Understanding by Design

Understanding by DesignUsing “Backward Design” to Create Meaningful Units of Study

(Adapted from and based on the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe)

What IS UbD?

• Integrating curriculum, instruction, and assessment within a unit of study in any discipline

• A unit design template for beginning with the end in mind

• A way to enhance meaningful understanding and transfer of learning

The “Big Ideas” of UbDUbD big idea Why is this

important?If not…

Backward Design

Plans need to be well aligned to be effective

Twin sins: Aimless activity and coverage

Transfer as goal

The essence of understanding and the

point of schooling

Students fail to apply learning

Understanding via Big Ideas

How transfer occurs; creates connections in

learning

Fragmented learning; more difficult, less

engaging

Meaningful Learning

This engages and invites students

Plans need to be well aligned to be effective

Key points to remember…• In order to begin, we must start at the end:

– Clarify results and evidence of them before designing lessons.

• UbD is a way of thinking more carefully about design; it is NOT a program.

• Thinking like an assessor (not only an activity designer) is key to effective design

• The work is only “coverage” or “nice activity” unless focused on questions and big ideas, related to the Standards

Key points to remember…• Too many students learn without thinking

– Instruction has become an activity in repeating the teacher

• Most test questions are recall– Where’s the deeper thinking?

• The “Course” is NOT– The textbook: that’s a resource

– The activities: these are steps

– The content: this is to be mastered

• There is a BIG difference between just knowing and really understanding…

The difference…I want students to understand…

I want students to understand THAT…

The US Constitution

(this is content!)

The three branches of US government

The US Constitution was a solution based on compromise to real and pressing problems and disagreements in governmentThey were a brilliant balance and limit of powers.

What can content mastery do?

• It gives us the means to an end

• The end is…– Providing students with real-world, problem

solving tools

– Equipping them to individually recognize, plan for, and solve any problem that involves the content

– Making them life-long learners

Give me an example…

• Content Mastery: Fractions

• You want students to learn fractions to recognize, frame, and solve any problem that involves fractional relationships independently

• SO, design the unit BACKWARDS from real problems and problem-solving situations that you want students to be able to solve on their own.

Give me one more example…

• Content Mastery: Grammar

• You want students to learn grammar to speak and write in any situation for maximum effect independently

• SO, design the unit BACKWARDS from communication challenges and problems that you want students to be able to solve on their own.

The point…

• UbD fosters transfer of learning to create independent problem-solvers.

• We equip them with understandings, skills, and knowledge that are essential to real-life situations.

• But…how…?

The Three Stages of Backward Design

1. Identify Desired Results

What is it that I want students to understand and know and be able to do?

2. Determine Acceptable Evidence

How will I know whether and how well they “got it”?

3. Plan Learning Experiences

What do I need to do in the classroom to prepare them for my assessment?

Three stages in the unit templateStage 1- Desired Results

Established Goals: G

Enduring Understandings: UStudents will understand that…

Essential Questions: Q

Students will know… K Students will be able to… S

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks: T Other Evidence: OE

Stage 3- Learning Plan

Learning Activities: L

Three Stages

• The following slides take you through

how to construct a unit, using the three

stages of backward design

• As you read, think of a unit that you

currently teach or would like to teach

• Consider how your unit would fit in to

the three stages

Stage 1- Desired Results









Stage 1

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEstablish Goals

• What goal am I addressing?

• What’s the point?

• How does this fit into the content standards?

• What should students come away having learned?

• What is the bigger purpose?

• Answer: Consider BIG IDEAS

What are BIG IDEAS? (Think CONCEPTS)

• Core idea at the “heart” of the discipline

• Enduring: has lasting, universal value

• Transferable to other topics/disciplines

• Connects facts and skills

• Requires “un-coverage” or “unpacking”

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEstablish Goals

How do I know if an idea is a Big Idea?

Does it have layers and nuance, not obvious to the naïve or

inexperienced person?

Does it yield optimal depth and breadth of insight into the

subject?

Do you have to dig deep to really understand its meanings

and implications even if you have a surface grasp of it?

Is it (therefore) prone to misunderstanding as well as

disagreement?

Are you likely to change your mind about its meaning and

importance over a lifetime?

