This page introduces the Teaching for Robust Understanding (TRU) framework. TRU provides a research-based response to the question,
“What are the attributes of equitable and robust learning environments – environments in which all students are supported in becoming knowledgeable, flexible, and resourceful disciplinary thinkers?”
The answer, which resonates with what we know as teachers and researchers, appears in distilled form in Figure 1. The quality of a learning environment depends on the extent to which it provides opportunities for students along the following five dimensions:
(1) The richness of disciplinary concepts and practices (“the content”) available for learning;
(2) Student sense-making and “productive struggle”;
(3) Meaningful and equitable access to concepts and practices for all students;
(4) Means for constructing positive disciplinary identities through presenting, discussing and refining ideas; and
(5) The responsiveness of the environment to student thinking.
