UNDERSTANDING BY
DESIGN: THINKING ABOUT
THE KEY PRINCIPLES FOR
YOUR SCHOOL
Allison
Zmuda,
Facilitator
1
GOALS FOR TODAY’S WORK
Examine the four big ideas behind
Understanding by Design
Identify key challenges in teaching and
learning in your school
Student Achievement
Coherence
Preparation for post-graduation
Design a template that meets your needs
2
GOALS FOR TOMORROW’S WORK
Review template components
Take template for a “test drive”
Use a unit that you currently teach
“Play” with essential questions, enduring
understandings, and performance task
Align with established goals
Plan for October rollout
3
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
What is “understanding” as a goal and
what does it demand of assessment and
instruction?
How can we more likely achieve
understanding by design rather than by
good fortune?
4
CYCLE OF TEACHING AND LEARNING
Plan
Adjust
Teach
Assess
5
UBD FOCUSES ON THE PLANNING PIECE
A framework to –
Stay focused on the long-term goals
Get the blend of ‘content’ and ‘performance’
right
Engage learners by using questions and tasks
6
WHY UBD?
If too many students…
do not apply their learning unless you ‘hold
their hand’
do not know why they are learning what they
are asked to
see their job as passive learners
7
LEARNER METAPHORS
I learn like a ______________________
because __________________________
Sample response: I learn like a car
because when I hop into gear, I accelerate
quickly when I get into the swing of
things.
8
WHAT PATTERNS DO YOU SEE IN
STUDENT RESPONSES?
I learn like a turtle because it takes awhile
for me to get something but in the end I
understand.
I learn like a lamp; when I’m “on” I do my
job well and when I’m “off” I don’t do
much.
I learn like a dog because it takes me a
while to completely understand things but
once I get it, I won’t forget it.
I learn like a digestive system because I
take in what I want and take out the rest.
9
WHAT PATTERNS DO YOU SEE IN
STUDENT RESPONSES?
I learn like a clock because every second
changes. One second I’m listening, the next
second I’m not.
I learn like a little kid because everything they
see and hear they want to touch and talk
about it.
I learn like a CD because in some subjects I
just flow freely and in other I skip like a
scratched one and in others I need things
repeated like the way a favorite song is
repeated over and over again.
10
WHAT PATTERNS DO YOU SEE IN
STUDENT RESPONSES?
 I learn like a tabletop. Things just get piled on top of
me and after a while everything gets cluttered.
Eventually I discard everything and the process starts
all over again.
 I learn like meatloaf because my brain is fat in the
beginning and then it shrinks up when it is
overheated.
 I learn like a camera because I am capable of doing
great things, but I need motivation. I need to know
why. Just like a camera, I need the perfect light and
a perfect moment, then everything is in focus.
Without these things, the camera has no use.
Without inspiration I am like a camera without film .11
WHAT PATTERNS DO YOU SEE IN
STUDENT RESPONSES?
I learn like a dead body because all I do is lay
there.
I learn like a ball of clay because teachers can
mold my mind into whatever they teach.
I learn like a parrot because after seeing
something I can mimic it.
I learn like a sponge because I absorb all of
the information that is thrown at me.
I learn like a tunnel because things go in one
side and out the other.
12
WHAT PATTERNS DO YOU SEE IN
STUDENT RESPONSES?
Your thoughts…
13
OUR RESPONSIBILIT Y
How did learners come to see
themselves that way?
Too
Too
Not
Not
Not
much “stuff”
much “teacher talk”
enough student questioning
enough student application
enough connections
14
LACK OF ALIGNMENT BETWEEN DAILY
LESSON AND LONG-TERM GOALS
15
THE BIG IDEAS ABOUT UNDERSTANDING
BY DESIGN
The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content effectively
for transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and competent understanding, not ‘coverage’
16
IDEA #1
The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content effectively
for transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and effective understanding, not ‘coverage’
17
I.E. HOW WOULD YOU COMPLETE THESE
SENTENCES?
By the end of the year,
learners should be (better)
able, on their own, to
effectively use all the
‘content’ learned this year,
to...
18
HOW WOULD YOU COMPLETE THE
SENTENCE? (2)
By the end of their formal
schooling, learners should
be able, on their own, to use
all the‘content’learned, to...
19
I.E. CONTENT IS A ‘TOOL’...
20
TOWARD WHAT END?
21
FROM DALE CARNEGIE
“Learning is an
active process.
We learn by
doing. Only
knowledge that
is used sticks in
your mind.”
22
THE BIG IDEAS - #2
The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content effectively
for transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and effective understanding, not ‘coverage’
23
WHAT IS REAL UNDERSTANDING? HOW
DOES IT DIFFER FROM ‘KNOWS A LOT’
If you really
understand you
can...
If you know a lot, but
don’t really
understand, you can
only...
24
GROUP THE ANSWERS
If you really understand you can...
Connect
Figure Out
Support
Not just
Plug in
Teach
Use
Create
Say why
Apply
Interpret
25
ONE CIRCLE FEEDS THE OTHER
If you really understand you can...
Figure Out
Apply
26
FORMAL LANGAUGE
If you really understand you can...
