Why does understanding really matter?

Why do some learners fail to understand?

At a time when league tables can be everything, examination grades matter. Perhaps more than many would admit, the cost is a lack of understanding.

The new edition of Teaching for Understanding provides practical advice about how to support understanding in both children and adults. It is for all teachers and lecturers, experienced or otherwise, who want learners to do more than simply memorize and regurgitate information. It describes what understanding means in the different subjects and offers a framework for supporting understanding.

Revised and updated to reflect evolving ideas about education and the latest challenges facing teachers and learners, this new edition includes a section on the role of e-learning, as well as additional classroom contexts and extra strategies for supporting understanding.

Topics explored include:

• What is understanding and why is it so valuable?
• How understanding happens: the mental processes
• The relationship between understanding and creative thought
• Reasons for misunderstanding and how to combat them
• The impact of learners motivation and strategies for self-help
• How to evaluate understanding.

Teaching for Understanding: What it is and how to do it addresses a real problem at all levels of education, and is essential reading for all teachers and lecturers in schools, colleges and universities.

This book highlights the problems that have developed as students lack either the social or cultural capital to take the opportunity of Higher Education through conventional routes. This might be due to leaving school early, lacking entry qualifications or wanting to further their education and prospects after entering the workplace. Foundation courses help to widen participation and create a route towards higher education. This book offers tried and tested practical solutions, from the notion of widening participation, to recruitment of students and to ways of helping them to make the most of themselves and develop the skills they need to progress on degree courses of their choice.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A Practical Guide to Teaching Science in the Secondary School is designed to support student teachers as they develop their teaching skills and increase their broader knowledge and understanding for teaching science. It offers straightforward advice and inspiration on key topics such as planning, assessment, practical work, the science classroom, and on to the broader aspects of teaching science. This thoroughly updated second edition reflects on new expectations, requirements, and practices in science teaching, with chapters exploring key and contemporary topics such as: The nature of science and scientific argument The various kinds of thinking emphasised in science and how to exercise them How to engage students in learning Assessment for and of learning Diverse needs and how to meet them The use of technology to support teaching and learning Learning at a distance Designed to be used independently or alongside the popular textbook Learning to Teach Science in the Secondary School, this book is packed with revised and updated case studies, examples of pupils' work, and resources and activities in every chapter. It provides everything trainee and early career teachers need to reflect on and develop their teaching practice, helping them to plan lessons across the subject in a variety of teaching situations.

Are emotions good or bad for thinking and learning? Have you ever wondered why a good lesson of one year falls flat in another? Why do students behave the way they do? Teachers are expected to foster productive thought yet the neglect of emotion in the classroom, in favour of intellect, means teaching and learning is often not as effective as it might be. Thinking with Feeling explores what we mean by productive thought, its interrelationship with mood and emotions, how teachers can manage that interaction to improve teaching and learning, and what teacher trainers could do about it. Synthesising the most important international research in the field, it offers a framework for productive, purposeful thought - deduction, understanding, creative thinking, wise thinking, and critical thinking - and explains how mood and emotion can support and also impede learning. It considers the effect of the interplay of emotion and intellect on classroom behaviour, on students' public performance and performance in tests, and how emotional labour can affect the teacher. Illustrated with examples from practice, this challenging, thoughtful study offers education professionals a basis for understanding the interaction of emotions and cognition and making it a successful partnership in order to improve teaching and learning.

Talking Sense in Science is a highly practical guide to getting the most out of primary science lessons through talking with children. This clearly written and straightforward book helps teachers to support understanding by developing their own interaction in the classroom. Each idea is described, illustrated and followed by a short task to develop teaching skills. This book looks at ways of understanding in science, and scientific language as well as how talk can support practical activities. Douglas Newton also addresses the ideas of what to say, when to say it and how to say it, with a view to developing understanding through science conversation. Examples given in the book span the range of primary school science topics, and provide an ideal sourcebook for lesson ideas. Talking Sense in Science is an essential buy for primary teachers who want an accessible way to improve their practice and their pupils' understanding in science. It is also an ideal learning tool for student teachers.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203164636

Talking Sense in Science is a highly practical guide to getting the most out of primary science lessons through talking with children. This clearly written and straightforward book helps teachers to support understanding by developing their own interaction in the classroom. Each idea is described, illustrated and followed by a short task to develop teaching skills. This book looks at ways of understanding in science, and scientific language as well as how talk can support practical activities. Douglas Newton also addresses the ideas of what to say, when to say it and how to say it, with a view to developing understanding through science conversation. Examples given in the book span the range of primary school science topics, and provide an ideal sourcebook for lesson ideas. Talking Sense in Science is an essential buy for primary teachers who want an accessible way to improve their practice and their pupils' understanding in science. It is also an ideal learning tool for student teachers.

