Understanding by Design

Highlights of the Work of

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
by
Sandy Stuart-Bayer
Lee’s Summit High School Library
 Understanding by Design

“Backward Design” focus:

Clarify results and evidence of them before
designing lessons.
Teaching for understanding is the goal of
teaching and compatible with standards-
based curricula.
UbD is a way of thinking more carefully about
design, not a program.
 Understanding by Design

Thinking like an assessor, not only an activity

designer, is key to effective design.
Overcoming the “twin sins” of “aimless
activity” and “superficial coverage”.
The work is only “coverage” or “nice activity”
unless focused on questions and big ideas,
related to the Standards.
 3 Stages of “Backward” Design

1. Identify desired results

2. Determine acceptable evidence

l y t h e n
Then and on
3. Plan learning experiences &
instruction.
 The Understanding

Insightful use of knowledge and skill,

observable in performance
Revealed via the “six facets”
(Think Blume-See handout)
Essential for maximal recall and apt transfer
of “content” to new situations
Reflective, recursive “spiral”
Conventional linear [textbook-driven] scope and sequence is
a major impediment to developing understanding.
 3 Stages of “Backward” Design

1. Identify desired results

2. Determine acceptable evidence

l y t h e n
Then and on
3. Plan learning experiences &
instruction.
 Stage 1
Identify desired results
Consists of four components
Content standards
Understandings
Essential questions
Knowledge and skills

Key: Focus on Big Ideas!

Some questions for identifying
truly “big ideas”
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?
Some questions for identifying
truly “big ideas” cont.
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?
 The Big Ideas
To determine the Big Ideas for your unit or
course, ask yourself…
Why? So what?
What is the “moral of the story”?
How is _____ applied in the world beyond the
classroom?
What couldn’t we do if we didn’t understand
_____?

Avoid truisms, facts, definitions!

Example: Bill of Rights Redux

Content Standards
Understandings (The Big Ideas)
Students will understand that:
 Essential 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 the classroom inquiry.
Raise more questions-provoking and
sustaining engaged inquiry.
Often raise important conceptual or
philosophical issues.
Can provide purpose for learning.
Essential vs. leading Q’s

Essential Leading
Asked to be argued Asked as a reminder,
to prompt recall

Designed to
Designed to “cover”
“uncover” new ideas, knowledge
views, lines of
argument
Point to a single,
Set up inquiry, straightforward fact-a
heading to new rhetorical question
understandings.
Tips for Using Essential Qs

use E.Q.s to organize programs,

courses, and units of study.
“less is more”
edit to make them “kid friendly”
post the questions
Knowledge and Skill

Students will know…

Students will be able to…

Example: Bill of Rights

 3 Stages of “Backward” Design

1. Identify desired results

2. Determine acceptable evidence

l y t h e n
Then and on
3. Plan learning experiences &
instruction.
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.
How will students self-assess?
Stage 2 is the essence of
backward design & alignment
“Measure what we value; value and act
on what we measure.”
Link assessment types to curricular
priorities
 Assessment types

Traditional Worth being

quizzes& tests Familiar with
•paper/pencil
•selected-response
•constructed response Important to
know& do
Performance tasks
Big Ideas
& projects
Worth
•open-ended
understanding
•complex
•authentic
2 Questions for a practical test
of performance tasks:
1. Could the performance be
accomplished (or the test be passed)
without in-depth understanding?
2. Could the specific performance be
poor, but the student still understand
the ideas in question?
The goal is to answer NO to both!
Scenarios for Authentic Tasks

Build assessments anchored in authentic

tasks using GRASPS:
G-What is the Goal in the scenario?
R-What is the Role?
A-Who is the Audience?
S-What is your Situation (context)?
P-What is the Performance challenge?
S-By what Standards will work be judged in the
scenario?
Example: Bill of Rights Redux

Lee’s Summit High School Library: Bill o

f Rights
Redux
Example performance task as a
Webquest.
Key Criteria and Other Evidence,
including self-assessment
 3 Stages of “Backward” Design

1. Identify desired results

2. Determine acceptable evidence

l y t h e n
Then and on
3. Plan learning experiences &
instruction.
Stage 3-Plan learning
experience and instruction
A focus on engaging and effective
learning, “designed in”
What learning experiences and instruction
will promote the desired understanding,
knowledge and skill?
How will you best promote the deepening
of insight and interest?
How will you prepare students for the
performance(s)?
Organize by W.H.E.R.E.
W = Where are we headed? and why? (from
the student’s perspective)
H = How will the student be ‘hooked’?
E = What opportunities will there be to be
equipped and explore key ideas.
R = How will we provide opportunities to
rethink, rehearse, refine and revise?
E = How will students evaluate (so as to
improve) their own performance?
 For More Information

Wiggins, Grant & McTighe, Jay.

Understanding by Design. New York:
Prentice Hall. 2000.
McKenzie, Jamie. Learning to Question,
to Wonder, to Learn. New York:
Linworth Publishing.2004.