Making Sense of Understanding by Design

Adapted from and based on the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Understanding by Design

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed Altamira International School

By the end of this workshop, you should be able to:1. Explain the research principles underlying

Understanding by Design (UbD).2. Describe and facilitate six ways your students

can demonstrate understanding, rather than just knowledge-recall learning.

3. Apply the principles of backward design to your professional role(s), including designing UbD units.

Starting Point…


• How do you define the term “understanding”?

• Reflect on your initial definition as you participate in the next two warm-up activity.

• What are the various aspects of understanding that they requires you to use?

As you start this workshop…


If the day before the day before yesterday were Tuesday…

What will be the day after the day after tomorrow?

Warming UP to Understanding


• IF Tuesday= day (1) before the day (2) before yesterday (3).

• Then, today must be three days after Tuesday. (Tuesday—day before the day before yesterday, Wednesday—day before yesterday, Thursday—yesterday…) SO, today must be Friday.

• Then, tomorrow must be Saturday.• Therefore, the day after the day after tomorrow must

be Monday.

Warming Up to Understanding


Tuesday=day before the day before yesterday.

Wednesday=the day before yesterday.

Thursday=yesterday

Friday=TODAY

Saturday=tomorrow

Sunday=the day after tomorrow

Monday=the day after the day after tomorrow

Another Way of Seeing it…


“How many buses does the army need to transport 1,128 soldiers if each bus holds 36

soldiers?”

Another Way of Seeing it…


• “31 buses, remainder 12”

-remainder 12


Common Answer from 30 of 8th Graders%:

What’s so important about understanding? Why should

we be concerned with it?

An Essential Question for you to Consider…


• In your opinion, what does it mean for students to be “engaged” in learning?

• Is there a time you can remember when as a student, you were actively engaged in the learning process?

Addressing These Trends Through Student Engagement…



How Can We Promote Student Understanding, Rather than Just

“Knowing/Doing”?


• Why are the best curriculum designs backward?

• What is good design? How does UbD support effective curriculum design?

• How does continuous improvement apply to curriculum design?

Overarching Essential Questions for our Workshop


• Why teach for understanding?• How will we know students really

understand?• What is the difference between

understanding and knowing?

Overarching Essential Questions for our Workshop


1)Who was the most effective teacher you ever had? What made him/her so?

• Share examples, then generalize: “the best teachers…”

2)When was a time you made significant progress/ improvement as a learner? What was it that made that possible?

• Share examples, then generalize: “the greatest learning happens when…”

Share with a neighbor…


• Upfront explicit goals and performance requirements • Models and modeling provided• The bigger picture, the “why”, is made clear• Working back and forth from whole to part• A genuine challenge/problem frames the work that stretches you-

real, meaningful tasks• Work culminates in real or realistic application• Trial and error, reflection and adjustment are needed and

expected• Constant helpful feedback opportunities • Safe environment for trying out, getting feedback, adjusting

Common Responses:


• 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…

Key Points to Remember


• A framework that synthesizes research-based best practices in curriculum, assessment, and instruction that promote the learning process.

• A language that educators can use to describe and analyze the best ways to promote student understanding, rather than just knowledge/recall.

What is Understanding by Design?


• It is not a program.

• It is not one more thing for you to “have to do.”

• It does not include anything that hasn’t been used by master teachers throughout the centuries.

Understanding by Design is not…


• 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.

What is UbD?


• In even our best students and their work, we see frequent…– Amnesia– Misunderstandings– Rigid knowledge, no transfer of learning

Does this sound familiar?

Why the Need for Understanding?


• What is good design?– Best done “backward” from the desired result

• What is understanding?– Transfer of knowledge- long term goal and key

evidence of understanding– Use of Big Ideas to focus the work along with the

transfer tasks

Two questions:


• The use of knowledge and skills (acquired in earlier context) in a new context. It occurs when a person’s learning in one situation influences that person’s learning and performance in other situations.

