Part II
Log onto the internet.
K-12 Social Studies
Unit Development Training
Part II: Purpose & Expected Outcomes
You will be able to:
 Develop generalizations to support a unit.
 Make modifications to strengthen generalizations.
 Write guiding questions that lead students to inductively
arrive at the generalizations.
 Learn how to develop performance tasks to assess
understanding.
 Identify the non-negotiable components of effective
concept-based instruction.
 Determine next steps for your district/school to begin
designing concept-based units of instruction.
Guiding/Essential Questions
• Guide student thinking through the factual material to inductively
arrive at the generalization
• Can be factual, conceptual, or provocative (debatable)
• Engages student interest and intellect
• Promotes discussion and debate
• Promotes inquiry
• Each generalization should have 3-5 questions
• A unit may have 2-3 provocative questions for the entire unit.
Factual Questions
Locked in time, place, or situation
Conceptual Essential Questions
These questions can transfer over time and space.
Provocative Essential Questions
These questions have no right or wrong answer and should stir debate.
An Example – Kindergarten
Unit Topic:
Who are we?
Generalizations: Who we are is shaped by our
culture and can change over time.
1. What is a timeline? (F)
Conceptual Lens:
2. How does environment impact culture? (C)
Culture and Change
3. Is it important to always be the same as
everybody else ? (P)
Unit Overview:
4. What is the relationship between environment,
culture, and community? (C)
Who we are is ultimately a reflection of
where we come from, what we are raised
with, and the experiences that change our
lives. In this unit, students will learn about
the factors that shape their young lives and
the ways that people, places, and things
can change over time, remaking who we
are.
5. How is your culture the same as and different from
other people’s culture? (F)
6. What are some ways that people can change who
they are? (F)
An Example – 6th Grade
Unit Topic:
Historical Foundations of
Contemporary Societies
Conceptual Lens:
Patterns and Influence
Generalizations: Exploration, innovations, and
inventions often bring regions into contact with one
another and result in the movement of people, goods,
and ideas.
1. What innovations and ideas enabled European
nations to engage in trans-Atlantic exploration? (F)
2. In what ways can economic goals affect government
actions and individual rights? (C)
3. What is the economic impact of emigration on a
society? (C)
Unit Overview:
A variety of factors influence the way that
people lived and interacted in the past.
Events and ideas from the past continue to
shape contemporary societies. Those
events and ideas often form patterns that
help us understand not only the past, but
the present as well. In this unit we will
examine the historical foundations of
contemporary societies around the world.
4. In what ways does demand for natural resources fuel
exploration? (C)
5. Why was gold such a desirable resource for nations
of Europe during the Age of Exploration? (F)
6. How is the need for oil affecting the way that nations
in South America and Europe participate in the
global economy? (F)
Unit Topic:
An Example – AH2
Everybody Wants To Rule The
World
*Note: The content of this unit is the Cold
War and Its Effects.
Generalization: Democratic governments seek
public support and use propaganda to influence
issues of national security and domestic policy
issues and debates.
1.
In what ways did the U.S. use emotional
response to generate public support for the
search for communists and anarchists in
American government? (F)
2.
How might fear affect political or
government action? (C)
3.
Is the restriction of civil liberties ever
justified? (P)
4.
How have both the Red Scare and the
Patriot Act impacted the constitutional rights
of U.S. citizens? (F)
Conceptual Lens:
Power & Conflict
Unit Overview:
This unit will focus on the elements of the
foreign policy known as containment and
the major conflicts that shaped the Cold
War. Students will begin to look at how
containment affected domestic policy and
American life as well as the U.S. position
as a power in the global world.
8
Steps 8-9
Assessing for Understanding
Step 10
Begin with the end in mind (KUD) and
work toward assessing for understanding.
• Identify the desired results (KUD –
Know/Understand/Do).
• Design meaningful performance tasks
that meet critical KUD’s.
• Develop effective criteria to evaluate the
results.
U
K
D
Developing The Performance Tasks
Performance Tasks: Provide students with opportunities to
actively demonstrate understanding of concepts, generalizations
and content in the standards and unit.
Student Performances:
• Reflect the most important
 Understand (Generalizations),
 Know (Factual Knowledge), and
 Able to Do (Skills) of the unit.
• Student Performances are the assessment evidence of
mastery.
 Student Performances are not simple “activities.”
The Components To Developing
Performance Tasks
Performance Task Template
[What] Topic
[Why] Generalization(s)
[How] Student Performance
Here’s A Performance Task Example
What: As one of a team of cultural anthropologists, analyze the
interactions of the early European settlers and American
Indians.
Why:
In order to understand that:
Interaction between different groups ma lead to cultural
diffusion.
How:
Research one aspect of early Native American Indian and European
culture (history, arts, religion, government, daily living, land use...)
before and after the interaction between the groups. Drawing from your
research, write a case study describing the obvious impacts or
influences that these merging cultures have had on each other over
time. As one member of the anthropological team, present an insightful
and powerful speech to the state historical society, using visuals or
multi-media, detailing the positive and negative lessons to be learned
from the historical study of merging cultures.
WHAT:__(Unit Title)________
Why:__(Enduring Understanding(s)_____________
HOW:_Performance (RAFTS)___________________
R= Role
A= Audience
F =Format
T= Topics
S= Strong
verbs and
adjectives
Developing Learning Experiences &
Instruction
Step 11
III. Implement the design in a lesson.
Ask:



What LEARNING EXPERIENCES and INSTRUCTIONAL
STRATEGIES will enable students to achieve the desired
results?
What enabling KNOWLEDGE (facts & concepts) and SKILLS
(processes, procedures, strategies) will students need in
order to perform effectively and achieve desired results?
What ACTIVITIES will equip students with the needed
knowledge and skills?
Developing Learning
&
Developing
LearningExperiences
Experiences
Instruction
1. Determine the knowledge and skills that students will need to be
successful in independently completing the Culminating Performance
Task; then…
2. Design Student Learning Experiences to prepare students with the
knowledge and abilities to be successful on the Culminating Task.
3. Do the Correlations of Student Learning Experiences, by number, to the
GENERALIZATIONS, KNOW, and KEY SKILL components developed
earlier in the unit. This correlation makes certain that the unit has
coherence as well as adherence to what you want students to KNOW,
UNDERSTAND, and be able to DO.
Page 4
Suggested Learning
Experiences/Instructional Activities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Research Skills
Know cultural diffusion – other key concepts
& voc.
How to write a case study
Expose them to various visuals with Public
Speaking Skills
Teach how to use multimedia presentations
Teach how to use graphic organizers –
especially using vocabulary
Developing Learning Experiences
Using the previous performance task, Make a
list of learning experiences that a teacher will
need to teach and students will need to learn in
order to effectively complete the performance
task.
Planning Your Next Steps
On the wiki, pull up these data documents
• DPI Recommendations
• Fidelity Check
• Action Plan