Understanding by Design
Our goal is creating curriculum that is
responsive to the needs of the
learners it serves.
Way of Thinking
• UbD talks about WHAT we teach. Educators
adapt its tools and materials with the goal of
promoting better student understanding.
• DI talks about HOW we teach. It guides
educators in thinking about whom they teach,
where they teach, and how they teach in order to
ensure that what they teach provides each
student with maximum power as a learner.
Why design backwards?
• Planning with “the end in mind” shifts
thinking from “what will we provide,” and
“what are the learning activities” to “what
do we really want the student to know,
understand, and be able to do.”
The three stages of backward
design………………
• Desired Results
What are the enduring understandings that are implied in the
established goals? (standards/curriculum objectives)
Evidence
of Achievement
How will you know if the students achieved the desired results?
(How will you know “they got it?”)
(How will you show “they got it?”)
Plan
Learning and Instruction
Must consider several questions
Methods of teaching (D.I.),
sequence of lessons, resources can only
be successfully planned after the
desired results and assessments are
identified.
© Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, 2005
template
Stage 1 – Desired Results
Established Goals:
Identify one or more goals (content standards, district course or
program objectives, and learning outcomes.)
“Educators in North America have discovered three common problems while
attempting to use standards for educational planning”
1. The number of standards exceeds the time needed to learn them.
2. The standards are too big or global.
3. The standards are too small and only concentrate on “facts.”
UbD solution – Look at your set of standards and
identify the core tasks and big ideas that are
contained within them
© Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, 2005
“Unpacking the Standards”
Great units depend on the designer’s ability to unpack
standards and identify key understandings embedded within
them.
Consider the five Pennsylvania Math Standards
•Algebra gives organization and expression to unknown quantities
•Numbers enable one to make informed decisions
•Applying number concepts enables us to interpret our environment
•Number patterns describe the world around us
•Analyzing the form and function of both natural and man-made objects in the
environment provides people with a better understanding of how their world
works.
Wiggins and McTighe
Unpacking the Standards
Data
Analysis
Worth being familiar with
Important to
know and do
Familiar with….
Different types of graphs
Measures of central
tendency
Probability
Important to know and do…
Data can be represented in graphic
form.
Big Ideas and
Enduring
Understandings
Measures of central tendency are
used to explain and analyze data.
The likelihood of something
occurring depends on various
factors.
Pennsylvania Math Standard
Numbers enable one to make informed
decisions
McTighe and Wiggins, 2004
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
Topical versus overarching understanding
The overarching understanding should help to address the
"So what?" question that students often ask.
Overarching
Topical
Point beyond the unit, to
the larger transferable idea
Point to the unit, uncovered
as a result of the unit
Ex: Persuasive Writing Grades K-1
Overarching
Words have power.
Topical
Persuasive writing tries to convince
the reader to agree with the writer
opinion.
Understanding versus factual knowledge.
An understanding is an inference drawn from facts. An
understanding is not a straightforward given, but a
conclusion inferred using "givens“.
Consider the following two statements:
A triangle has three sides and three angles (a fact).
A triangle with three equal sides has three equal angles
(understanding).
• Stopped
OVERARCHING UNDERSTANDING(S)
STANDARDS/ELIGIBLE CONTENT:
•TSW understand that writing is a process
that conveys ideas, thoughts, and feelings,
and should incorporate revision.
•TSW understand that words have power.
•TSW understand that the purpose for writing
and its audience influences genre and mode.
•TSW understand that domains are necessary
components of written communication.
Types of Writing 1.4.3 (Grade 3)
A. Write Narrative pieces (stories, poems, etc)
Include detailed descriptions of people,
places and things.
Use relevant illustrations
Include literary elements (Standard 1.3.3 B)
Reading, Analyzing & Interpreting
Literature 1.3.3 (Grade3)
B. Identifying literary elements in stories
describing characters, setting and plot
TOPICAL UNDERSTANDINGS
Narrative writing comes in many forms.