Does it reflect core ideas, as judged by experts?

Concepts as Big IdeasChange Justice Exploration

Abundance Charity Environment

Freedom Interaction Communication

Migration Patterns Power

Symbols Diversity Culture

Conflict Cycles Fairness

Balance Perspective Friendship

What else can you think of?

Use Big Ideas to form Understandings and Essential Questions

UnderstandingsoInsights students take away about the meanings of the content via Big Ideas

oUnderstandings connect the dots

oUnderstandings tell us what our knowledge means and make sense of facts and skills

Essential QuestionsoImportant questions that will recur throughout our lives

oHelp students make sense of Big Ideas through questioning and then making decisions

oEngage and motivate

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEnduring Understandings

• Written as generalizations

• Framed around Big Ideas

• Beyond specific content

• Cut to the core of the discipline

• The overall “A-ha!”

• Start with “Students will understand THAT”

• NOT: facts, definitions, trite statements, the

obvious, “duh”

ExamplesoAn effective story engages the reader by setting up tensions about what will happen next

oWhen water disappears, it turns into water vapor and can reappear as liquid if the water is cooled

oDemocracy requires a courageous, not just a free press.

Non-examplesoAudience and purpose

oWater covers three-fourths of the earth’s surface

oA free press is guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEnduring Understandings

• Push to the heart of things

• Cause genuine and relevant inquiry into big ideas and core content

• Provoke deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, new understanding, and more questions

• Require students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support ideas, and justify answers

• Stimulate vital, ongoing rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, prior lessons

• Spark meaningful connections with prior learning and personal experiences

• Naturally recur, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and subjects

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEssential Questions

ExamplesHow would life be different

if we couldn’t measure time?

In what ways does art

reflect, as well as shape,

culture?

How do effective writers

hook and hold their readers?

Non-examplesHow many minutes are in

an hour? A day?

Between what years did

the Italian Renaissance

occur?

What is foreshadowing?

Can you find an example?

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEssential Questions

What do I do with Essential Questions?

• Post them in your classroom

• Use them in planning, assessment, and during

instruction

• Use them as a “touchstone” for discussion

• If I don’t…the questions disappear…and

meaning, transfer, and connections are lost…

From Big Ideas, to Enduring Understandings,

to Essential Questions

Big IdeasLiteratureCulture

Human condition

Enduring Understanding“Great literature from

various cultures exploresenduring themes and reveals

recurrent aspects of the human condition”

Transfer &Independent

thinkers

Essential Question“How can stories from other places and times be about

me?”

In order for students to perform well on

the assessments and competently

answer the Essential questions…

What should they KNOW?

What should they BE ABLE TO DO?

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsKnowledge & Skills

Knowledge includes…

•Vocabulary/terminology

•Definitions

•Key factual information

•Critical details

•Important events and people

•Sequence/timeline

These questions HAVE a

correct answer!

Skills include…

•Basic skills

•Communication skills

•Research/inquiry/investigati

on skills

•Thinking skills (problem-

solving, decision making)

•Study skills

•Interpersonal or group

collaboration skills


Examples

•Pioneer vocabulary and

terms

•Cavalieri’s Principle

•General health

problems caused by

poor nutrition

Examples

•Recognize and use

pioneer vocabulary in

context

•Use Cavalieri’s Principle

to compare volumes

•Plan balanced diets for

self and others


• Now, think like an assessor…o What evidence can show that students have

achieved the desired results?

o What assessment tasks and other evidence

will anchor the unit, guiding instruction?

o What should we look at to determine the

extent of student understanding?

• On to Stage 2!










Stage 2

• This is where UbD departs from

conventional unit design

• Before we plan the activities and

lessons, we must plan the assessment

• An orderly progression of activities then

follows, specifically designed to meet

the target

Stage 2- Determine Acceptable Evidence

• Assessments are often created without

consideration of the evidence needed to

demonstrate attainment of the objective

• Instead, consider, “How do we know that the

learner…

– met the goal through performance?”

– “got” the understandings?”

– deeply considered the essential questions?”


How to tell if you’re thinking like an assessor

Assessors ask…•What would be sufficient and revealing

evidence of understanding?

•Given the goals, what performance tasks

must anchor the unit and focus the

instructional work?