Make Meaning
via active
inferencing
Transfer
your learning
in context
27
NOT NEW IDEA — FROM BLOOM
"Application is different from simple
comprehension: the student is not
prompted to give specific knowledge, nor
is the problem old-hat. The tests must
involve situations new to the student...”
“Ideally we are seeking a problem which
will test the extent to which the
individual has learned to apply an
abstraction in a practical way."
28
IN SHORT, IF YOU HAVE EFFECTIVE
UNDERSTANDING, YOU ARE ABLE TO –
Efficiently and
effectively retrieve
and adapt the
most appropriate
content, in
context, to make
sense of things
and perform
effectively
29
CRUCIAL DESIGN IMPLICATIONS
Work must require students to –
Learn how to use content in novel situations
Confront endless problems with no obvious
answer and various plausible alternatives
Face challenges that require figuring out
which prior learning applies here
Handling varied situations: different
demands/audiences/purposes/options/constr
aints
30
AN EXAMPLE OF UNIT DESIGN: MATH
What is fair? How can math help (or
not)?
When we say something is ‘fair’ or ‘unfair’
what do we mean? How ‘mathematical’ should
our evidence be?
 Students generate, categorize examples of “That’s
fair!” and “That’s not fair!”
31
“WHAT IS FAIR? CAN MATH HELP?”
Problem - Four 7th-grade
classes had a race of all the
students.
IN GROUPS: Devise at least 2
different ways to determine
a fair ranking of the classes,
given the results.
Agree on the most fair way,
and be prepared to defend
your answers…
Individual ranking of runners in a
race by all 7th-grade classes
32
NEXT: FURTHER DISCUSSIONS
Jigsaw on fairness
 What do we mean when we say that the rules of a
game of chance are “not fair”? What role does
math play in our judgment?
 Why is it fair to have one person cut the cake and
the other person to choose the piece?
 When is straight majority voting “fair” and when is
it “not fair”?
 When is it “fair” to consider an “average” in
ranking performance (e.g. salaries, home prices,
batting average) and when is it “unfair”?
33
THE CONTENT IS LEARNED - “JUST IN TIME”
 “Guys, mathematicians have a few tools
that might help us…”
Lessons on measures of central
tendency:
oMean
oMedian
oMode
Quizzes to check for skill
34
FINAL ASSESSMENT TASKS
 Propose and defend a “fair” grading
system for use in this class.
How should everyone’s grade be calculated?
Why is your system more fair than the
current system (or: why is the current
system most fair?)
A final reflection on the question:
What is fair and what isn’t fair?
When should you and shouldn’t you use
mean, median, mode?
35
QUESTION: HOW DOES THIS UNIT DIFFER
FROM T YPICAL UNITS?
This unit....
Typical units...
 The start:
 The assessment:
 The textbook:
 The EQ:
 Building efficacy:
36
HONORS HOW WE NATURALLY LEARN
Question, story or problem to solve
Just in time teaching related to the
concept at the heart of the question,
story, or problem
Application to a novel question, story or
problem
Connection amongst questions, stories
or problems
37
Make
Meaning
Acquire
Authentic
Learning
Transfer
38
TRANSFER GOALS
Transfer
Adapt your knowledge, skill, and
understanding to specific and realistic
situations and contexts
AIM: efficient, effective solutions for
real-world challenges, audiences,
purposes, settings
39
MEANING GOALS
Make
Meaning
Make connections & generalizations,
using the facts and skills –
e.g. interpret, gist, main idea, thesis,
empathize, critique, etc.
AIM: independent and defensible student
inferences about situations, texts –
‘helpful and insightful understandings’
40
ACQUISITION GOALS
Acquire
Learn, with accurate and timely recall,
important facts and discrete skills
Aim: automaticity of recall when needed
in performance
41
TMA IN FRENCH
T: solve a communication problem, on the
spot, in which an American cannot make
himself understood to a Parisian because the
American relies on too many ‘faux amis’
words (sound like ours, different meanings)
and is getting tenses wrong
M: Correctly interpret the scene and
translate the meanings accurately
A: Acquire skills of accurate conjugation and
vocabulary (related to the misleading words)
42
TMA IN GEOGRAPHY
T: Make a map of your school; see if
people can read your map and use it to
get somewhere
M: Make sense of the spatial
relations, so as to interpret three
dimensions into two; make sense of
other people’s maps
A: Acquire skills of making and
reading maps
43
TMA IN PHYSICS
T: Maximize the distance travelled
by a CO2 car, roller coaster or
catapalted object, using the laws of
physics
M: Correctly interpret the acting
forces in the situation
A: Acquire skills of analysis of
motion and knowledge
44
TMA IN ALGEBRA
T: Solve a non-routine and unfamiliar
problem in context in which there may or
may not be a linear relationship.
M: Correctly interpret the meaning of
data patterns or line of ‘best fit’ of data
points
A: Acquire skills of plotting point pairs,
accurately drawing the graph of a line
from a linear equation, etc.