Are emotions good or bad for thinking and learning? Have you ever wondered why a good lesson of one year falls flat in another? Why do students behave the way they do? Teachers are expected to foster productive thought yet the neglect of emotion in the classroom, in favour of intellect, means teaching and learning is often not as effective as it might be. Thinking with Feeling explores what we mean by productive thought, its interrelationship with mood and emotions, how teachers can manage that interaction to improve teaching and learning, and what teacher trainers could do about it. Synthesising the most important international research in the field, it offers a framework for productive, purposeful thought - deduction, understanding, creative thinking, wise thinking, and critical thinking - and explains how mood and emotion can support and also impede learning. It considers the effect of the interplay of emotion and intellect on classroom behaviour, on students' public performance and performance in tests, and how emotional labour can affect the teacher. Illustrated with examples from practice, this challenging, thoughtful study offers education professionals a basis for understanding the interaction of emotions and cognition and making it a successful partnership in order to improve teaching and learning.

First published in 2012. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This sixteen book series written and designed for busy primary school teachers takes one step-by-step through every stage of coordinating a subject. The books tackle the two main aspects of the coordinator's role: coordinating and subject leadership. It accomplishes this task by establishing systems and common practice, providing information, offering expertise and direction, guiding the development of the subject, and raising standards.

Each volume in the series conforms to a concise style, while providing a wealth of tips, case studies, and material that teachers can use immediately. Written to meet the needs of subject leaders, this comprehensive set of books will be an essential addition to the staffroom bookshelf.

A Practical Guide to Teaching Science in the Secondary School is designed to support student teachers as they develop their teaching skills and increase their broader knowledge and understanding for teaching science. It offers straightforward advice and inspiration on key topics such as planning, assessment, practical work, the science classroom, and on to the broader aspects of teaching science. This thoroughly updated second edition reflects on new expectations, requirements, and practices in science teaching, with chapters exploring key and contemporary topics such as: The nature of science and scientific argument The various kinds of thinking emphasised in science and how to exercise them How to engage students in learning Assessment for and of learning Diverse needs and how to meet them The use of technology to support teaching and learning Learning at a distance Designed to be used independently or alongside the popular textbook Learning to Teach Science in the Secondary School, this book is packed with revised and updated case studies, examples of pupils' work, and resources and activities in every chapter. It provides everything trainee and early career teachers need to reflect on and develop their teaching practice, helping them to plan lessons across the subject in a variety of teaching situations.

This book highlights the problems that have developed as students lack either the social or cultural capital to take the opportunity of Higher Education through conventional routes. This might be due to leaving school early, lacking entry qualifications or wanting to further their education and prospects after entering the workplace. Foundation courses help to widen participation and create a route towards higher education. This book offers tried and tested practical solutions, from the notion of widening participation, to recruitment of students and to ways of helping them to make the most of themselves and develop the skills they need to progress on degree courses of their choice.

This handbook focuses on the thinking processes necessary for learning. It provides descriptions and evaluations of 42 major frameworks including Bloom's taxonomy, de Bono's lateral and parallel thinking tools, Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and Paul's model of critical thinking. Unique in its comprehensive coverage and interdisciplinary approach, it offers easy-to-grasp summary tables for each major theorist for speedy reference. The discussion of cognitive, emotional and social aspects of thinking and the nature of classification help the reader locate theories within a broader field of knowledge. Key concepts such as critical thinking, self-regulation and metacognition are examined from a range of perspectives. The handbook offers practical advice in the form of choices and recommendations for the use of frameworks in teaching, learning and assessment. A valuable tool for students needing to understand different ways of thinking it will also be an essential resource for teachers, curriculum developers, researchers and policy-makers.

This handbook focuses on the thinking processes necessary for learning. It provides descriptions and evaluations of 42 major frameworks including Bloom's taxonomy, de Bono's lateral and parallel thinking tools, Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and Paul's model of critical thinking. Unique in its comprehensive coverage and interdisciplinary approach, it offers easy-to-grasp summary tables for each major theorist for speedy reference. The discussion of cognitive, emotional and social aspects of thinking and the nature of classification help the reader locate theories within a broader field of knowledge. Key concepts such as critical thinking, self-regulation and metacognition are examined from a range of perspectives. The handbook offers practical advice in the form of choices and recommendations for the use of frameworks in teaching, learning and assessment. A valuable tool for students needing to understand different ways of thinking it will also be an essential resource for teachers, curriculum developers, researchers and policy-makers.