Understanding By Design- The basics

Understanding by Design

Using “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 government

They 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 the students to understand and know and be able to do?

2. Determine Acceptable Evidence

How will I know that they know what I want them to know?

3. Plan Learning Experiences

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

The three stages within the unit templateStage 1- Desired Results

Established Goals: G

Understandings: U Students 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 will take you through how to construct a unit, using the three stages of backward design

• So, as you read, think of a unit that you currently teach or would like to teach.

• As we go, consider how your unit would fit in to the three stages.

Stage 1!Stage 1- Desired Results









Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEstablished Goals

• What goal am I addressing?

• What’s the point?

• How does this fit into the content standards?

• What should they come away having learned?

• What is the bigger purpose?

• Answer: Consider BIG IDEAS

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEstablished Goals

What are BIG IDEAS? (Think CONCEPTS)

• Core idea at the “heart” of the discipline

• Enduring: has lasting, universal value

• Transferable to other topics/disciplines

• Connective of facts and skills

• Requires “un-converage” or “unpacking”

How can I tell if something is a Big Idea?Does it have many layers and nuances, 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 the 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

UnderstandingsWhat insights will students take away about the meanings of the content via Big Ideas?Understandings summarize the desired insights we want the students to realize about the Big IdeasUnderstandings connect the dots; they tell us what our knowledge means and make sense of facts and skills.

Essential QuestionsImportant questions that will reoccur throughout our lives

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

Engages and motivates.

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsUnderstandings (Often called “Enduring” Understandings)

• Written as generalizations• Framed around Big Ideas• Beyond specific content• Cuts to the core of the discipline• The overall “A-ha!”• Start with “Students will understand THAT”• NOT: facts, definitions, trite statements,

the obvious, “duh”

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsUnderstandings

ExamplesAn effective story engages the reader by setting up tensions about what will happen nextWhen water disappears, it turns into water vapor and can reappear as liquid if the water is cooledDemocracy requires a courageous, not just a free press.

Non-examplesAudience and purpose

Water covers three-fourths of the earth’s surface

A free press is guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

• Push us 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 transer to other

situations and subjects

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEssential Questions…

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?

What do I do with Essential Questions?

• Post them in your classroom• Use them in planning, assessing 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 Understandings, to Essential Questions

Big IdeasLiteratureCulture

Human condition

UnderstandingGreat literature from

various cultures exploresenduring themes and reveals

recurrent aspects of the human condition

Transfer&Independent

thinkers

Essential QuestionHow can stories

from other places and times be about

me?

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsKnowledge and Skills

• 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?


Knowledge includes…Vocabulary/terminologyDefinitionsKey factual informationCritical detailsImportant events and peopleSequence/timelineThese questions HAVE a correct answer!

Skills include…Basic skillsCommunication skillsResearch/inquiry/investigation skillsThinking skills (problem- solving, decision making)Study skillsInterpersonal or group collaboration skills


Examples…Pioneer vocabulary terms

Cavalieri’s Principle

General health problems caused by poor nutrition

Examples…Recognize and use pioneer vocabulary in contextUse Cavalieri’s Principle to compare volumesPlan balanced diets for themselves and others

• Let’s recap: We clarified how to frame desired results, but how can we assess the students’ understanding of them?

• We must think like an assessor…What evidence can show that students have

achieved the desired results?What assessment tasks and other evidence

will anchor our curricular units and thus guide instruction?

What should we look for to determine the extent of student understanding?

• On to Stage 2!

Stage 2- Determine Acceptable Evidence

• This is where UbD departs from conventional unit design and planning.

• Before we plan the activities and lessons, we must plan the assessment.

• What then logically follows is an orderly progression of activities, specifically designed to meet their target.


• Assessments are too often created without carefully considering the evidence needed or only as a means for generating grades.

• Instead, consider this: 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 behond learner mistakes?

Activity designers ask:øWhat would be fun and interesting activities on this topic?

øWhat projects might students wish to do on this topic?

øWhat tests should I give, based on the content taught?

øHow will I give students a grade and (justify it to their parents)?

øHow well did the activities work?

øHow did the students do on the test?

If you were asking questions on the left side of the last

slide, you’re ready to design some assessment evidence!

• Understanding develops as a result of ongoing inquiry.

• Think of effective assessment like 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 the 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 it to a real-world situation.• Require students to use judgment and innovation.• Call for exploration of the subject like a professional

in the field.• 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!

When we truly understand, we…1. Can Explain (generalize, connect, provide examples)

2. Can Interpret (tell accessible stories, provide dimension)

3. Can Apply (use what we know in real contexts)

4. Have perspective (see points of views through critical eyes)

5. Can Empathize (walk in another’s shoes, value what others do)

6. Have Self-knowledge (metacognitive awareness, know what we don’t know, reflect on meaning of learning and experience)

These are excellent starting points or touchstones for performance tasks!

How can I create an authentic Performance Task that fosters understanding?

Use GRASPS to assist in the creation!

• 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!

Stage 2- Identify Desired ResultsPerformance Tasks

ExamplesYou are a scientist charged with designing an experiment to determine which brand of detergent best removes stainsPlan and budget for a four-day tour in Virginia to help visitors understand the state’s impact on history and development of our nation. Design a flower garden for a company with a logo that has side-by-sde circular, retangular and triangular shapes.

Non-examplesCreate a volcano with baking soda and vinegar

A final exam in history with 50 multiple choice and short answer questions.

Make a poster collage of 100 items for the hundredth day of school

Consider: Any 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

• So, we have clarified desired results and discussed appropriate assessments.

• It’s time to plan the learning activities!

• As we move through Stage 3, remember that it’s not about what WE want to accomplish; it’s about what the learner will need to…– achieve the desired results from Stage 1 and– perform well on the tasks in Stage 2.

• On to Stage 3!

Use WHERETO 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

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!

Yes, UbD units are time consuming and challenging to create

• They 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!

Understanding By Design- The basics

Education

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