Understanding by Design

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 UbD
UbD 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 students
to understand and know and
be able to do?
2. Determine
Acceptable
Evidence
How will I know whether and
how well they “got it”?
3. Plan Learning
Experiences
What do I need to do in the
classroom to prepare them for
my assessment?

Three stages in the unit template
Stage 1- Desired Results
Established Goals: G
Enduring 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 take you through
how to construct a unit, using the three
stages of backward design
• As you read, think of a unit that you
currently teach or would like to teach
• Consider how your unit would fit in to
the three stages

Stage 1

Stage 1- Identify Desired Results
Establish Goals
• What goal am I addressing?
• What’s the point?
• How does this fit into the content
standards?
• What should students come away
having learned?
• What is the bigger purpose?
• Answer: Consider BIG IDEAS

What are BIG IDEAS? (Think CONCEPTS)
• Core idea at the “heart” of the discipline
• Enduring: has lasting, universal value
• Transferable to other topics/disciplines
• Connects facts and skills
• Requires “un-coverage” or “unpacking”
Establish Goals

How do I know if an idea is a Big Idea?
 Does it have layers and nuance, 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 core ideas, as judged by experts?

Concepts as Big Ideas
Change 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
Understandings
oInsights students take away
about the meanings of the
content via Big Ideas
oUnderstandings connect the
dots
oUnderstandings tell us what
our knowledge means and make
sense of facts and skills
Essential Questions
oImportant questions that will
recur throughout our lives
oHelp students make sense of
Big Ideas through questioning
and then making decisions
oEngage and motivate

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

Examples
oAn effective story engages the
reader by setting up tensions
about what will happen next
oWhen water disappears, it turns
into water vapor and can
reappear as liquid if the water is
cooled
oDemocracy requires a
courageous, not just a free press.
Non-examples
oAudience and purpose
oWater covers three-fourths of
the earth’s surface
oA free press is guaranteed by
the 1st Amendment.
Enduring Understandings

• Push 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 transfer to other
situations and subjects
Essential Questions

Examples
How 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-examples
How many minutes are in
an hour? A day?
Between what years did
the Italian Renaissance
occur?
What is foreshadowing?
Can you find an example?
Essential Questions

What do I do with
Essential Questions?
• Post them in your classroom
• Use them in planning, assessment, 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 Enduring Understandings,
to Essential Questions
Big Ideas
Literature
Culture
Human condition
Enduring Understanding
“Great literature from
various cultures explores
enduring themes and reveals
recurrent aspects of the
human condition”
Transfer &
Independent
thinkers
Essential Question
“How can stories
from other places
and times be about
me?”

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 & Skills

Knowledge includes…
•Vocabulary/terminology
•Definitions
•Key factual information
•Critical details
•Important events and people
•Sequence/timeline
These questions HAVE a
correct answer!
Skills include…
•Basic skills
•Communication skills
•Research/inquiry/investigati
on skills
•Thinking skills (problem-
solving, decision making)
•Study skills
•Interpersonal or group
collaboration skills
Knowledge & Skills

Examples
•Pioneer vocabulary and
terms
•Cavalieri’s Principle
•General health
problems caused by
poor nutrition
Examples
•Recognize and use
pioneer vocabulary in
context
•Use Cavalieri’s Principle
to compare volumes
•Plan balanced diets for
self and others
Knowledge & Skills

• Now, think like an assessor…
o What evidence can show that students have
achieved the desired results?
o What assessment tasks and other evidence
will anchor the unit, guiding instruction?
o What should we look at to determine the
extent of student understanding?
• On to Stage 2!

Stage 2

• This is where UbD departs from
conventional unit design
• Before we plan the activities and
lessons, we must plan the assessment
• An orderly progression of activities then
follows, specifically designed to meet
the target
Stage 2- Determine Acceptable
Evidence

• Assessments are often created without
consideration of the evidence needed to
demonstrate attainment of the objective
• Instead, consider, “How do we know that the
learner…
– met the goal through performance?”
– “got” the understandings?”
– deeply considered the essential questions?”
Evidence

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, beyond learner
mistakes?
Activity designers ask…
•What would be fun and interesting
activities on this topic?
•What projects might students wish to do
on this topic?
•What tests should I give, based on the
content taught?
•How will I give students a grade and
(justify it to their parents)?
•How well did the activities work?
•How did the students do on the test?

• Understanding develops as a result of ongoing
inquiry
• Think of effective assessment as 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
Evidence

Continuum of Assessment
Think of anchoring your unit with a performance task.
But use 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 learning to a real-world situation
• Require students to use judgment and innovation
• Call for exploration of the subject like a professional
• 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 Understanding
Use these when generating ideas for Performance Tasks!

GRASPS is a tool to create an authentic
performance assessment
• 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!

Examples
oYou are a scientist charged with
designing an experiment to determine
which brand of detergent best removes
stains
oPlan and budget for a four-day tour in
Virginia to help visitors understand the
state’s impact on history and
development of our nation.
oDesign a flower garden for a company
with a logo that has side-by-side
circular, rectangular and triangular
shapes.
Non-examples
oCreate a volcano with baking
soda and vinegar
oA final exam in history with 50
multiple choice and short answer
questions.
oMake a poster collage of 100
items for the hundredth day of
school
Stage 2- Determine Acceptable Evidence
Performance Tasks

Every 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

As we move through Stage 3, keep in
mind that it’s not what the teacher needs
to accomplish, but rather, what the
learner needs to do…
achieve the desired results from Stage
1, and
perform well on the tasks in Stage 2
•On to Stage 3!

Stage 3

Use W.H.E.R.E.T.O. 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

A 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

UbD is a time-consuming and
challenging approach to design
• Lesson design 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

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