• Transferability is Understanding– Understanding reveals itself as transfer: an appropriate

and affective use of knowledge and skill, on one’s own; using good judgment, with minimal cues and prompting, in various important situations, about which content is needed when and why.


What is Transfer of Learning?

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25

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I. Digital-Age Literacy: Scientific, mathematical, and technological literacies; visual and information literacies, and cultural literacy and global awareness

II.Inventive Thinking:Adaptability/ability to handle complexity; curiosity, creativity, and risk-taking; and higher-order thinking and sound reasoning

III. Effective Communication:Teaming, collaboration, and interpersonal skills; personal and social responsibility; interactive communication skills

IV. High Productivity:Ability to prioritize, plan, and manage for results; effective use of real-world tools; and ability to create relevant, high-quality products

Thornburg: “The New Basics”


• 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.

The Three Stages

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, MEd Altamira Intenationl School


“You Are What Your Eat”

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 of Backward Design



TEMPLATEG

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According to Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, the best curriculum and instructional designs are “backwards”:

a. Stage One: Determining Desired Results

b. Stage Two: Assessing Results

c. Stage Three: Designing Instructional Activities

“Backward Design”


• Stage One: Identify Desired Results:a. Content Standardsb. Enduring Understandings & Essential Questionsc. Enabling Knowledge Objectives

• Stage Two: Assess Desired Results:a. Use a Photo Album, Not Snapshot, Approachb. Integrate Tests, Quizzes, Reflections and Self-Evaluations with

Academic Prompts and Projects

• Stage Three: Design Teaching and Learning Activities to Promote Desired Results:a. W.H.E.R.E.T.O. Design Principlesb. Organizing Learning So That Students Move Toward Independent

Application and Deep Understanding Using Research-Based Strategies

Backward Design ar a Glance


• 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…


35

EffectiveInstruction

Acquire

Learning for UnderstandingLearning for

Understanding

MakeMeaning

Transfer

Crucial to to get the balance &

sequence right!

Crucial to to get the balance &

sequence right!

UNIT COVER PAGE

Unit Title: You Are What You Eat Grade Level: 5th

Subject/Topic Areas: Health and Nutrition

Key Words: nutrition, health, wellness, balanced diet, food pyramid

Designed by: Bob James Time Frame: 3 Weeks

School: Cheshire Cat Elementary


Brief Summary of Unit(including curricular context and unit goals) In this introductory unit of the health education course, students will learn about human nutritional needs, the food groups, the nutritional benefits of various foods, the USDA Food Pyramid guidelines, and health problems associated with poor nutrition. They will design an illustrated nutrition brochure to teach younger children about the importance of good nutrition for healthy living, work in cooperative groups to analyze a hypothetical family’s diet and recommend ways to improve their nutritional value, and conduct research on health problems resulting from poor eating habits.

You Are What You Eat


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

The Big Ideas of UbD


How do we know when we really

understand something?

Teaching Does Not Cause Understanding


• Are knowing and understanding the same?

• Can you know something and not understand it? Explain.

• What is the evidence of understanding something?

Knowing and Understanding


What Does the Research Tell Us About How Schools Can Promote

Student Understanding?

Essential Question One


• Knowledge: look it up somewhere.• Understanding – derived by you.• Knowledge – a set of established not

controversial facts.• Understanding – an unobvious and

important judgment about what the facts mean.

Knowing and Understanding


1. THINK of a time when you moved from knowing about or being able to do something—to understanding it.

2. PAIR: Describe that time to another participant.

3. SHARE: What are the behaviors and attitudes common to the experiences you described?

A Reflection Checkpoint



Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy



Remembering: can the student recall or remember the information? define, duplicate, list, memorize, recall, repeat, reproduce,state

Understanding: can the student explain ideas or concepts? classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize, report, select, translate, paraphrase

Applying: can the student use the information in a new way? choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.



Analyzing: can the student distinguish between the different parts? appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.

Evaluating: can the student justify a stand or decision? appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate

Creating: can the student create new product or point of view? assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write.

• Knowing as a “state of possession” – you have the information.

• Understanding enables one to go beyond the information given – to do something with the information.

