© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe UBD 08/2002 Understanding by Design The ‘Big Ideas’ of UbD.

© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe UBD 08/2002

Understanding by Design

The ‘Big Ideas’of UbD


1. Identify desired results

2. Determine acceptable evidence

3. Plan learning experiences

& instruction

3 Stages of (“Backward”) Design


Overarching understandings

Knowledge and skill to be acquired

Essential Questions

Understanding by Design Template

The UbD template embodies the 3 stages of “Backward Design”

The template provides an easy mechanism for exchange of ideas


The “big ideas” of each stage:

Assessment Evidence

Learning Activities

Understandings Essential Questions

stage

2

stage

3

Standard(s):

stage

1

Performance Task(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?

What’s the evidence?

How will we get there?


Components of Each Stage

LT

OE

R

U

K

Q

CS

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Understandings

Questions

ContentStandards

Knowledge & Skill

Task(s)

Rubric(s)

OtherEvidence

LearningPlan


Standards

Process Standards

Content Standards

Grade Level Expectations

“I Can” Statements


The big ideas provide a way to connect and recall knowledge

HumorFigurative Language

Originality

Passion

Honesty & Insight

Big Idea: A writer’s voice produces a memorable experience in the reader


Other Big Ideas in Literacy: 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 writer’s voice


Questions for identifying truly “big ideas”

Does it have many layers and nuances, not obvious to the naïve or inexperienced person? Reflect the core ideas as judged by experts?

Is it (therefore) prone to misunderstanding as well as disagreement?

Can it be used throughout K-12?

Are you likely to change your mind about its meaning and importance over a lifetime?

You’ve got to go below the surface...


to uncover the really ‘big ideas.’





& instruction

3 Stages of Design, elaborated


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


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


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


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


Understandings: Examples... Great artists often break with

conventions to better express what they see and feel.

Friendships can be deepened or undone by hard times

History is the story told by the “winners”

The storyteller rarely tells the meaning of the story

U


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’


Essential QuestionsWhat 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


Sample Essential Questions: Who are my true friends - and how do

I know for sure? Does a good read differ from a ‘great

book’? Why are some books fads, and others classics?

To what extent is geography destiny? How different is a scientific theory

from a plausible belief? What is the government’s proper

role?

Q





& instruction

3 Stages of Design: Stage 2


Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

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


The big ideafor Stage 2

The evidence should be credible & helpful. 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, and fair - aligned with the desired results of Stage 1


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


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


Scenarios for Authentic TasksBuild 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?

SPS

GRA

T


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


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


Some key understandings about assessment The local assessment is direct; the

MAP is indirect (an audit of local work)

The only way to assess for understanding is via contextualized performance - “applying” in the broadest sense our knowledge and skill, wisely and effectively





& instruction

3 Stages of Design: Stage 3


Stage 3 Big Idea:

EFFECTIVE

and

ENGAGING


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


Think of your obligations via W. H. E. R. E. T. O.

“Where are we headed?” (the student’s 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?

WHE

E

R

L

TO

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© 2002 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe UBD 08/2002 Understanding by Design The ‘Big Ideas’ of UbD.

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