Understanding vs. Knowing

Schedule: This is a 1-hour class.

Format: Lecture with some class participation. No grading; homework is optional.

Cost: $20 per person for a group class of 4 or more students; $80 for one-on-one tutoring.

Payment options: Payments can be made via PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, cash, or check.

Materials: Pencil and paper.

For more details or to schedule a class, contact Michael by phone at 281-770-2276 or by email at michaelgold@goldams.com.

Class Description.

We got a good grade on a test; someone has a college degree; someone is an authority in their field — those are marks of understanding, right?

Not necessarily.

Those might be consequences of understanding, and hence sometimes are a sign of it, but sometimes are not. So what really is understanding? And how do we know? How do we know whether we or someone else really understands something — a math topic, ecology, cancer, running, health, fitness, parts of speech, logic?

In this class, we’ll learn what understanding is and what three important characteristics of it are. We know that knowledge is different than belief, and understanding is deeper than knowledge, but we’ll take a logical look at the concept. We’ll take a brief deep dive into what makes up understanding.

Through lecture, examples, and some discussion, we’ll learn what understanding is, learn some real examples of it, and let you “chew” the idea a bit on your own.

This is an important concept for any scientist or future scientist, any teacher or future teacher, any writer or future writer — for anyone who is mindful, who reasons, who engages in human thought of any form.

Note: this is a class on logic, so we need to be prepared to think about our thinking. And the material and methods could be taught to adults, business professionals, and scientists, too; it’s not just easy stuff for kids. 🙂

“My teenage son enjoyed this class. A lot of material was covered. The instructor was very passionate about his subject.”
–Jean, parent, about the Outschool class “Logic Essentials: How to Think Well,” 19 Dec 2020

“Really enjoyable class from a teacher that cared and knows his stuff.”
–Anthony S., parent, about the Outschool class ““Logic Essentials: How to Think Well,” 19 Jul 2020

“Mr. Gold’s class was wonderful and our daughter enjoyed it. Mr. Gold kept her thinking. We highly recommend it.”
–Joseph P., parent, about the Outschool class ““Logic Corner: Generalization: Its Nature, Its Rules, Its Deep Importance,”3 Apr 2020

“Our daughter really enjoyed this class. She couldn’t wait to share what she learned with us, We highly recommend this class.”
–Joseph P., parent, about the Outschool class ““Logic Corner: Concepts, Our Unit of Knowledge,” 3 Apr 2020

“Both my kids, age 13 and 15, enjoyed this Logic class. It was very challenging and the kids really had to think!”
–Cat, parent, about the Outschool class ““Logic Essentials: How to Think Well,” 21 Feb 2020