Ubd Overview

2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe UBD 08/2002
1
Understanding by Design

the big ideas
of UbD
2
1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable evidence
3. Plan learning experiences
& instruction
3 Stages of
(Backward) Design
3
Why backward?
The stages are logical but they go
against habits
Were used to jumping to lesson and
activity ideas - before clarifying our
performance goals for students
By thinking through the assessments
upfront, we ensure greater alignment of
our goals and means, and that teaching is
focused on desired results
4
Understanding by Design
Template: the basis of Exchange
The ubd template
embodies the 3
stages of
Backward Design
The template
provides an easy
mechanism for
exchange of ideas
5
The big ideas of each stage:
Assessment Evidence
Learning Activities
Understandings Essential Questions
s
t
a
g
e
2
s
t
a
g
e
3
Standard(s):
s
t
a
g
e
1
Performance T ask(s): Other Evidence:
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
What are the big ideas?
Whats the evidence?
How will we get there?
6
Each element is found behind a
menu tab when designing units
L
T
OE
R
U
K
Q
CS
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
Understandings
Questions
Content
Standards
Knowledge
& Skill
Task(s)
Rubric(s)
Other
Evidence
Learning
Plan
7
Not necessary to fill in the
template in order
There are many doorways into successful
design you can start with...
Content standards
Performance goals
A key resource or activity
A required assessment
A big idea, often misunderstood
An important skill or process
An existing unit or lesson to edit
!
8
Exchange featrues provide
other entry points
You can
Search for, find, and attach other designers
essential questions and understandings to
your own unit
Use the web links provided to find ideas
on relevant sites for each design element
Study exemplary units and adapt them to
your own needs and interests
9
Misconception Alert:
the work is non-linear
It doesnt matter where you start
as long as the final design is
coherent (all elements aligned)
Clarifying one element or Stage often
forces changes to another
element or Stage
The template blueprint is logical
but the process is non-linear (think:
home improvement!)

!
10
The big ideas provide a way to
connect and recall knowledge
The Parallel
postulate
S.A.S.
Congruence
A
2
+ B
2
= C
2

Like rules
of a game
Like Bill of
Rights
Big Idea:
A system
of many powerful
inferences from a
small set
of givens
11
Big Ideas are typically
revealed via
Core concepts
Focusing themes
On-going debates/issues
Insightful perspectives
Illuminating paradox/problem
Organizing theory
Overarching principle
Underlying assumption
(Key questions)
(Insightful inferences from facts)
U
Q
12
Big Ideas in Literacy:
Examples
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 writers voice
13
Some questions for identifying
truly big ideas
Does it have many layers and nuances, not
obvious to the nave or inexperienced person?
Can it yield great depth and breadth of insight
into the subject? Can it be used throughout K-12?
Do you have to dig deep to really understand its
subtle meanings and implications even if anyone
can 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?
Youve got to go
below the surface...
15
to uncover the
really big ideas.
16
& instruction
3 Stages of Design,
elaborated
17
Stage 1 Identify
desired results.
Key: Focus on Big ideas
Enduring Understandings: What specific insights
about big ideas do we want students to leave with?
What essential questions will frame the teaching
and learning, pointing toward key issues and
ideas, and suggest meaningful and provocative
inquiry into content?
What should students know and be able to do?
What content standards are addressed explicitly
by the unit?
U
K
Q
CS
18
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
19
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
From Big Ideas to
Understandings about them
U
20
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 - counter-
intuitive & easily misunderstood
21
Understandings: examples...
Great artists often break with conventions to
better express what they see and feel.
Price is a function of supply and demand.
Friendships can be deepened or undone by
hard times
History is the story told by the winners
F = ma (weight is not mass)
Math models simplify physical relations and
even sometimes distort relations to deepen
our understanding of them
The storyteller rarely tells the meaning
of the story
U
22
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
Any understandings are inherently fallible
theories; knowledge consists of the accepted
facts upon which a theory is based and the
facts which a theory yields.
23
Essential Questions
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?
Q
24
Essential vs. leading Qs
used in teaching (Stage 3)
Essential - STAGE 1
Asked to be argued
Designed to
uncover new
ideas, views, lines
of argument
Set up inquiry,
heading to new
understandings
Leading - STAGE 3
Asked as a reminder,
to prompt recall
Designed to cover
knowledge
Point to a single,
straightforward fact -
a rhetorical question
25
Sample Essential Questions:
Who are my true friends - and how do I
know for sure?
How rational is the market?
Does a good read differ from a great book?
Why are some books fads, and others
classics?
To what extent is geography destiny?
Should an axiom be obvious?
How different is a scientific theory from a
plausible belief?
What is the governments proper role?
Q
26
& instruction
3 Stages of Design:
Stage 2
27
Stage 2 Assessment
Evidence
Template fields ask:

What are key complex performance tasks
indicative of understanding?
What other evidence will be collected to build
the case for understanding, knowledge, and
skill?
What rubrics will be used to assess complex
performance?
T
OE
R
28
The big idea
for Stage 2
The evidence should be credible & helpful.
Implications: the 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 - aligned with the
desired results of Stage 1 (and fair)
29
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
30
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
31
Scenarios for Authentic Tasks
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?
S
P
S
G
R
A
T
32
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
33
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 checks for understanding
student self-assessments
34
Some key understandings
about assessment
The local assessment is direct; the state
assessment is indirect (an audit of local work)
It is therefore always unwise to merely mimic the states
assessment approaches
The only way to assess for understanding is
via contextualized performance - applying
in the broadest sense our knowledge and skill,
wisely and effectively
Performance is more than the sum of the drills:
using only conventional quizzes and tests is
insufficient and as misleading as relying only on
sideline drills to judge athletic performance ability
35
& instruction
3 Stages of Design:
Stage 3
36
Stage 3 big idea:
E
F
F
E
C
T
I
V
E
and
E
N
G
A
G
I
N
G
37
Stage 3 Plan Learning
Experiences & Instruction
A focus on engaging and effective
learning, designed in
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?
L
38
Think of your obligations via
W. H. E. R. E. T. O.
Where are we headed? (the students 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?
W
H
E
E
R
L
T
O
39
Note that some fields require
you to enter one idea at a time
One idea per box allows for more
powerful searching, selecting, and
attaching to units when you browse
Essential questions
Enduring understandings
Tasks of complex performance
Rubrics
Also: makes expert reviewer assignment
of blue ribbons more precise
T
R
U
Q
40
Help in the Exchange about
all template design elements
Get to know the icons!
A summary of each field
Examples for each field
A self-test of your understanding
for that field
FAQs and Glossary
A special unit in which each field is
explained: click the icon for UBD
TEMPLATE
Web links to resources for that field
Q
?

Ubd template
41
for further information...
Contact us:
Grant Wiggins, co-author:
grant@ubdexchange.org
Jay McTighe, co-author:
jmctigh@aol.com
Steve Petti, webmaster:
steve@newimagemedia.com

Ubd Overview

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ubd Overview

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe UBD 08/2002

You might also like