the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association (2010).The more I think about it, I begin to wonder if knowledge is really power. Is simply knowing something really powerful? When compared to understanding, I'm not sure that simple knowledge is where the power lies. Merriam-Webster defines understanding as
the power to make experience intelligible by applying concepts and categories (2010).Our readings in the Wiggins and McTighe text discuss understanding as the ability to transfer something we know or have learned to new settings (p. 40). When I think of knowing something, it's like knowing that E=mc2 and that a man name Albert Einstein came up with this equation. This is something my science teacher told me. However, do I understand E=mc2? Can I actually describe the concept or apply it in the "real world"? It's knowledge I have, but I haven't been taught how to use it, so I don't really understand it. Therefore it might be useful as an answer on Jeopardy or a quiz question that asks "What is Einstein known for?", but in answering I would just be reciting a fact I learned without having any real understanding of it's importance.
I feel that learning is a two-phased process. The first phase comes when the student is told a fact which is committed to memory through note-taking or reading (knowledge). The second phase comes when the student takes this fact and applies it, or uses it, in other situations or tasks (understanding). In one of the articles I read on Situated Learning theory, there is discussion about learning mathematics in the classroom and how it can also be learned or used in the "real world". One example discusses how students used problem solving methods they invented or brought into the classroom in order to complete daily practice assignments versus the methods taught by the instructor. Students got the right answers, but they didn't arrive at them using the knowledge as exactly taught by the instructor. Many of them got to the correct answers by applying different techniques from their own experiences. The fact that they could do this, to me, shows understanding of the concepts they've been taught.
By truly understanding something we've learned and then begin about to turn around and use that understanding to apply what we've learned to another aspect of our lives, we then have a sense of empowerment. Simply repeating a fact may show that we are knowledgeable, but being able to use what we know to show someone else how to do something or make something happen because of what we know is real power.
References
Greiffenhagen, C., Sharrock, W. (2008). School mathematics and its everyday other? Revisiting Lave's 'Cognition in Practice'. Educational Studies in Math, 69, 1-21.
"Knowledge." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Merriam-Webster Online. 12 February 2011 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knowledge
"Understanding." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Merriam-Webster Online. 12 February 2011 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/understanding
Wiggins, G., McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
7 comments:
Nice job, you synthesized different sources and demonstrated your own understandings quite well. I particularly appreciated the example. I wonder if there is a place for knowledge - beside Jeopardy - do I need to understand everything? Just a random question.
I don't think that we need to (or even could) understand everything. But doesn't it give you a sense of power or accomplishment when you do finally feel that "light bulb" go on over your head and you realize that you understand a concept for the first time? Especially after you may have struggled with it before.
I like and agree with your use of the word “power” where learning and knowledge is concerned. The reason that I like it is because it gives the impression of something that one is able to have control over. I think that power enables the process that we all take on different levels in order to reach knowing and learning. We need to be able to control our own learning and take it to where it needs to go. Knowledge is power, but you need power in order to gain knowledge. Does that make sense? We all have the opportunity to exercise power in order to build upon our learning, and whether or not we want to do that is our choice. I see power as the motivational vehicle to active learning.
Your example of E=mc2 is a good one. I agree that memorization is not a true form of learning, but a process of recall. It’s a type of surface knowledge that doesn’t rely on any thought process. However, application of those memorized concepts could bring you to acquire knowledge.
Interestingly enough, there are two definitions under power in the Webster’s New World Dictionary that we could use to support the idea that knowledge is power: 1. the ability to do or act; and 2. The product of the multiplication of a quantity by itself. The first definition is quite obvious in its application, but the second definition could show us how we can see knowledge as being the product and power as the quantity. Quantity being how much we decide to learn and the end result the knowledge that we gain. Maybe I’m reaching with the math concept, but I think that it could be interpreted that way.
Guralnik, D.B. (Ed.). (1987). Webster’s New World Dictionary. New York, NY: Warner Books.
Isn't it funny how mathematics seem to come up often in these types of discussions. I had a teacher once tell us math-phobes that Math is more than just word problems and equations on paper, that we would encounter it in so many aspects of our lives whether we realize it or not. And though I always hated Math as a subject, I've realized over the years how right she was.
I liked this post, especially the quote about knowledge being power. But I wonder how many people can and do use that power correctly. We all know that learning and knowledge is important, but do we understand what it is like when we don’t have that power. We can learn the letters in words but we don’t always understand the words until we learn their meaning.
Wiggins and McTighe might be right that transferring knowledge helps us learn better. But I think that they are missing a huge point that the knowledge has to be important to the person doing the learning to really make it change form something we learn to something that we truly understand.
In response to Mary-Ann's comment I think that there is a great deal that we know but that we don't understand. I also think that knowing can come before understanding.
When I think of this I consider my parents who where educated in the thirties in Ireland. They memorized reams of poetry and plays, which they remembered even later in life. I suspect that they didn't understand many of the things they memorized at the time they "learned" them but since they were in their memory connections with meaning and relevancy of where made throughout the decades that they lived. I wonder if they could ever had succeeded in their understanding of some of these things if they had never been committed to memory.
I think that understanding is fundamental to learning, but knowledge is also important. When we have knowledge we can make more connections with new information, and knowledge can help us understand as we make these connections.
I don’t think knowledge is power but could help attain power. The more you know, the more you understand, the more likely you can gain power. So depending on how you look at it knowledge can be power. I guess it all depends on how you look at it. This is a very interesting concept that can be argued for many years. It all depends on who you talk to and what they believe.
I appreciate the two phased process that you described. That really encompasses knowing and understanding and shows the difference. The student’s ability to come up with the answer by using their own methods demonstrates their understanding of what the teacher taught them. They have put it in a context in which they learned and understood and can teach someone else. This is also an example that there is no one/right way to do things. Each person has to do it their own way so that it will make sense to them and they can reuse it in the future.
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