45
THE BIG IDEAS - #3
The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content for
transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and competent understanding, not ‘coverage’
46
THREE STAGES OF BACKWARD
DESIGN
Stage 1: Identify the long-term desired results
Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment
evidence to achieve those results
Stage 3: Design learning activities and
instruction, given the goals of Stage 1 and
evidence in Stage 2
47
THREE STAGES OF BACKWARD
DESIGN
Stage 1: GOALS
Stage 2: ASSESSMENT
Stage 3: LEARNING EVENTS
48
WHAT WE T YPICALLY
(INCORRECTLY) DO:
Identify the topics and content to be covered
Determine instruction for teaching the
content
When grades are due, assess the learning of
the content
49
GOALS FOR LEARNING?
“I want students to learn to speak in the
perfect tense”
“I want students to be able to solve
linear equations”
“I want students to identify author
purpose”
These are two of many skills; what’s the
goal? What’s the point of each skill?
50
CONSIDER:
The game The drills
51
YES, BUT…
“Backward from
performance?
Come on! My
textbook is 560
pages! There are
24 Standards!”
52
NO. YOUR COURSE HAS NO GOALS, THEN:
A goal is not another task or to-do. It is
the rationale and plan for how you
prioritize & design everything on the todo list, & use limited time wisely.
53
WITH INCREDIBLY LIMITED TIME, THE #1
GOAL IN DRIVER’S ED. IS STILL “REAL
DRIVING, SAFELY”
54
HINT: NOT A GOOD WAY TO LEARN TO
DRIVE...
55
AIMING FOR EXPLICIT UNDERSTANDING
I want students to understand –
 The Constitution
The 3 branches of government
No - not a goal - this just says what the
content is
56
BACKWARD FROM GOALS: MEANING
“I want students to leave having
inferred/realized that, now & in the
future –
The Constitution is a solution, based on
compromise, to real problems of balance and
limit of powers
The compromise has a long, sometimes bitter
history – with many fights that are with us and
will always be with us.
57
BACKWARD FROM GOALS: TRANSFER
“I want students to leave able to transfer
their understanding – on their own – to
concretely address current and future
situations:
 Design a school government
 Design a government for Iraq
 Organize their workplace
 Support candidates who understand our core
principles
58
NOTE THE KEY PHRASE!
“ON THEIR OWN”
There has to be a
deliberate plan for
developing
independent and
pro-active meaning
& transfer
59
THUS, THE COURSE IS NOT THE
TEXTBOOK
The textbook is a resource
It is jam-packed, to be sold in 50 states!
Like an encyclopedia & dictionary, it provides
topically organized content
No text can cause transfer, and most
texts mistakenly treat meaning-making
as acquisition of the “meaning” the
authors give.
60
TREATING MEANINGS AS FACTS PREVENTS
STUDENTS FROM THINKING
That’s like the textbook telling you the
meaning of Romeo and Juliet, owl pellet
experiments, or primary source historical
documents, giving you no chance to
make meaning yourself.
61
THUS: PRIORITIZE USE OF
TEXTBOOKS
Given our understanding goals, which
chapters should be –
 highlighted?
 skimmed?
 skipped?
 Re-sequenced?
What assessments are needed, beyond
what the textbook has?
62
THE RELATION BETWEEN STANDARDS &
CURRICULUM
Content Standards =
building code
The Curriculum =
the architect’s
blueprint
63
TEST PREP AND TEXTBOOK COVERAGE –
MISUNDERSTANDING!
Don’t confuse  Fitness & Wellness
 A home designed to
suit the client
 Causing effective
learning
 Using facts and skills
 A great meal
 Fluent performance
With  The doctor’s physical
 Meeting building
code
 Teaching by
mentioning
 Learning facts & skills
 Mindless use of a
recipe
 Prompted recall
64
WHAT’S THE BEST USE OF PRECIOUS CLASS
TIME?
What can only or best be done in class
together?
What is the most engaging and thoughtprovoking way to use class time?
What can’t be found for free on the
Internet?