Understanding or Knowing


Facts Concepts PrinciplesDiscrete pieces of information believed to be true May typically fall within topicsExample: Westward Movement

Early American settlers migrated to the west.Many settlers traveled in wagon trains.

Ways of organizing or categorizing things that have something in common Example:

Concept of migration is a way of viewing Westward Movement ...a way of organizing facts about the settlers' experiences

Ideas and deeper understandings that give meaning to the concepts (essential understandings, generalizations, "big ideas”)Example:

"People migrate to meet a variety of needs" "Migration may lead to enhanced opportunity or greater freedom."

How Knowledge is Structured


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.

The Difference


• Explanation• Interpretation• Application

• Analysis of Perspectives

• Empathy• Self-Knowledge

How Can We Tell When Students Are Understanding?


• ____________: Backing up claims and assertions with evidence.

• ____________ : Drawing inferences and generating something new from them.

• ____________:Using knowledge and skills in a new or unanticipated setting or situation.

• ___________: Analyzing differing points of view about a topic or issue.

• ___________: Demonstrating the ability to walk in another’s shoes.

• ____________: Assessing and evaluating one’s own thinking and learning: revising, rethinking, revisiting, refining.

The Six Facets of Understanding


With which of the following “facets of understanding” do your students generally perform well? With which do they have trouble? Why?

a. Explanation d. Perspectiveb. Interpretation e. Empathyc. Application f. Self-Knowledge

A Reflection Checkpoint


1. How would you describe the six facets of understanding to a colleague who is not present?

2. Create at least three “enabling knowledge” objectives using some of the six facets verbs.

Activity


Through which facets will students develop and reveal their understandings?


Six Facets of Understanding

Develop an illustrated brochure to explain the principles and practices of healthy eating to younger students.

Investigate healthy eating from the perspective of different regions and cultures.

1. Analyze a hypothetical family´s diet for nutritional balance.

2. Develop a menu for meals and snacks for an upcoming three day trip to the outdoor education camp.

Modify their eating habits for two days to have a taste of the experience of people wiho must restrict their diets because of specific conditions.

Reflect on their own eating habits and evaluate the extent to which they are eating healthy.

EXPLANATION

INTERPRETATION

APPLICATION

PERSPECTIVEEMPATHY

SELF-KNOWLEDGE









Stage 1- Desired ResultsEstablished Goals: G

Understandings: U Students will understand that…

Essential Questions: Q

Students will know… K Students will be able to… S

Stage 2- Assessment EvidencePerformance Tasks: T Other Evidence: OE

Stage 3- Learning PlanLearning Activities: L


Stage 1

• 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


• Content Standards: i.e., what all students should be able to know, do, and understand?

• Performance Standards: i.e., levels of competency expected of all students at key points in their educational development?

• Benchmark Assessments: i.e., ways in which students will be assessed at key points in their development to ensure they are mastering identified performance standards in order to show progress relative to long-range content standards?

To What Extent Does Your School Have Consensus About…


To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following

statement? “Standards have to be interpreted and ‘unpacked’ by educators. They

can’t just be ‘pasted on the board.’”

Reflection Activity (I)


• Robert Marzano (McRel): “If teachers are expected to get students to learn all of the [K-12] standards identified by their district, on average we need to expand students’ time in school by a minimum of 6,000 hours.”

An “Overloaded” Curriculum


• Marzano, and others report a test preparation paradox:

We seem to feel the obligation to “cover” and “touch on” lots of things in case they are “on the test.” Results confirm, however, that superficial coverage of material causes poorer, not better, test results.

What Does It All Mean?


• “What an extensive research literature now documents is that an ordinary degree of understanding is routinely missing in many, perhaps most students. If, when the circumstances of testing are slightly altered, the sought-after competence can no longer be documented, then understanding—in any reasonable sense of the term—has simply not been achieved.”

Howard Gardner, The Unschooled Mind

Why Should We Care?


In light of the need for standards to be “unpacked,” how can we build consensus

about what all students should understand (not just know and do) so that they can see the universal issues, patterns, and significance of what they

are studying?

