FACETS OF

UNDERSTANDING
PREPARED BY:
JENNY DEE M. NEQUIA
 THE SIX
FACETS OF
UNDER-
STANDING
 🌸 An important question that this
framework poses is: What does it
1mean to“understand” something?
“The Six Facets of Understanding”
give us categories that help make it
easier to recognize student
understanding. Each facet helps
enforce the idea that students must
use their knowledge to perform
effectively in order to prove their
understanding of something.
 EXPLPLANATION
-P r o v id e st u d e n ts w ith
asses sm en t s t ha t r eq uir e
them t o e x p la in w h a t th e y
know a b o u t h o w t h in g s
w o rk , in clu d ing r o b u st
supporting a rg u m e n ta t io n .
 EXPLPLANATION
-This facet of u n d e rst a n d in g c a n
be revealed thro u g h p e rf o rm a n c e s
and p ro d u ct s th a t c lea rly
and thorough ly e x p la in h o w th in g s
work, how co m p o n e n t s c o n n e ct,
and w h y e v en t s h a p p e n ..
E - A student in physics
X explains why the car on
A the air track accelerates
M the way it does
P when the incline of the
L roadway is varied.
E
 INTERPRETATION
- Provide stud e nt s w it h a s se s sm e n t s
that ask the m t o in te r p r e t q u es tio n s
that have no clea r a n sw e r o r re q u ir e a
firm grasp of a co n t ex t (e .g ., h ist o ric a l,
cultural, political,
data struc tu r e) . T h es e m ig h t b e
analytical or cr ea tiv e in te rp re t at io n s .
 INTERPRETATION
- Students po s se s sin g th is f a c e t o f
understan d in g c a n a rt icu la t e t h e
m ea n in g o f so m e th in g
beyond face v alu e : a n e v e nt ’s c u ltu ral
signific a n ce , a d a ta p o in t ’s
indic at io n s, o r a s ym b o l’s
meaning.
E - A student in statistics
X explains what a 98.2% Covid
A survival rate or 72%
M freshman
P retention rate means and
doesn’t mean at a level of
L individual probability.
E
 APPLICATION
- Provide students with
opportunities to perform
authentic tasks and engage in
“real-world” problem-solving
scenarios..
 APPLICATION
- To ensure students’ key performances
are conscious and explicit reflection, self-
assessment, and self-adjustment, with
reasoning made evident. Authentic
assessment requires a real or simulated
audience, purpose, setting, and options
for personalizing the work, realistic
constraints, and “background noise.” .
E - A student in
X education/teacher training
A develops and delivers live
M lesson plans to real
P classrooms within the
community.
L
E
 PERSPECTIVE
-Provide students with explicit
opportunities to confront
diverse points of view:
arguments for and against an
issue, or varying perspectives
based on culture, gender, class,
power dynamic, .
 PERSPECTIVE
- To ensure students know the
importance or significance of an idea and
to grasp its importance or unimportance.
Encourage students to step back and ask,
“ What of it?”
“Of what value is this knowledge?”
“How important is this idea?”
“What does this idea enable us to do that
is important?” .
E - A student in a Middle
X Eastern history course
A explains the Israeli and
M Palestinian arguments for
P and against new
L settlements on the Gaza
E Strip.
 EMPATHY
-Provide assessments that
invite students to overcome
egocentrism,
ethnocentrism, and present-
centeredness in their answers
and explanations. .
 EMPATHY
- To ensure students develop
the ability to see the world
from different viewpoints in
order to understand the
diversity of thought and
feeling in the world. .
E - Students in drama/theater
X imagine themselves as Juliet
A from Romeo and Juliet, Act
M 4, and write an explanation
for why they have to take
P this desperate action.
L
E
 SELF KNOWLEDGE
- Provide opportunities for
metacognitive exercises, such as:
self-assessments of intellectual
performances; reflection on
learning strengths, weaknesses,
and habits; reflection on their own
upbringing, biases, and
worldviews. .
 SELF KNOWLEDGE
-To ensure students are deeply
aware of the boundaries of their
own and others’ understanding;
able to recognize their own
prejudices and projections; has
integrity – able and willing to act on
what one understands .
E - Students in math are
X prompted to do a formative
assessment in class in which they
A describe one topic that they
M understand well, one topic that
P they don’t understand well,
and one question that they
L have.
E
THANK YOU