65
UBD TEMPLATE
Stage 1 - Desired Results
The UbD
Template–
Stage 2 - Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks
Stage 3 - Learning Plan
Other Evidence:
Other Evidence
Other Evidence:
‘by design’
addresses the
issues we have
identified
T-M-A live at
each stage of
the template
66
WHAT
HOW we assess
HOW we teach
67
UBD TEMPLATE – STAGE 1
STAGE 1
Standards
Transfer
Long term goals of schooling
Meaning
Enduring Understandings
Essential Questions
Insight, wisdom, inference, Kid friendly question that
gist, generalization that the activates prior knowledge and
learner develops over time
focuses learning events
Acquisition
Primary knowledge and skills embedded in this topic, chapter
or theme as a basis for transfer
68
UBD TEMPLATE – STAGE 2
STAGE 2 — ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
Evaluative
Criteria
Elements of
Success
Aligned with
Transfer
Meaning
Acquisition
Transfer Tasks
Novel problems or challenges that requires
explanation and application of learning
Aligned with meaning and transfer in Stage 1
Other Evidence
Straightforward, efficient forms of assessment
Aligned with acquisition in Stage 1
69
UBD TEMPLATE – STAGE 2
STAGE 3 — LEARNING EVENTS
Code
Key Learning Events & Instruction
Goal is to maximize engagement and
effectiveness of instruction through —
• Robust use of formative assessment
Transfer
• Gradual release of responsibility
Meaning
Acquisition
• Encourage “learning from failure”
Identify
learning
events as
70
OTHER VARIATIONS ON THE TEMPLATE:
STAGE 2
Renamed “performance tasks” or
“performance assessments”
Elimination of established criteria and
added link for rubrics
Separation of Summative Tasks and
Formative Tasks
71
OTHER VARIATIONS ON THE TEMPLATE:
STAGE 1
Addition of mission related goals
Addition of 21 st century skills
Addition of “student friendly” goals
Addition of critical vocabulary
Separation of knowledge and skill
Elimination of Transfer
72
OTHER VARIATIONS ON THE TEMPLATE:
STAGE 3
Identified technology resources
Identified any pedagogical strategies
already in use
73
DESIGN YOUR OWN TEMPLATE
Given the three stages and the variations
presented, build your ideal template
(15 minutes) Work in groups of 2-4
 Use Post-it Notes or index cards
 Be prepared to explain your thinking to others
(10 minutes) Determine similarities and
differences through gallery walk of templates
(15 minutes) Conference committee of
everyone to get consensus on final version
74
GOALS FOR TODAY’S WORK
Review template components
Take template for a “test drive”
Use a unit that you currently teach
“Play” with essential questions, enduring
understandings, and performance task
Align with established goals
Plan for October rollout
75
76
MEANING MAKING
Connect the dots’
 Make sense of
(seemingly isolated)
experiences, data, or
facts
 Identify the gist,
point, purpose,
significance, big idea
 Draw appropriate
(but not obvious)
inferences (e.g.
motive)
NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
 “Intelligence cannot develop without matter to
think about. Making new connections depends
on knowing about something in the first place
to provide a basis for thinking of other things to
do – of other questions to ask – that demand
more complex connections in order to make
sense. The more ideas about something people
already have at their disposal, the more new
ideas occur and the more they can coordinate
to build up more complicated schemes.”
-- Eleanor Duckworth, The Having of Wonderful Ideas
78
RESEARCH ON THE SCIENCE OF LEARNING
New knowledge is built as an extension
of existing knowledge.
When given a question, problem, or
situation, people search their memory
banks to look for an answer.
Novice learners need to acquire factual
knowledge in tandem with conceptual
understanding in order to be able to
think effectively.
79
RESEARCH ON THE SCIENCE OF LEARNING
The quality of focus during learning
impacts the likelihood of whether it will
be remembered.
The motivation and capacity to learn is
naturally intrinsic.
80
DESIGN STANDARDS FOR ESSENTIAL
QUESTIONS
 Spark a meaningful
connection in the
minds of students
(connections to prior
learning, accessible
language, sentence
structure)
 Genuine inquiry (not a
predetermined, fixed
answer)
 Encourages transfer
across a range of
learning experiences
81
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS ON COMPARISONS,
RELATIONSHIPS
 How are these alike? How are they different? What
do I learn from the grouping/comparison?
 How can one person impact the world around
them?
 What are the rules of this relationship? How does
the context/situation affect the rules?
 What am I bringing to the text? What am I getting
from it? (text-self connection)
 What relationship do I see here? How do I apply
that?
 Where do I see evidence of interactions in the
world?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS ON CONSTANCY AND
CHANGE
What changes occurred? What stayed the
same?
How is this story/shape/problem the
same?
How do people/communities change over
time?
What are the events/challenges that create
change?
How do people/environments respond to
change?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS ON PATTERNS
What looks familiar here? How do I use
that to make sense of this situation?
What’s the pattern here? How does that
help me make predictions?
How do I find/set up a pattern? How do I
know if it works?
How do I describe/communicate a pattern?
What is the pattern in the text? How does
that help me be a better reader?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS ON ANALYZING TEXT
AND DATA
 What does the author / text / the results mean?
How do my results compare with what other people
have found?
 What are the relationships that I see in the text?
 What is the relationship that I see in the equation?
 How do I read between the lines?
 How do I use my inferences to draw a conclusion ?
 Is my conclusion supported by my
details/evidence?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS ON POINT OF
VIEW
 What information is this text giving me? What’s
missing?
 What is the intent of the text/author?
 What does the author/character want me to
believe?
 How do I convince someone that I’m right?
 Why am I so sure that I’m right?
 Why is this person so convinced that he/she is
right?
 What do these groups/people disagree about? Is it
possible to resolve it?
 How do I justify my conclusion/judgment?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS ON PROBLEM
SOLVING
What’s my strategy? How is it working?
What do I do if I’m stuck?
Where do I go for help?
How am I learning from how other people
see or work on the problem?
What is the best strategy for this given
problem?
What kind of problem/situation is this?
Have I seen it before? How do I use that
past experience to help me?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS VS. FACTUAL
KNOWLEDGE
Essential Questions
-Are meant to be explored, argued,
and continually revisited
-Have various plausible answers (and
often the answers raise new
questions)
-Spark and provoke thought and
stimulate students to engage in
sustained inquiry and extended
thinking
-Reflect genuine questions that real
people seriously ask
88
Knowledge Questions
-Have a specific, straightforward or
unproblematic answer
-Are asked to prompt factual recall
rather than generate a sustained
inquiry
-Are more likely to be asked by a
teacher or a textbook tan by a
curious student or person out in the
world
-Are more rhetorical than genuine
89
POP QUIZ ON ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
 What makes objects move the way they do?
