Chapter 4: The Six Facets of Understanding

Interpreted by Dr. Rich Hawkins

and Dr. Deborah De Luca

Presented By:Laura Mastrogiovanni

The 6 Facets of Understanding

1. Explanation2. Interpretation3. Application4. Perspective5. Empathy6. Self-Knowledge

The 6 Facets of Understanding

UNDERSTANDING

Assessment of Understanding via the 6 facets You really understand when you can:

Explain, connect, systematize, predict it Interpret, tell meaningful stories, offer translations Apply, use and adapt it to real contexts Have Perspective, see and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears; see the big picture Can Empathize, find value in what others might find odd, alien, or implausible (Based on MM) Have Self-Knowledge, show metacognitive awareness; are aware of what we do not understand

Facet 1~ Explanation

Definition “Sophisticated and apt explanations and theories, which

provide knowledgeable and justified accounts of events, actions, and ideas.”

What does this mean? A student who understands can explain. To explain is to

provide thorough, supported, and justifiable evidence and argument. Students who are able to explain can make predictions, ask key questions, provide insights and identify the “big idea”.

Facet 1~ Explanation

As Dewey (1933) explained, to understand something in this sense “is to see it in its relations to other things: to note how it operates or functions, what consequences follow from it, what causes it”(p.137). We go beyond the information given to make inferences, connections, and associations – a theory that works.

Facet 2 ~ Interpretation

Definition “Interpretations, narratives, and translations that

provide meaning.”

What does this mean? A student who understands can interpret. To interpret

is to tell meaningful stories that offer various translations; providing background knowledge to ideas and events; make it personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies, and models.

Facet 2 ~ Interpretation

We value good storytellers with reason. A good story both enlightens and engages; it helps us remember and connect. A clear and compelling narrative can help us find meaning in what may have previously seemed abstract or irrelevant.

Facet 2 ~ Interpretation When interpreting, students move between the text

and their own experience to find legitimate but varying interpretations. In the interpretation, it is likely that different understandings of the same “text” (book, event, experience) will be proposed.

All interpretations are bound by personal, social, cultural, and historical contexts in which they arise. A.K.A ~ Mental Models.

Warning! Not everything is accepted ~ there must be data or a connection to the text that supports the interpretation.

Facet 3 ~ Application

Definition “Ability to use knowledge effectively in new

situations and diverse contexts.”

What does this mean? A student who understands can apply

effectively. Students use and adapt what is known in various contexts. Students are able to adjust as they understand.

Facet 3 ~ Application

{By understanding} I mean simply a sufficient grasp of concepts, principles, or skills so that one can bring them to bear on new problems and situations, deciding in which ways one’s present competencies can suffice and in which ways one may require new skills or knowledge. ~ Howard Gardner, 1991

Facet 3 ~ Application

Bloom (1981) stresses the point that an educationfor performance, based on understanding applied,is of the highest priority: Synthesis is what is frequently expected of themature worker, and the sooner the students aregiven opportunities to make syntheses on theirown, the sooner they will feel that the world ofschool has something to contribute to them and tothe life they will live in the wider society. (p.266)

Facet 4 ~ Perspective

Definition “Critical and insightful points of view.”

What does this mean? A student who understands has perspective.

Perspective is when a student can see and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears; know the limits and the worth of an idea; can see the big picture.

Facet 4 ~ Perspective

An important symptom of an emerging understanding is the capacity to represent a problem in a number of different ways and to approach its solution from varied vantage points; a single, rigid representation is unlikely to suffice. ~ Howard Gardner, 1991

Facet 4 ~ Perspective

Perspective involves the discipline of asking, How does it look from another point of view? How, for example, would my critics see things?

Facet 4 promotes the idea that instruction should include explicit opportunities for students to confront alternative theories and diverse points of view regarding the big ideas ~ different perspectives on the same ideas.

Facet 5 ~ EmpathyDefinition “The ability to get inside another person’s

feelings and worldview.”

What does this mean? A student needs to empathize to understand. To

empathize is to find value in another’s situation or idea; assume that an odd idea may contain worthwhile insights; see incomplete or incorrect elements of ideas; explain misconceptions viewed by others.

Facet 5 ~ Empathy

Empathy, the ability to walk in another’s shoes, to escape one’s own responses and reactions so as to grasp another’s, is central to the most common colloquial use of the term understanding. When we try to understand another person, people, or culture, we strive for empathy. It is not simply an affective response or sympathy over which we have little control, but the disciplined attempt to feel as others feel, to see as others see.

Facet 5 ~ Empathy Understanding in the interpersonal sense

suggests not merely an intellectual change of mind but a significant change of heart. Empathy requires respect for people different from ourselves. Our respect for them causes us to be open-minded, to carefully consider their views when those views are different from ours.

Facet 6 ~ Self-Knowledge

Definition “The wisdom to know one’s ignorance and

how one’s patterns of thought and action inform as well as prejudice understanding.”

What does this mean? Self-Knowledge is the ability to perceive the

personal style, prejudices and get beyond them; recognize strengths and weaknesses; question ones own ideas; accept feedback from others. 

Facet 6 ~ Self-Knowledge How does who I am shape my views? What are the limits to my understanding? What are my blind spots? What am I prone to misunderstand because of

prejudice, habit or style?

To understand the world, we must first understand ourselves!

Facet 6 ~ Self-KnowledgeSelf-knowledge is a key facet of understanding

because it demand that we self-consciously question our ways of seeing the world if we are to become more understanding-better able to see beyond our selves. It asks us to have the discipline to seek and find the inevitable blind spots or oversights in our thinking and to have the courage to face uncertainty and inconsistencies lurking underneath effective habits, naïve confidence, strong beliefs, and worldviews that only seem complete and final.

Can you say, “Stay in inquiry? Suspend certainty?

Key Implications of the facets for teaching and learning

What any curriculum designed for understanding must do is help students realize that their job is not merely to take in what is “covered” but to actively “uncover” what lies below the surface of the facts and ponder their meaning.

This is the constructivist model!

Bloom’s TaxonomyKnowledge

Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

Know it Can apply itHeard of it Can teach it

Emerging Developing Proficient Advanced

6-Facets of LearningExplain

Interpret Self-knowledgePerspective

Apply Empathy

Putting It All Together