Essential Question Two


Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

Creating Your Own UBD Unit

Standard 6 - Students will understand essential concepts about nutrition and diet. 6, a -Students will use an understanding of nutrition to plan appropriate diets for themselves and others. 6, c -Students will understand one’s own eating patterns and ways in which these patterns may be improved.


Stage 1- Desired ResultsEstablished Goals:

Understandings: Students will understand that…

Essential Questions:

Students will know… Students will be able to… S

Stage 2- Assessment EvidencePerformance Tasks: Other Evidence:

Stage 3- Learning PlanLearning Activities:


Stage 1

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S

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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”

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsEstablished Goals


STAGE 1

Select and develop Essential Questions to guide inquiry into the

big ideas

Frame the big ideas as specific

Understandings (“the student will

understand THAT …”)

Identify the big ideas

Consider possible misunderstandings

Test your ideas against Stage 1 Design Standards and

revise as needed “Unpack” the Goals (e.g.

content standards) to derive the big ideas, key

knowledge and skills Identify key

Knowledge and Skills

Q

U

SK

G

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?

How can I tell if something is as Big Idea?


You Are What You Eat


The understandings to be developed in this unit

elements of good nutrition

?Will an “apple

a day” keep the doctor

away?

Why do foods that are good for you taste

bad?

What is a balanced

diet?

Why do foods that are good for you taste

bad?

What would happen if you only ate junk

food?

What is healthy eating?

• Big Ideas: interdependence, heroism, patterns and systems, investigation

• Enduring Understandings: All great writing is rewriting. Science can help us reveal the structural patterns and processes that shape and define our physical universe.

• Essential Questions: Is war inevitable? How can we determine what an author means? To what extent is mathematics a language?—How can we learn to “speak” it with fluency and mastery?

To What Extent Do Your Desired Results Address Understanding?


1. Big ideas are significant and recurring concepts, principles, theories, and processes that represent essential focal points or “conceptual lenses” for prioritizing content.

2. Through the identification of big ideas, we can find ways to organize discrete curriculum elements such as facts, skills, and activities.

3. They are powerful because they embody transferable ideas applicable to other settings, situations, and content areas.

4. They engage students in the process of “uncoverage,” discovering meaning, drawing significant inferences, and enhancing the authenticity of learning experiences.

“Big Ideas” as Curriculum Organizers


ConceptsEquivalent FractionsAdaptation

ThemesThe American DreamEthical citizenship

Issues/DebatesHomeland SecurityCreationism vs. Evolution

ProblemsDeforestation of the rain forestsThe technology gap

ChallengesSurviving the harsh and dangerous frontier lifeProspering in a global economy

ProcessesHistoriographyScientific inquiry

TheoriesThe Theory of RelativityNatural Selection

Paradoxes Poverty in the Wealthiest Nation in the WorldOne person’s healthiest diet may be another’s least healthy.

Assumptions/ Perspectives

We are experiencing a condition of global warming.We need to go back to the “basics” in education.

Categories for “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?

Concepts as Big Ideas


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.

Use Big Ideas to form Understandings and Essential Questions


The UbD “Three-Circle Audit” Process


1. Standards need to be interpreted and “unpacked.”

2. Staff members need to determine:a. Outer Circle: What is worth being familiar with?b. Middle Circle: What should all students know and be able to do?c. Center Circle: What are the enduring understandings students should explore and acquire?

The UbD “Three-Circle Audit” Process


For a group of tenth-grade World History students, how would you rank each of these:

• The day and year the Magna Carta was signed…

• The historical significance of the Magna Carta…

• The enduring influence of significant political documents throughout the history of world civilization…

For Example…


1. Identify the years in which Mark Twain was born and died. (English, Grade 8)

2. Use the Periodic Table to identify the atomic weights of carbon, oxygen, and helium. (Chemistry, Grade 11)

3. Describe how a bill becomes law at state and national levels. (Civics, Grade 9)

4. Explain how we can use the relationships between sounds and letters to make sense of text. (Reading, Grade 1)

5. Apply the habits of mind used by scientists to engage in scientific inquiry. (Science, Grade 5)

6. Interpret how a primary source document reflects political bias on the part of an author. (U.S. History, Grade 8)

7. Describe eating patterns and menus from previous historical eras. (Health, Grade 4)

8. Identify key figures who contributed to the development of modern statistics. (College-Level Intro. to Statistics Course)

9. Trace universal patterns, themes, and motifs common to art through the ages. (Humanities, Grade 12)

Into Which Circles Would You Place the Following Learning Goals?


