Understanding by Design
The ‘Big Ideas’
of UbD
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
3 Stages of
(“Backward”) Design
1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable evidence
3. Plan learning experiences
& instruction
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Understanding by Design
Template
 The
UbD template
embodies the 3
stages of
“Backward Design”
 The template
provides an easy
mechanism for
exchange of ideas
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
The “big ideas” of each stage:
Unpack the content
standards and
‘content’, focus on
big ideas
Analyze multiple
sources of evidence,
aligned with Stage 1
Derive the implied
learning from
Stages
1
&
2
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
Standard(s):
Understandings
s
t
a
g
e
1
Essential Questions
What are the big ideas?
Assessment Evidence
Performance Task(s):
s
t
a
g
e
2
Other Evidence:
What’s the evidence?
LearningActivities
s
t
a
g
e
3
How will we get there?
UBD 08/2002
Components of Each Stage
Stage 1
Stage 2
U Understandings
T
Task(s)
Q Questions
R
Rubric(s)
OE
Other
Evidence
CS Content
Standards
Stage 3
L Learning
Plan
K Knowledge
& Skill
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Standards
Process Standards
Content Standards
Grade Level Expectations
“I Can” Statements
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
The big ideas provide a way to
connect and recall knowledge
Humor
Figurative
Language
Originality
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
Passion
Big Idea:
A writer’s voice
produces a
memorable
experience in the
reader
Honesty &
Insight
UBD 08/2002
Other Big Ideas in Literacy:
 Rational
persuasion vs. manipulation
 Audience and purpose in writing
 A story, as opposed to merely a list of
events linked by “and then…”
 Reading between the lines
 writing as revision
 A non-rhyming poem vs. prose
 Fiction as a window into truth
 A critical yet empathetic reader
 A writer’s voice
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Questions for identifying truly
“big ideas”

Does it have many layers and nuances, not
obvious to the naïve or inexperienced
person? Reflect the core ideas as judged by
experts?

Is it (therefore) prone to misunderstanding
as well as disagreement?

Can it be used throughout K-12?

Are you likely to change your mind about
its meaning and importance over a
lifetime?
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
You’ve got to go
below the surface...
to uncover the
really ‘big ideas.’
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
3 Stages of Design,
elaborated
1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable evidence
3. Plan learning experiences
& instruction
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Stage 1 – Identify
desired results.
Key: Focus on Big ideas
Enduring Understandings: What specific insights U
about big ideas do we want students to leave with?
 What essential questions will frame the teaching
Q
and learning, pointing toward key issues and
ideas, and suggest meaningful and provocative
inquiry into content?
K
 What should students know and be able to do?


What content standards are addressed explicitly CS
by the unit?
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
The “Big Idea” of
Stage 1:
There is a clear focus in the unit
on the big ideas
Implications:
Organize content around key concepts
 Show how the big ideas offer a purpose and
rationale for the student!
 You will need to “unpack” Content standards in
many cases to make the implied big ideas clear

© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
From Big Ideas to
Understandings about them
U
An understanding is a
“moral of the story” about the big ideas
 What
specific insights will students take
away about the the meaning of
‘content’ via big ideas?
 Understandings
summarize the desired
insights we want students to realize
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Understanding, defined:
They are...
Specific generalizations about the “big
ideas.” They summarize the key meanings,
inferences, and importance of the ‘content’
 Deliberately framed as a full sentence
“moral of the story” – “Students will
understand THAT…”
 Require “uncoverage” because they are not
“facts” to the novice, but unobvious
inferences drawn from facts - counterintuitive & easily misunderstood

© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Understandings: Examples...
U
 Great
artists often break with conventions to
better express what they see and feel.
 Friendships
hard times
 History
can be deepened or undone by
is the story told by the “winners”
 The
storyteller rarely tells the meaning
of the story
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Knowledge vs. Understanding

An understanding is an unobvious and
important inference, needing “uncoverage” in
the unit; knowledge is a set of established
“facts.”