Narrative writing tells a story.
There are specific story elements of
narrative writing.
Narrative writing occurs in a purposeful order.
Illustrations can add interest and understanding.
Essential Questions
• Should point to and highlight the Goals.
• Should get to the heart of the topic.
• Provokes deep thought, lively discussions
and points to more questions.
• Allows for meaningful connections.
• Reoccur throughout life.
Topical versus Overarching
Overarching – could appropriately express a given concept found in most grade
levels and courses
How are science and common sense related? How does opinion affect inquiry?
Topical
How does observation, inference, probability, and prediction effect crime scene
investigations.
Overarching – specific to the unit topic
How do we know what happened in the past?
Topical
How would our lives be different without the contributions of the Ancient
Egyptians?
Tips for writing Essential
Questions
1. Make the content answer the questions.
2. Select or design assessment tasks that are linked to the
questions.
3. Use two to five questions per unit.
4. Frame the questions in language appropriate to the age
group.
5. Sequence the questions so they naturally lead to one
another.
6. Ensure that every student understands the questions.
7. Help the students personalize the questions.
8. Share the questions with faculty members to promote
overarching questions.
McTighe and Wiggins, 2004
The KNOW and the SHOW
The final part of stage 1
The Know – What key knowledge and skills will the student acquire
as a result of the unit?
Vocabulary
Definitions
Key factual information
Formulas
The Show
Critical details
Important events and people
Sequence and timelines
– What should the student be able to do as a result of such
knowledge and skill?
Basic skills – decoding, computation
Listening, Speaking, Writing
Research, Inquiry
Study skills
McTighe and Wiggins - 2004
Group skills
Comparing, Analyzing,
Interpreting, Inferring
Stage 2 – Assessment
Evidence
“The most important method of
education always has consisted of
that in which the pupil was urged to
actual performance.”
----Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions, 1954/1982, p. 60
Stage 2 - Assessments
• What evidence can show the students
have achieved the understanding ?
• How are we going to determine the extent
of student understanding?
• What assessment tasks will help guide
our instruction, tasks, and activities?
Wiggins and McTighe, 2005
MISCONCEPTION: Evidence of understanding is that
which includes only end-of-teaching test, performance
tasks, projects, etc.
TRUTH: Evidence of understanding is EVERYTHING on a
continuum gathered over time.
A “Continuum of Assessments”
Oral questions
Projects
Observations
Performance tasks
Prompts
Open-ended questions
Dialogues
Quizzes
Tests
GRASP
Wiggins and McTighe, 2005
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Understanding is revealed in performance. An authentic assessment calls
for students to come to two understandings,
1. Learning how adults in the larger world really use the knowledge and
skills taught, and
2. How discrete lessons are meaningful. How they lead to higher-quality
performance or mastery of more important tasks.
Performance Tasks
•
•
•
•
•
Involve complex challenges that mirror issues and problems that adults face
Are authentic
Uses real or simulated settings
Allow students the opportunity to personalize the task
Require tangible product or performance
Wiggins and McTighe, 2005
GRASPS
•GOAL
(your task, your goal, your challenge)
•ROLE
(you are, you have been asked to, your job is)
•AUDIENCE (your clients are, your audience is)
•SITUATION (the challenge involves dealing with)
•PRODUCT, PERFORMANCE, PURPOSE
(you will create a ____ in order to)
•STANDARDS AND CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS
(your performance needs to, your work will be judged by)
•
You will form a company and design a bridge to scale. The bridge must be
built to code using only materials purchased from the I. Saw Lumber
Company. The bridge will be judged for the quality of the building design
and the strength of the bridge. You must draw, to scale, plans showing four
views of your bridge: the view from one end, the side view, the road bed, and
the top view. The bridge must be more than 5 cm high and at least 4 cm
wide. You must consider neatness of the finished bridge, cost of the bridge,
and how well the finished design matches the original plans. The bridge will
also be tested for strength. Judging and strength testing will take place at
the completion of the activity.
