Willingham offers both explanation and suggestions to overcome the difficulties of teaching abstract concepts. "We understand new things in the context of things we already know, and most of what we know is concrete" (p. 88). Because it is easiest for us to understand things using our prior knowledge, it is important that we expose our students to a variety of different situations so that they may increase their background knowledge. This relates directly back to our discussions for Section 2. "[Students] understand new ideas (things they don't know) by relating them to old ideas (things they do know)" (Willingham p. 88). Willingham goes on to tell us that in order to help students learn abstract concepts, we must help students utilize their own connections, make analogies, and make comparisons between concrete examples (p. 89-91).
Willingham also tells us that their are differing levels of knowledge and understanding. "...Even when students "understand," there are really degrees of comprehension. One student's understanding can be shallow while another's is deep" (p. 92). As educators, we see this in our classrooms all of the time. Many of the answers we get from students sound great. The answers may be correct, but we question the true understanding that the student has. On pages 93-95, Willingham defines the three levels of knowledge as rote (correct answers, no understanding), shallow (some understanding, but only in that specific context), and deep (knowledge is "richly interconnected"). In order to have deep understanding, students must be able to transfer knowledge from situation to situation (p. 97). Many times our students are unable to transfer knowledge because of surface structure. They get caught up in the wording, the names, etc. of the problem and are unable to get to the deeper structure (p. 98).
In order to move students to a deep knowledge of abstract concepts, we must focus on three main strategies:
1. "Provide examples and ask students to compare them." We need to give our students a variety of experiences and examples from which to explore and compare (p. 102).
2. "Make deep knowledge the spoken and unspoken emphasis." Pose a variety of questions both in oral discussion and assignments/activities. "The low-level facts are important...but if that's all you ask about, it sends a message to students that that's all there is" (Willingham, p. 103).
3. "Make your expectations for deep knowledge realistic." Deep knowledge is the ultimate goal, but we also need to be aware of where are students are at in the process. Give students time and opportunity to practice. Deep knowledge and understanding takes time (p. 104).
Willingham also states that practice is essential to deeper understanding. He goes on to elaborate further on what kind of continued practice is beneficial to our students. "It is virtually impossible to become proficient at a mental task without extended practice" (p. 107). He states that there are three reasons to practice: "It reinforces the basic skills that are required for the learning of more advanced skills, it protects against forgetting, and in improves transfer" (p. 108). Because our working memory has limited space, it is important to practice new skills and concepts so that we can chunk the information and it becomes automatic (p. 111). Basic skills such as letter sounds and math facts need to become automatic. "The processes that need to become automatic are probably the building blocks of skills that will provide the most benefit if they are automatized" (Willingham, p. 124). These processes/skills are essential if a student is to complete more advanced skills/activities. Even though Willingham believes practice is essential, he does not believe in a 'drill and kill' format. He says that practice of a skill does not necessarily have to occur in a short time span. Practice can be spaced out so that students can also practice applying what they know and so that the practice does not become boring (p. 124). Most importantly, Willingham states that we must integrate practice into more advanced skills. "You may target a basic skill as one that needs to be practiced to the point of mastery, but that doesn't mean that students can't also practice it in the context of more advanced skills...Think of as many creative ways as you can to practice really crucial skills, but remember that students can still get practice in the basics while they are working on more advanced skills" (Willingham, p. 125).
The comment "We understand new things in the context of things we already know is concrete", really hit me. Kids can learn concepts when they have some prior knowledge or experiences to draw from. They have to make a self-connection to something they know in order to get new learnings from what we are teaching them. The other comment that basic skills such as letter sounds and math facts need to be automatic. At the kindergarten level we teach things such as the letters through a variety of avenues. These skills are not carried over from letter, sounds, words, and sentences unless the automaticity is there. We take this process for granted but for these little kids, it's quite a complex process.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, you summarized this section of the book perfectly! It relates so much to what we just read in chapter 2 – background knowledge is so important to help connect knew information. Our students will be able to understand new information if we help them connect it to knowledge they already have. I believe this is why some students struggle so much. As teachers, this does make our job difficult especially when you have twenty or more students. You have to know what they already know and help them to connect it and transfer it to the new information we are giving them. So we must ask ourselves…do we know what background information every student has, do we know how deep their knowledge is about the topic and how can we help them connect and transfer this information?
ReplyDeleteAs a reading teacher, I can really relate to the information on page 112: Reading is automatic, but not for a beginning reader. (pg.112) If a child has to stop and sound out a word letter by letter, it takes up the whole working memory, not allowing any space for comprehension. Also, if the sounds of each letter are not automatic, then the student has to stop to think about each of the letter’s sound. By the time they are at the end of the word, they have forgotten the first sounds of each letter proving it impossible to blend any of the sounds together in order to make a word. UGH! There are so many complexities in learning to read.
Melanie is right when she says that basic skills such as letter sound and math facts need to be automatic, because the skills are not carried over from letter sounds, words, and sentences unless the atomicity is there.
In my teaching position, we call this, “continuum of the known”….how well does the child really “know” something. If they know it very very well, then it will be automatic. If it is not automatic, then it is not known very well.
The comment: Even when students "understand," there are really degrees of comprehension. One student's understanding can be shallow while another's is deep" is so true. Students working on math problems knew our doubles but to transfer their knowledge from addition to subtraction was very hard for most. Two students used the information and could explain the problems to me while the others still looked very puzzled.
ReplyDeleteWow! I am impressed and very excited to be apart of this blog. I am enjoying the communication and comments for each section. I think this section's summary was very well written and also gave importance to abstract problem solving with the understanding of mastering the basics! I firmly believe that more students would feel more empowered to explore their interests when they have mastered the basics because they only have skills to build.
ReplyDelete(Practice)"It reinforces the basic skills that are required for the learning of more advanced skills, it protects against forgetting, and in improves transfer" As I reviewed short vowels for the sixth week, this really rang true. Students are beginning to transfer their knowledge to words (longer than 3 letters) and are reading at a more fluent pace. The continued practice to recall the basic skills are developing some good readers.
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