Exploration 13: Defining Understanding Goals

A map of part of the continent of North America : between the 35th and 51st degrees of north latitude, and extending from 890 degrees of west longitude to the Pacific Ocean / compiled from the authorities of the best informed travellers by M. Lewis ; copi

A map of part of the continent of North America : between the 35th and 51st degrees of north latitude, and extending from 890 degrees of west longitude to the Pacific Ocean / compiled from the authorities of the best informed travellers by M. Lewis ; copied by Nicholas King, 1805.

Understanding Goal Understanding Goal

Understanding Goals are like landmarks on the maps of a subject.

Investigative Question Investigative Question

How do educators define Understanding Goals?

Background Information

  •  The landmarks represent the big ideas of a subject or discipline that orient travelers on the map of a subject.
  • Landmark Understanding Goals signal to explorers the most important parts of a subject or discipline. Often these ideas are so big, that students revisit the same landmark Understanding Goal throughout many grades developing a new level of skills and knowledge as they consider the big idea in more complex ways.
  • Recognizing the most important landmarks helps students assess where they have been, where they are, and where they might explore.
  • Working toward reaching a landmark Understanding Goals gives a purpose for student travelers to use knowledge and skills related to the subject being explored.
  • he maps of one subject often overlap with the maps of another subject and share landmark Understanding Goals.

Patron Actions

Read the description and criteria for Understanding Goals from the Peer Review Rubric on page 83 in Chapter 6.

Steps to Developing Understanding Goals

  1. List the knowledge and skills that are tested or priorities for assessment from a
    unit of study.
  2. Create a title for this list of information. The title is the umbrella idea where all information would fit. It may be necessary to group items under several smaller titles and then to ultimately combine the smaller titles to one overarching title.
  3. Assess if this title represents an idea that is essential to working in the subject or discipline. If it does then the title is likely an Understanding Goal.
  4. Test the Understanding Goal for practical use
    • Is the Understanding Goal written in language to engage students?
    • Is it likely that the Understanding Goal would make sense to students?
    • Is this Understanding Goal relevant to other subjects or is it interdisciplinary?
    • Can students demonstrate progress towards this Understanding Goal through some form of “real world” project or action?