 How does the body turn food into energy?
 How are stories from other places and times
about me?
 Whose story is this? Whose voices aren’t we
hearing?
 Which parts of me are fixed and which parts of
me am I free to change?
 What were the primary causes of World War I?
 Who is my audience and what follows for what I
say and how I say it?
89
ROLE OF ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
Pursue the Essential
Questions in order
to…
 establish or create a
theory
 craft an inference
 develop and test ideas
by the learner
DESIGN STANDARDS FOR
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
Big ideas at the heart of the discipline
Requires “uncoverage” in order to be
earned
Assessor-friendly language -- measurable
SAMPLE ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
 Successful teams strategically position
themselves to enhance performance. K-12
Collaboration, Knowledge
 An effective training plan is clearly grounded in
the goals of the individual. 9-12 Knowledge
 Attention to detail has significant effect on
overall results. K-12 Preparation, Knowledge
 Successful individuals constantly monitor and
adjust their plan to ensure that they are
appropriately challenged. 9-12 Knowledge
 Understanding rules and the appropriate use of
equipment decreases the risk of injury to you and
other people. K-12 Collaboration, Knowledge
SAMPLE ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
MATHEMATICS
 (Relations: Functions, Inverses) Recognizing the
predictable patterns in mathematics allows the
analysis of functional relationships.
 (Functions, Domain and Range) Real life situations
result in restrictions in the pattern.
 (Variables) Variables represent the unknown so that
we can generalize a pattern rather than being
limited to looking at specific values.
 (Measurement, Formulas) The accurate
measurement of space is determined by the ability
to visualize the object/problem situation and apply
an appropriate algorithm.
UNDERSTANDINGS VS. FACTUAL
KNOWLEDGE
Understandings
Factual Knowledge
-Reflect big ideas in the form of
powerful generalizations
-Transferrable across situations,
places and times
-Must be “earned” through processes
of inquiry, inference and rethinking
-Assessed through performance
tasks
-Consists of facts and basic concepts
-Facts do not transfer
-Can be learned in rote fashion
-Can be assessed using test or quiz
items that have a “right” or “wrong”
answer
94
POP QUIZ ON ENDURING
UNDERSTANDINGS
Writing involves many elements.
In a free-market economy, price is a function of
supply and demand.
DNA
Students will understand how to compare and
order fractions, decimals, percents, and numbers
written in scientific notation.
Students will understand that there are numbers,
ways of representing numbers, relationships
among numbers, and number systems.
95
PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER
Identity
EU: Who I identify
with affects how I
experience the
world.
EQ: How do
groups /
communities
shape who I am?
Writing
EU: Purpose and
audience dictate
the structure and
rules of a task,
text, or product.
EQ: What’s my
purpose? How
does that affect
the choices I
make?
STAGE 2: ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
Traditional quizzes &
tests
Paper/pencil
•Selected-response
•Constructed response
Worth being
familiar with
Important to
know & do
Performance tasks &
projects
Complex
•Open ended
•Authentic
97
ASCD SF 2011; Zmuda and Herold
Big ideas &
Enduring
Understandings
Nice to know
Foundational
knowledge & skill
“Big ideas”
worth
exploring and
understanding
in depth
T - M - A STILL APPLIES IN STAGE 2
Meaning
Making
Acquisition
Authentic
Critical analysis
Immediate
recall
Application
Judgment or
conclusion
Procedural
steps
Transfer
98
KEY QUESTIONS AS ASSESSMENT
DESIGNERS
(TRANSFER) By what evidence can we
convince ourselves that they understand
well enough to transfer what they have
learned?
(MEANING MAKING) How will we determine
if they grasp subtle understandings or can
make new meaning of the content?
(ACQUISITION) Where do we look and what
do we look for to see if students genuinely
understand what they also recall?
99
DEMONSTRATION OF UNDERSTANDING
EXPLAIN in their own
words the “meaning
making”
APPLY to new,
complex situations
SELECT (without
being cued) what is
relevant based on an
existing repertoire of
knowledge and skills
100
KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS
PREPARING TEACHERS FOR A CHANGING
WORLD
 “Authentic tasks increase student motivation to
learn.” --Stipek (2002)
 “Student’s beliefs about real-world significance of
what they are learning were a strong predictor of
their interest and enjoyment of math class. ” —
Mitchell (1993)
 “Students give highest interest ratings to classes
that make them think hard and require them to
participate actively in thinking and learning. ” —
Newmann (1992)
101
BASED ON BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
 “If the situations are to involve application as we
are defining it here, then they must either be
situations new to the student or situations
containing new elements as compared to the
situation in which the abstraction was learned...
Ideally we are seeking a problem which will test
the extent to which an individual has learned to
apply the abstraction in a practical way. ”
 — Bloom, et. al, 1956
102
SAMPLE PERFORMANCE TASK: FIRST GRADE
(PART 1)
Students will work in groups to identify the
main offerings in the lunch line. Using their
knowledge of “My
Plate”http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
students will determine the most healthful
and least healthful options offered in the
cafeteria (rank ordering). Students will
explain the rationale for their order.