Wiggins and McTighe, 2005
STAGE 3
• In stage 3 you must consider the instructional strategies
and learning experiences needed to achieve the desired
results (stage 1) as reflected in the assessment
evidence to be gathered (stage 2 ).
• The activities are planned to develop the target
understandings and the knowledge and skills identified in
stage 1 AND to equip students for the tasks specified in
stage 2.
Wiggins and McTighe, 2005
Stage 3 – The Learning Plan
WHERETO – WHERETO is an acronym that summarizes
key elements to consider when designing an effective and engaging
learning plan.
W – Ensure the students understand WHERE the unit is heading and WHY.
H – HOOK students in the beginning and HOLD their attention throughout.
E – EQUIPT students with necessary experiences, tools, and knowledge to
meet performance goals.
R – Provide students with numerous opportunities to RETHINK 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 as opposed to superficial
coverage.
Wiggins and McTighe, 2005
• Learning Activities
Students will…..
Learn the history of robotics.
Investigate the uses of robots in today’s world.
Design a robot to complete a self-selected task.
Be introduced to the Lego Mindstorm Robotics kit.
Design several robots using a “Constructopedia”.
Learn the Lego Mindstorms programming software.
Program a robot to perform a specific task.
Create a computer program.
Design and program a robot to complete a maze.
Build a robot without any guidance or plans.
• Assessment
Data will be collected in one or more of the following ways:
Rubrics
Teacher evaluation
Teacher observation
Student self evaluation
Student peer evaluation
Journaling
Differentiated Strategies
There are a myriad of differentiation strategies out there.
The Internet is a great source to use for finding
differentiated lesson plans.
Interest Surveys
Anchor Activities
Compacting
Raft Assignments
Contracts and Menus
Example
Activity
• Given the following Goals What would a
Essential understanding be?
Essential Understanding
• Understandings:Students will
understand that...Using apostrophes
incorrectly can cause
misunderstandings to occur.
• Some debate about how apostrophes
are used correctly exists.
• Apostrophe misuse is an extremely
common error
Essential Questions
• How are apostrophes used?
• Why should we learn to use
apostrophes correctly?
•
Students will know...
• How to use apostrophes correctly in their
writing for a variety of purposes
•
•
Students will be
able to..
• Determine when to use apostrophes for
effective communication.
•
•
•
Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks
:
• Performance Tasks:The PA
Apostrophe Dilemma: Students will
compose letters to PA
Representatives, who introduced a
resolution to the PA House of
Representatives advocating a
position on forming the possessive
of the state's name backed with
researched evidence explaining why
their position is correct
Assessment Evidence/
Other evidence
Grammar book exercises
QuizTest (part of a larger unit on
mechanics and a final exam)
Effective continued application of
apostrophe rules in remaining
assignments
Activity
• Now given this unit, plan some learning
activities
LEARNING PLAN
Examine
Apostrophe Abuse prior to a class discussion about impressions of the
apostrophe errors on the site.
Write letter to Rep. SMITH, drafting, revising, and editing until the
letter is of publishable quality.
Apply what they have learned about apostrophes to their
remaining assignments. Should students make apostrophe
errors, they will lose points, per department policy, and have
the opportunity to earn the points back if they explain why they
lost the points and correct the error.
Students will be tested more comprehensively over mechanics on
a larger "unit" test and again on the final.
LEARNING PLAN
Examine Apostrophe Abuse prior to a class discussion about
impressions of the apostrophe errors on the site.
Create rules for the use of apostrophes based on what they know
from reading and usage.
Share rules for using apostrophes.
Come to a consensus about apostrophe rules after consulting
grammar text.
Practice grammar exercises designed to enforce apostrophe
rules.
Quiz over apostrophe use.
Read about and discuss PA's apostrophe dilemma