•What are the different types of evidence

required by Stage 1?

•Against what criteria will we

appropriately consider work and assess

levels of quality?

•Did the assessments reveal and

distinguish those who really understood

from those who only seemed to? Am I

clear on the reasons, beyond learner

mistakes?

Activity designers ask…•What would be fun and interesting

activities on this topic?

•What projects might students wish to do

on this topic?

•What tests should I give, based on the

content taught?

•How will I give students a grade and

(justify it to their parents)?

•How well did the activities work?

•How did the students do on the test?

• Understanding develops as a result of ongoing

inquiry

• Think of effective assessment as a scrapbook

of mementos and pictures, rather than a single

snapshot

• Gather lots of informal evidence along the way

in a variety of formats

• Use the continuum on the next slide as a guide


Continuum of AssessmentThink of anchoring your unit with a performance task.

But use Other Evidence along the way.(i.e. Don’t throw out all your old quizzes!)

Other Evidence

What should a Performance Task ask students to do?

• Contextualize learning to a real-world situation

• Require students to use judgment and innovation

• Call for exploration of the subject like a professional

• Replicate challenging situations in which people are truly

“tested” in life and work

• Compel students to use a repertoire of knowledge and skill to

negotiate a task

• Allow opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources,

get feedback, and refine performance

• Use the Six Facets of Understanding

The Six Facets of UnderstandingUse these when generating ideas for Performance Tasks!

GRASPS is a tool to create an authentic performance assessment

• G - Goal (What task do I want the students to achieve?)

• R - Role (What’s the student’s role in the task?)

• A - Audience (Who is the student’s target audience?)

• S - Situation (What’s the context? The challenge?)

• P - Performance (What will students create/develop?)

• S - Standards (On what criteria will they be judged?)

Remember: Make the tasks real world problems to solve!

Examples

oYou are a scientist charged with

designing an experiment to determine

which brand of detergent best removes

stains

oPlan and budget for a four-day tour in

Virginia to help visitors understand the

state’s impact on history and

development of our nation.

oDesign a flower garden for a company

with a logo that has side-by-side

circular, rectangular and triangular

shapes.

Non-examples

oCreate a volcano with baking

soda and vinegar

oA final exam in history with 50

multiple choice and short answer

questions.

oMake a poster collage of 100

items for the hundredth day of

school

Stage 2- Determine Acceptable EvidencePerformance Tasks

Every assessment you design should…

• Have clearly articulated criteria

• Be valid and reliable

• Provide sufficient measure of the

desired result

• Encourage students to self-assess their

own learning

As we move through Stage 3, keep in

mind that it’s not what the teacher needs

to accomplish, but rather, what the

learner needs to do…

achieve the desired results from Stage

1, and

perform well on the tasks in Stage 2

•On to Stage 3!










Stage 3

Use W.H.E.R.E.T.O. in instructional planning

• W -Ensure the students know WHERE the unit is headed and WHY

• H -HOOK students in the beginning; HOLD their attention throughout

• E -EQUIP students with necessary experiences, tools, knowledge, and know-how to

meet performance goals

• R -Provide students with numerous opportunities to RETHINK their big ideas,

REFLECT on progress, and REVISE their work

• E -Build in opportunities for students to EVALUATE progress and self-assess

• T -Be TAILORED to reflect individual talents, interests, styles, and needs

• O -Be ORGANIZED to optimize deep understanding, not superficial coverage

A Note on WHERETO

• This is NOT a recipe, formula, or

prescribed sequence

• It is, like the Six Facets, a way of judging,

assessing, and testing lessons and units

• How should the WHERETO elements be

combined and ordered? It’s up to the

designer

UbD is a time-consuming and challenging approach to design

• Lesson design should be

• If we want our students to wrestle with

timeless, universal questions, gain a deeper

understanding of the world, and then transfer

that rich experience to engage in authentic,

problem-solving activities, shouldn’t we be

thoughtful about the design process?

The answer is YES.

• If you would like to learn more, please consult

Understanding by Design, by Grant Wiggins

and Jay McTighe

• All slides in this PowerPoint have been adapted

from their work

• Good luck in your design process and

remember, when you begin, always keep the

end in mind!

Education

Understanding by Design