9 years ago
Friday, January 15, 2010
Skemp's Article
Skemp's article discusses the differences between relational understanding and instructional understanding. Relational understanding involves knowing the proper way to solve a problem, including how you would set it up, and why you would set it up in that manner. Instructional understanding is knowing which algorithm to apply without knowing the reasoning behind it. From these definitions, you can tell that instrumental understanding is included within relational understanding just like the diagram that we drew in class. Each of these has different advantages. While instrumental understanding is relatively simple and just takes memorization, relational understanding provides long term benefits because when you understand the "why" of a problem, you can easily replicate the "how". Instrumental learning can provide results fast, and when a student gets the right answer quickly it can give them confidence. However, when teaching new information, relational understanding can be applied more readily. A student wouldn't always see which numbers to plug into an equation without having a relational understanding. When a student understands relationally they are less likely to seek external rewards and they are also more likely to seek relational understanding in different areas of life.
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Your discussion of the advantages was very nicely done. You explained how it applied to equations, and the benefits of each. It was very nicely done and you hit on many of the key concepts.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is something more to instrumental understanding. I am not exactly sure what is meant by algorithm. To me algorithm is equations and numbers, but I feel Skemp focused on more than that with instrumental understanding. He focused on procedures and rules too, which makes me believe there is something more than algorithm to understanding instrumentally.
I really liked your blog post. It was nice that you were able to convey your message in a short, yet very informative paragraph. I would have tried to put in more information comparing the two and talking about how they are really related. I think you did a really good job. Keep up the good work :)
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done! You summarized Skemps key points very well. The advantages and disadvantages reminded me of reading what Kemp wrote, which is good because it shows that you were using his ideas rather than your own. I felt like when you were comparing the ideas, I kept moving back and forth between relational and instrumental that it was a little confusing. Other wise, I really liked reading your summarization!
ReplyDeleteYou summarized the key components of the articles very clearly and concisely, which is good. You identified the advantages and disadvantages of instrumental and relational understanding very simply, which I enjoyed. One is more about simplicity, and the other is about long term benefits.
ReplyDeleteI could have used a little bit more of an explanation about where they overlap, simply for clarification. If someone had missed class, they might not know what the diagram is.
I liked how you explained the pros of instrumental understanding versus rational understanding. My favorite part of instrumental understanding is the immediate success you can gain, but my favorite part of relational understanding is the excitement I experience when I know I really understand something.
ReplyDeleteI guess the only thing I would further explain in this post is just what rational understanding really is. I don't know if I would have fully comprehended what rational understanding is if I hadn't already read the article.
I really enjoyed the part in the paragraph where you talked about the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of understanding. I think that you captured Skemp's thinking very well.
ReplyDeleteI was a little confused at the beginning of the paragraph, particularly when the term "instructional" understanding instead was used instead of "instrumental." I also wondered a little about the relationship between the two types of understanding, and agree with the comment above that more description of the their relationship, perhaps even describing the figure we had drawn in class, would have been helpful.