(Critical thinking, Communication)
103
SAMPLE PERFORMANCE TASK: FIRST GRADE
(PART 2)
Students will design and draw their plate
for their favorite cafeteria lunch. Write a
persuasive letter to the cafeteria
manager to ask for additional healthy
items to be offered to supplement that
favorite lunch. (Problem Solving,
Communication)
104
SAMPLE PERFORMANCE TASK: CHEMISTRY
 You are a researcher hired by a group of expert mountain
climbers. Hypoxia is the set of symptoms (headache,
fatigue, nausea) that comes from a lack of oxygen in
body tissues. It is often felt by mountain climbers as they
ascend altitude quickly. Sherpas, long-time residents of
high altitudes, seem to feel no hypoxic discomfort. Why
might that be? Your group wants to know, and to benefit
from the knowledge. Design a series of experiments that
would test the difference in hypoxic symptoms between
mountain climbers and Sherpas. Explain, using chemical
equilibrium, why high altitude causes hypoxia in the
climbers. How can Sherpas avoid these symptoms? How
can you test for these possibilities? What would a
positive test look like? What inherent errors would you
have to be aware of?
SAMPLE PERFORMANCE TASK: GEOGRAPHY,
HIGH SCHOOL
BIGMART is a chain of very large department stores. The owners
of BIGMART have asked you, a geographer, for advice. They want
to know if Whilkton, Illinois will eventually be large enough to
support a BIGMART store. Currently, there aren’t enough people
living in Whilkton and the surrounding area to make the
investment in building a BIGMART store worth while. But, if the
population of Whilkton is likely to grow by as much as 10
percent in the next 5 to 10 years, then the owner will go ahead
with plans to build a store.
Your task is to obtain enough geographical information about
Whilkton to predict whether the population of Whilkton is going
to increase by 10 percent in the next 5 to 10 years. In the space
below, identify the geographical information you would need to
obtain in order to formulate a reasonable prediction.
106
SAMPLE PERFORMANCE TASKS TO
FRAME WORLD HISTORY
 The design of a tour of the world’s most holy sites
 The writing of a Bill of Rights for use in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other new
democracies
 Report on Latin America to the Secretary of State: Policy analysis and
background report on a Latin American country. What should be our
current policy, and how effective has recent policy with that country
been?
 Collect and analyze media reports from the Internet on other countries’
views of US policies in the Middle East. Do we understand the issues?
 Provide a briefing on the AIDS crisis in Africa and how American policy
has helped as well as hurt the situation
 Take part in a model UN on the issue of terrorism: you will be part of a
group of 2-3, representing a country, and you will try to pass a Security
Council resolution on terrorism
 Russia: friend or foe? Provide the Foreign Relations Committee with a
briefing on the current state of Russia, the last century of American Russian relations, and future worries and possibilities
 India and outsourcing: to what extent is the global economy a good thing
for America? India? India’s neighbors?
107
VALIDIT Y CHECK QUESTION #1
How likely is it that a student could do well
on the assessment by...
Making clever guesses, parroting back, or
plugging in what was learned, perhaps with
accurate recall but limited or no understanding?
Making a good-faith effort, with lots of hard work
and enthusiasm but with limited understanding?
Producing a lovely product or an engaging and
articulate performance but with limited
understanding?
108
VALIDIT Y CHECK QUESTION #2
How likely is it that a student could do
poorly on the assessment by...
Failing to meet the requirements of this
particular task while nonetheless revealing a
good understanding of the ideas?
Not being skilled at certain aspects of the task
but those skills are not central to the goal or
involve outside learning or natural talent (e.g.
require acting or computer ability unrelated to
Stage 1 goals)?
109
OTHER EVIDENCE
Efficiently measures acquisition goals
Goals is a balanced assessment plan
Performance tasks are necessary to measure
transfer and meaning making
Other evidence is necessary to measure the
full complement of knowledge and skills
110
FORMS OF OTHER EVIDENCE
Straightforward writing prompts (short
answer, essay)
Execution of procedural knowledge
Summarization
Problems that have one predetermined
solution
Questions that have an established
answer
112
DRAFTING STAGE 3: LEARNING PLAN
 If you have determined
the goals (STAGE 1),
and
 If you have determined
the evidence of
learning (STAGE 2),
 THEN what kinds of
learning activities are
most appropriate?
(STAGE 3)
GRADUAL RELEASE OF TEACHER
RESPONSIBILIT Y
I do, you watch
I do, you help
You do, I help
You do, I watch
This is a general schema for the
development of transfer ability at any age, in
any subject
115
KEY ELEMENTS OF THE LEARNING PLAN
Learner should be increasingly able to do
it on their own
Ask as simple a question
Should require them to think, to transfer,
to communicate
Give feedback on their learning and
space to try again
116
INTERRELATED LEARNING GOALS
ACQUIRE
This goal seeks to
help learners
acquire factual
information and
basic skills.
MAKE MEANING
TRANSFER
This goal seeks to
This goal seeks to support the learners’
hep students
ability to transfer
construct meaning
their learning
of important ideas autonomously and
and processes.
effectively in new
situations.
