)The most sophisticated project, designed by two students, focused on groundwater movement, conservation and pollution in an 8th grade earth science class. They proposed a sequence of understanding performances that increased in complexity, starting with a brainstorming session and ending with a debate about water pollution and conservation and the creation of a pamphlet to educate the community about water conservation. They explained how each performance contributed to the development of understanding. For example, they explained the introductory brainstorming performance as a way to elicit and work with students' prior knowledge.
At the beginning of the unit we created an activity that asked students to recall what they already know about the water cycle and speculate on where their own household water comes from. We did this so that students see that they will be building upon what they already know to develop their understanding of the water cycle better.
Citing the instructor they say, "Meaningful learning takes place as the person builds knowledge out of new information and what the person already knows" (Cerbin, 1999). They go on
We also asked students to justify the answers they gave so they might find flaws in their preconceived notions.
They justify this by reference to one of the course readings which said, "Understanding goes beyond mere right answers to warranted opinions—a student's ability to explain an answer so that he can justify how he arrived at that answer and why it is right" (Wiggins, 1999).Later they explain why their debate format would promote understanding of the topic among 8th graders.
The debate does several things that lead to understanding. It encourages students to . . . view problems from different angles, and culminate everything they have learned to defend their view. The students will see different ways in which the material they have learned can be used.
Citing one of the course readings they go on to say, "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." (Wiggins, 1999, p.53).
The explanation goes on to integrate additional ideas about the role of interest in promoting students' meaningful learning and the way that assessment practices should give feedback so that students can correct their own understanding.
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