and students alike from all backgrounds and age ranges, should grapple with. Where do understandings surrounding the concepts of philosophy, friendship, responsibility, happiness, justice, time, courage, death, prejudice, god, humanity, nature, compassion, freedom and love come from? Teachers should grapple with enduring understandings that limit the range of content they are allowed to teach in the classroom. In ancient Athens, Plato looked forward to a time whern philosophers would govern the state. He insisted that peace is possible only if thinkers who embrace the world of ideas make the decisions that affect everyone (McCarty, Little Big Minds). The word philosophy means "love of wisdom." It is ironic that educators try to impart the love of acquiring knowledge on to their students by avoiding investigation into the discipline that is interdisciplinary by nature. Overcoming the 'expert blind spot' where what is obvious to us is not as clear cut and simple to a novice is one understanding that teachers struggle to come to terms with, but through opening the minds of those in the classroom to a sense of wonder and countless questions, ordinary understandings usually taken for granted will be enhanced with new meaning when we look deeper and investigate life.