117
ACTION VERBS FOR A -M-T
GOAL TYPE
ACTION VERBS
ACQUISITIO
N
apprehend • calculate • define • discern •
identify • memorize • notice • paraphrase
• plug in • recall • select • state
Making
Meaning
analyze • compare • contrast • critique • defend •
evaluate • explain • generalize • interpret •
justify/support •prove • summarize • synthesize •
test • translate • verify
Transfer
adapt (based on feedback)• adjust (based on
results) • apply • create • design • innovate •
perform effectively • self-assess • solve •
troubleshoot
118
TEACHER ROLE AND INSTRUCTIONAL
STRATEGIES:
ACQUISITION VIA DIRECT INSTRUCTION
To inform the learners through explicit
instruction in targeted knowledge and
skills; differentiating as needed
Lecture
Graphic organizers
Demonstration or modeling
Process guides
Guided practice
Feedback, corrections
119
ACTION VERBS FOR A -M-T
GOAL
TYPE
ACTION VERBS
Acquisition
apprehend • calculate • define • discern • identify •
memorize • notice • paraphrase • plug in • recall •
select • state
MAKING
MEANIN
G
analyze • compare • contrast • critique •
defend • evaluate • explain • generalize •
interpret • justify/support •prove •
summarize • synthesize • test • translate •
verify
Transfer
adapt (based on feedback)• adjust (based on results)
• apply • create • design • innovate • perform
effectively • self-assess • solve • troubleshoot
TEACHER ROLE AND INSTRUCTIONAL
STRATEGIES:
MAKE MEANING VIA FACILITATIVE
To engage the TEACHING
learners in actively
processing the information and guide
their inquiry into problems, texts, or
simulations, differentiating as needed
Graphic organizers
Concept attainment
Problem based learning
Formative assessments
Rethinking and reflection prompts
Using analogies
120
Meaning Making
CHALLENGE UNDERSTANDING BY...
 Providing new information that requires a student to
extend the tentative understanding (broaden and
confirm)
 Providing conflicting information (contradiction,
requiring re-thinking)
 Proposing an alternative understanding (challenge,
requiring consideration of the same problem in a new
light; might ultimately confirm or contradict)
 Adding complexity to the issue (deepen, likely
confirming some pieces and contradicting others)
 Comparing a new understanding to previous
understandings about related issues (connect and
synthesize)
NO THINKING ACTIVATED WITHOUT
AMBIGUITY!!!
“Hmmm, what does this
mean?” is the beginning of
depth and getting beyond
passive learning for
acquisition only
NO THINKING ACTIVATED WITHOUT
AMBIGUITY!!!
Note that this demand runs
counter to our instincts as
teachers: we work hard to
make things easier and
unambiguous (i.e. when
acquisition is the goal)
ERIC MAZUR’S RESEARCH IN PHYSICS AT
HARVARD
After 10 minutes, Mazur poses a question
that requires conceptual understanding (such
as estimating the displacement of a toy boat
in a bathtub).
Students write their answers on a sheet and
identify their levels of confidence in the answer.
In pairs, attempt to convince others of their
answers.
Students then answer the question a second
time and report their confidence levels again.
The whole class is polled again about their
answers.
MAZUR’S DATA OVER 2 DECADES
Students scored –
considerably better on standard physics
course exams
higher on measures of traditional problem
solving
much higher in conceptual understanding
Mazur: “No lecturer, however engaging
and lucid, can achieve this level of
improvement and participation simply
by speaking.”
KEY MISUNDERSTANDING IN
SEQUENCING: FIRST, LEARN ALL
THE “STUFF”
 Try “just in time” teaching - content as
needed, in light of questions and challenges
 Look at the AMT structure, and see how often great
learning begins with M, not A - e.g. anticipation guide,
puzzle, debate, text, movie
 Note the geography and math unit sketches
 Look at computer games
 We learn by going back and forth between
part and whole, drill and performance:
 The sequence of the textbook is designed to
organize information logically, not necessarily to
provide the best sequence for learning. (cf. CH 12
in UbD)
ACTION VERBS FOR A -M-T
127
GOAL TYPE
ACTION VERBS
Acquisition
apprehend • calculate • define • discern • identify •
memorize • notice • paraphrase • plug in • recall •
select • state
Making
Meaning
analyze • compare • contrast • critique • defend •
evaluate • explain • generalize • interpret •
justify/support •prove • summarize • synthesize • test •
translate • verify
adapt (based on feedback)• adjust (based on
TRANSFE results) • apply • create • design • innovate •
R
perform effectively • self-assess • solve •
troubleshoot
TEACHER ROLE AND INSTRUCTIONAL
STRATEGIES:
TRANSFER VIA COACHING
To coach the learners to independently
perform in increasingly complex
situations, provide models, and give
ongoing feedback (as personalized as
possible).
Ongoing assessment, providing specific
feedback in the context of authentic application
Conferencing
Provide just-in-time teaching (both individuals,
small groups and whole class) when needed
128
129
EXAMPLES OF CHALLENGING INQUIRY
Here are some data about women’s
marathon times. What is the trend? Are
women likely to match the winning times
for men in the marathon in the future?
Here is a video in Spanish of a scene in
Madrid. What’s going on here? What
might you say to help the person in need,
given your limited vocabulary?