How can you use the UBD three-circle curriculum audit to “unpack” your standards?

Reflection Activity (II)


Worth Being Familiar With

Important to Know and Do

Enduring Understanding

What concepts should be students

be familiar with

What important knowledge and skills must students have

for masteryAnchors the

unit; Why is this topic worth

studying

Three Ring Audit Process


Worth being familiar with

Familiar: • General eating patterns and menus from the past• Different conditions requiring dietary restrictionsImportant:• Types of food in each of the food groups and their nutritional

value• The USDA Food Pyramid guidelines• Nutritional information on food labels and how to interpret

Big Ideas:• Balanced Diet• Nutritional NeedsUnderstandings:The students will understand that…• “You are what you eat.” Your diet affects you

health, appearance and performance.• People have different dietary needs based on

age, activity level, weight and various health considerations.


Focusing in On Understandings- Nutrition

1. Statements or declarations of understandings comprised of two or more big ideas.

2. Framed as universal generalizations—the “moral” or essence of the curriculum story.

3. Help students to “uncover” significant aspects of the curriculum that are not obvious or may be counterintuitive or easily misunderstood.

4. Formed by completing the statement: Students will understand THAT:……

Enduring Understandings


1. Numbers are abstract concepts that enable us to represent concrete quantities, sequences, and rates.

2. Democratic governments struggle to balance the rights of individuals with the common good.

3. The form in which authors write shapes how they address both their audience and their purpose(s).

4. Scientists use observation and statistical analysis to uncover and analyze patterns in nature.

5. As technologies change, our views of nature and our world shift and redefine themselves.

6. Dance is a language through which the choreographer and dancer use shape, space, timing, and energy to communicate to their audience.

Sample Enduring Understandings


What enduring understandings are desired?

Students will understand that . . .

• A balanced diet contributes to physical and mental health.• The USDA Food Pyramid presents relative guidelines for nutrition.• Dietary requirements vary for individuals based on age, activity level, weight,and overall health.• Healthful living requires an individual to act on available information about good nutrition even if it means breaking comfortable habits.


Stage 1- Desired ResultsEstablished Goal: G







Stage 1

• Are interpretive, i.e., have no single “right answer.”• Provoke and sustain student inquiry, while focusing

learning and final performances.• Address conceptual or philosophical foundations of a

discipline/ content area.• Raise other important questions.• Naturally and appropriately occur.• Stimulate vital, ongoing rethinking of big ideas,

assumptions, and prior lessons.

Essential Questions…


• Essential questions vary according to their scope and level of generalization.

• An overarching essential question can apply to multiple points during a student’s education; the most overarching can also apply to multiple content areas.

• A topical essential question is unit or time-specific and generally applies to a specific unit within the student’s course of study.

Overarching Vs. Topical Essential Questions


Overarching

• How do effective writers hook and hold their readers?

• How do organisms survive in harsh or changing environments?

Topical

• How do great mystery writers hook and hold their readers?

• How do animals and plants survive in the desert?

Examples of Overarching and Topical Essential Questions


• Avoid questions that have a single correct answer or a range of correct answers: e.g., What makes fractions equivalent? What are the major characteristics of Romantic poetry?

• Avoid merely “rephrasing” lesson objectives as questions: How can we edit for subject-verb agreement? How can we describe the parts of a cell? How can we apply the steps in the scientific method?

