Understanding by Design 2nd Edition
Teaching for understanding! Not coverage! How many times have I had this argument with secondary maths teachers!
“…conventional teaching abets the three “pathologies of mislearning: we forget, we don’t understand that we misunderstood, and we are unable to use what we learned. I have dubbed these conditions amnesia, Fantasia, and inertia” (Shulman, 1999).
Three types of “uncoverage” in designing and teaching for understanding:
• Uncovering students’ potential misunderstandings (through focused questions, feedback, diagnostic assessment)
• Uncovering the question, issues, assumptions, and grey areas lurking underneath the black and white of surface accounts
• Uncovering the core ideas at the heart of understanding a subject, ideas that are not obvious – and perhaps are counterintuitive or baffling – to the novice

What should students come away understanding?
What will count as evidence of that understanding?