Six Facets of Understanding

`The objective of this work is the compare and contrast Bloom’s Taxonomy with the Six Facets of Understanding from Wiggins and McTighe and to cite examples from experiential knowledge gained through practice. Understanding by Design – Six Facets of Understanding – Wiggins & McTighe

The work of Wiggins and McTighe is based on the ‘Six Facets of Understanding ‘which are as follows:

• Explanation – the provision of complete and justifiable accounts of phenomena, data and facts;
• Interpretation – telling of stories, offering of translations and the provision of supporting personal ideas, events and stories to help the understanding of the learners;
• Perspective – seeing and hearing other points of views through critical seeing and listening while knowing the overall bigger picture;
• Application – use of the knowledge in a meaningful way.
• Empathy – Findings value in what others might find to be odd or implausible; and
• Self-knowledge – perception of the individual styles, thinking styles and personal styles that form understanding as well as that which stands in the way of understanding II.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Compared & Contrasted with Wiggins & McTighe While the theories of learning of Bloom and Wiggins & McTighe are very similar the difference lies in the failure of Bloom to note the stage at which the learner has gained enough knowledge to empathetically understand the learner’s dilemma prior to their gaining an understanding of the subject.

This is very critical in the practice because at this point the learner may become easily frustrated or feel that they aren’t capable of understanding. For instance, a piano teacher when working with students is able to draw on their past learning and remember how it was when they did not understand the knowledge being imparted to them and then with that empathetic understanding of where the learner is at in relation to learning the subject at hand bring the learner over that hump instead of the learner becoming frustrated and giving up.

To explain more clearly; learning to practice scales with both hands and to have both the right and left hand smoothly play octave scales in different keys is at first difficult and the learner makes clumsy attempts finding it hard to believe that they will be able to duplicate the teacher’s playing of scales however, the teacher remembers this feeling of frustration and empathetically shares that story with the learner who is then inspired to believe that the learning is attainable with practice and that they too will be able to play the scales in the future