• Avoid emphasizing overly obscure or subsidiary aspects of the curriculum as a basis for essential questions: How did Emerson’s family history contribute to his ideas about Transcendentalism? How did Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle shape his views about natural selection?

• Avoid excessively vague or unfocused questions: Why is literature important? How has the United States changed?

Avoiding Common Pitfalls…


1. What are the differences between a democracy and a monarchy?

2. What were the major causes of the American Civil War?

3. Why is mathematics important?4. How can we create a personal fitness plan?5. How do Socrates and Euripides differ in their use of

the chorus?

Try Your Hand at Correcting the Following “Flawed” Essential Questions…


1.Determine the “big ideas” in your enduring understandings.

2.Decide which of the big ideas you wish your students to explore and debate.

3.Use “how, why,” or to what extent” to reframe your big ideas as questions:

• How=process• Why=cause and effect• To what extent=matters of degree or kind

An Algorithm for Creating Essential Questions


What essential questions will be considered?

• What is healthful eating?• Are you a heathful eater? How would you know?• How could a healthy diet for one person be unhealthy for another?• Why are there so many health problems caused by poor eating despite all of the available information?



Stage 1- Desired ResultsEstablished Goals: GUnderstandings: U Students will understand that…






Stage 1

Stage 1- Desired ResultsEstablished Goals: G







Stage 1

Declarative (Know)• Facts• Concepts• Generalizations• Theories• Rules• Principles

Procedural (Do)• Skills• Procedures• Processes

The Structure of Knowledge


VocabularyTerminologyDefinitionsKey factual informationFormulasTechnologiesCritical detailsImportant events and peopleSequence and timelines

Basic- decoding, arithmetic, computation

Communication- listening, writing, speaking

21st Century LiteraciesThinking- comparison,

inference, analysis, interpretation

Research, inquiry, investigation

Study- note takingInterpersonal- group skills

Knowledge Skills


Knowledge and Skills

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

Stage 1- Identify Desired ResultsKnowledge and Skills


• Facts: 1776; Annapolis is the capital of Maryland; Lyndon Johnson succeeded John F. Kennedy.

• Concepts: interdependence; scientific method; equivalent fractions; grammar and usage

• Generalizations: Tragic heroes frequently suffer because of a failure to recognize an internal character defect; Technology changes frequently produce social and cultural changes.

• Theories: Einstein’s Theory of Relativity; Natural Selection

• Rules: The Pythagorean Theorem; rules for pronouncing sound-symbol combinations in English

• Principles: Newton’s Laws; the Commutative Principle

Declarative Knowledge (Know)


• Skill: Focus a microscope; Decode the meaning of a word using a context cue.

• Procedure: Prepare and analyze a slide specimen; Summarize the main idea of a paragraph or passage.

• Process: Collect a variety of leaf specimens and compare their structures using a microscope; Trace the development of an author’s theme in a work of literature.

Procedural Knowledge (Do)


What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?

Students will know: Students will be able to: • key terms - protein, fat, calorie, • Read and interpret nutrition carbohydrate, cholesterol, etc. • Information on food labels.• types of foods in each food group & • Analyze diets for nutritional their nutritional values. value.• the USDA Pyramid guidelines. • Plan balanced diets for• variables infl uencing nutritional needs. themselves and others• general health problems caused by poor nutrition.


• The Six Facets: explain, interpret, apply, analyze perspectives, express empathy, demonstrate self-knowledge and meta-cognitive awareness

• Know: facts, concepts, generalizations, rules and principles

• Do: skills, procedures, processes

To What Extent Do Your Desired Results Contain Objectives That Emphasize the

Six Facets of Understanding?


Students will be able to:1. Explain the significance of the following facts about the

American Civil War.2. Interpret the meaning of and apply the following concepts to

the analysis of cause and effect patterns in labs focusing on chemical and physical changes in matter.

3. Analyze and explain the origins of conflicting perspectives about the Kennedy assassination.

4. Express empathy for the characters by participating in a role-play or simulation of events from the novel.

For Example…


1. What are the four key elements of Stage One in the backward-design process?

2. How does each element relate to the three-circle audit process?

Activity


If you were asking questions on the left side of the last slide, you’re ready to design some

assessment evidence!

