I found this object near my home, and I
don’t know what it is. What do you think it
might me? What do we need to ask and
investigate after we take it apart?
130
CHALLENGING INQUIRY
“By regularly confronting learners with such
challenges and questions, we can help
them become adept at tapping prior
learning to understand a current challenge
and thinking strategically, through practice
and feedback: What does this remind me
of? What have I learned about handling
challenges of this sort? To what does this
connect? How would I compare and
contrast this with what we learned last
week/month/year?”
— Wiggins and McTighe
131
LEARNING TO TRANSFER
“The research is very clear on this point:
students who really develop and ‘own’ an
idea are more likely to successfully
interpret new situations and tackle new
problems that students who possess only
drilled knowledge and skill.”
— Wiggins and McTighe
132
DESIGNING AND TEACHING FOR TRANSFER
Establish and keep highlighting clear transfer goals.
Have learners practice judgment in using a few dif ferent
skills, not just plugging in one skill on command.
Provide students with feedback on their self -cueing,
knowledge retrieval, self -assessment, and self-adjustment.
Change the set-up so that students realize that use of prior
learning comes in many guises.
Have students regularly generalize from specific instances
and cases.
Require students to constantly reword, rephrase, and
represent what they learn.
133
GENERAL TEMPLATE FOR A LEARNING PLAN
Introduce a question, problem or other thought -provoking
experience that challenges current understanding.
Engender plausible dif ferent answers and disagreement among
learners so that a more satisfactory “theory” is needed.
Students either must develop their own theory or use ones
provided by you, the text, or other students.
Students try out their theory, refining ideas as needed and
debating the merits of the dif ferent meanings.
Students confront new challenges to their or the group’s theory,
provided either by you, a text, a dif ferent experience or some
other new viewpoint.
Students refine their ideas, as needed.
Students transfer their theory to one or more concrete situations,
as needed.
Students generalize from their inquiries, being careful to note
qualifications and nuances that derive from attempted transfer
KEY QUESTIONS, FRAMING YOUR
LEARNING PLAN
 What’s the best use of our (precious) time together in
class?
 What do my STAGE 1 goals imply for what has to take
place in class and outside of class?
 What do the final evidence demands in STAGE 2 imply for
learning and how to best achieve transfer?
 What should I cover? What must the student uncover, with
my design and facilitation help?
 What moves and inferences must students learn to make
increasingly on their own? How will they develop that
independence ‘by design’?
 What should the flow of the unit be to maximize student
understanding culminating in successful transfer?
PURPOSEFUL LEARNING, ALIGNED WITH
GOALS
The essence of backward design
The key question, then: what learning is
needed? How can the needed learning best
occur?
 Think of “teaching” and “content” as resources, not
the causes of learning.
 Think of textbook as resource, not the syllabus
THINK HOW THE NEED TO
UNDERSTAND IS ACTIVATED IN
MOVIES
We wonder what a clue, an
event means
“ The art of holding interest lies
in raising questions and
delaying the answers...”
– David Lodge, The Art of Fiction
HOW PEOPLE LEARN
Students develop flexible
understanding of when, where, why,
and how to use their knowledge to
solve new problems if they [are
instructed in] how to extract underlying
themes and principles from their
learning exercises.
Understanding how and when to put
knowledge to use—known as
conditions of applicability—is an
important characteristic of expertise.
138
Stage two planning is revealed in Stage
three instructional design
Feedback and Goal Setting
Pre-assessment
(Finding Out)
Readiness, Interests, and
Learning Preferences of
students
Essential Questions
[reading/writing]
Formative Assessment
Summative Assessment
(Keeping Track & Checking -up)
(Making sure)
Exit Cards Peer evaluation
3-minute pauses
Vocabulary - quiz/notebooks
Observations
Creating Rubrics
Self-evaluation
Journals - Essential Questions+
Performance Task
Academic Prompt
Portfolio
139
MAKE ASSESSMENT PART OF
LEARNING FOR EVERYONE
 Assessment for learning
 Look at student work to coach for quality
 Differentiate instruction based on what you see
 Assessment as learning
 Teach students to learn about their own learning
 Reflect on nature of errors, talents, progress to
further personalize future learning
140
ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING
Information to modify and
differentiate teaching and learning
activities, streamline/target
instruction and resources, use
feedback to advance learning
“To make student learning visible so that teachers
can decide what to do to help students progress”
– effectiveness is based on the usefulness of
the information in designing next stage of
learning (importance of good record keeping).”
 -- Rethinking Classroom Assessment
141
ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING
Develop and support metacognition:
“Learning is not just a matter of
transferring ideas from someone who is
knowledgeable to someone who is not,
but is an active process of cognitive
restructuring that occurs when
individuals interact with new ideas.”
-- Rethinking Classroom Assessment
142
THE COST OF NOT TEACHING THIS…
Students will never be able to get
beyond:
“Is this what you want?”
143
All learners need
a balanced success
to effort ratio
144
Struggling
Learners:
Heavy Effort
Little Success
145
Advanced
Learners:
Great Success,
Little Effort
SUMMARIZE FOR STAGE 3
I really understand___________________
________________________________
I do not yet understand_________________
_________________________________