Understandings make sense of facts, skills,
and ideas: they tell us what our knowledge
means; they ‘connect the dots’
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Essential Questions
Q
What questions –






Are arguable - and important to argue about
Are at the heart of the subject
Recur - and should recur - in professional work, adult
life, as well as in classroom inquiry
Raise more questions – provoking and sustaining
engaged inquiry
Often raise important conceptual or philosophical
issues
Can provide organizing purpose for meaningful &
connected learning
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Sample Essential Questions:
Q
 Who
are my true friends - and how do I
know for sure?
 Does
a good read differ from a ‘great book’?
Why are some books fads, and others
classics?
 To
what extent is geography destiny?
 How
different is a scientific theory from a
plausible belief?
 What
is the government’s proper role?
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
3 Stages of Design:
Stage 2
1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable evidence
3. Plan learning experiences
& instruction
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Stage 2 – Assessment
Evidence


What are key complex performance tasks
indicative of understanding?
T
What other evidence will be collected to build
the case for understanding, knowledge, and
skill?
OE

What rubrics will be used to assess complex
performance?
R
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
The big idea
for Stage 2
The evidence should be credible & helpful.
Assessments should –
 Be
grounded in real-world applications,
supplemented as needed by more
traditional school evidence
 Provide useful feedback to the learner, be
transparent, and minimize secrecy
 Be valid, reliable, and fair - aligned with
the desired results of Stage 1
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Just because the student
“knows it” …
Evidence of understanding is a greater
challenge than evidence that the
student knows a correct or valid
answer
Understanding is inferred, not seen
 It can only be inferred if we see evidence
that the student knows why (it works) so
what? (why it matters), how (to apply it) –
not just knowing that specific inference

© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Assessment of Understanding
via the 6 facets
i.e. You really understand when you can:
Explain, connect, systematize, predict it
 Show its meaning, importance
 Apply or adapt it to novel situations
 See it as one plausible perspective among
others, question its assumptions
 See it as its author/speaker saw it
 Avoid and point out common misconceptions,
biases, or simplistic views

© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Scenarios for Authentic Tasks
G
R
A
S
P
S
T
Build assessments anchored in
authentic tasks using GRASPS:
 What is the Goal in the scenario?
 What is the Role?
 Who is the Audience?

What is your Situation (context)?
What is the Performance challenge?
 By what Standards will work be judged
in the scenario?

© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Reliability: Snapshot vs.
Photo Album
We need patterns that overcome
inherent measurement error

Sound assessment (particularly of State
Standards) requires multiple evidence over
time - a photo album vs. a single snapshot
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
For Reliability & Sufficiency:
Use a Variety of Assessments
Varied types, over time:
 Authentic
tasks and projects
 Academic
exam questions, prompts,
and problems
 Quizzes
and test items
 Informal
 Student
checks for understanding
self-assessments
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Some key understandings
about assessment
 The
local assessment is direct; the MAP
is indirect (an audit of local work)
 The
only way to assess for
understanding is via contextualized
performance - “applying” in the
broadest sense our knowledge and skill,
wisely and effectively
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
3 Stages of Design:
Stage 3
1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable evidence
3. Plan learning experiences
& instruction
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Stage 3 Big Idea:
E
F
F
E
C
T
I
V
E
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
and
E
N
G
A
G
I
N
G
UBD 08/2002
Stage 3 – Plan Learning
Experiences & Instruction
A focus on engaging and effective
learning, “designed in”
L
 What
learning experiences and
instruction will promote the desired
understanding, knowledge and skill of
Stage 1?
 How will the design ensure that all
students are maximally engaged and
effective at meeting the goals?
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002
Think of your obligations via
W. H. E. R. E. T. O.
W
H
E
R
E
T
O
L
“Where are we headed?” (the student’s Q!)
How will the student be ‘hooked’?
What opportunities will there be to be equipped,
and to experience and explore key ideas?
What will provide opportunities to rethink,
rehearse, refine and revise?
How will students evaluate their work?
How will the work be tailored to individual
needs, interests, styles?
How will the work be organized for maximal
engagement and effectiveness?
© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
UBD 08/2002