Stage 2!

• 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.

Stage 2- Determine Acceptable 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.



Think 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

Continuum of Assessment


Informal checks for understa

nding

Tests and

Quizzes

Academic

Prompts

Performance Tasks

• Informal checks for understanding- ongoing assessments such as questioning, observations, dialogue, examining work, think alouds

• Tests and Quizzes- simple, content focused items• Academic Prompts- open ended questions, problems that require students to

think critically, not just recall knowledge, and to prepare a specific academic response, product or performance

• Performance Tasks- complex challenges that mirror the issues and problems faced by adults, ranging from short-term to long term tasks, multistaged projects, they yield one or more tangible products and performances.


Collect Diverse Evidence from Assessments

• 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

What should a Performance Task ask students to do?


Use 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 (meta-cognitive awareness, know what we don’t

know, reflect on meaning of learning and experience)

These are excellent starting points or touchstones for performance tasks!

The Six Facets of Understanding


• 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?



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?

How to tell if you’re thinking like an assessor


How can schools develop and sustain an effective assessment process that

reinforces the monitoring the understanding of all learners?

Essential Question Four


• Assessment and instruction are inextricably linked.

• The nature of your desired result(s) will determine the type(s) of assessment task you use to monitor student achievement.

• When assessing for understanding, more than selected-response test items (true-false, fill in the blank, multiple choice) are required.

Assessing Understanding: Some Starting Points…


Traditional quizzes

and tests (selected response)…….

Quizzes and tests

(constructed response)……. Performance tasks and projects…

Performance tasks and projects

(complex, open-ended, authentic)……...

Curricular Priorities and Assessment Methods


• Do you select the appropriate assessment tool or process to assess each desired result?

• Do you use a range of assessment tools, rather than just tests and quizzes?

• Do you strive for a photo album, not a snapshot, of student performance data?

• Does your photo album provide a full portrait of what your students know, do, and understand relative to your desired results?

Assessing Your Assessments…


Do you make use of…• Tests and quizzes that include constructed-

response items?• Reflective assessments (reflective journals, think

logs, peer response groups, interviews)?• Academic prompts with a FAT-P (audience, format,

topic, purpose) clearly stated?• Culminating performance assessment tasks and

projects?

Assessing Your Assessments


• Assessment and instruction are inextricably linked.

• The nature of your desired result(s) will determine the type(s) of assessment task you use to monitor student achievement.

• When assessing for understanding, more than selected-response test items (true-false, fill in the blank, multiple choice) are required.

Assessing Understanding: Some Starting Points…


• Clearly lay out what students should demonstrate, transfer, or apply to show what they understand and can do as a result of the study.

• Provide one or more modes of expression.• Lay out clear, precise expectations for high-quality content (e.g.,

rubrics, scoring guides); steps and behaviors of developing the product; and the nature of the product itself.

• Provide support and scaffolding for high-quality student success.• Provide for variations in student readiness, interest, and learning

profile.

Criteria for Differentiated Assessment “Products”


1. Why does UBD recommend a “photo album” approach to assessment, rather than just a snapshot?

2. Describe the four UBD “non-negotiable” elements of a good assessment photo album.

Activity


• Require some form of performance by the student within the testing situation.

• Involve students in demonstrations of understanding, not just knowledge-recall learning.

• Are often written, but can be differentiated to allow for alternative approaches.

• Can involve some form of choice by the learner.

Constructed-Response Test Items


1. Defend or negate the following statement: Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.

2. Examine the solution to the math word problem presented below. Describe an alternative—and more efficient—way of solving it.

3. Observe the following videotape, which highlights elements of a local eco-system. Describe your observations and conclusions about the health of that system.

Sample Constructed-Response Test Items


• Encourage students to internalize and apply to themselves and peers significant evaluation standards and criteria.

• Engage students in self-evaluation and meta-cognitive processing.

• Ensure that all learners are becoming self-monitoring and are “owning” the evaluation criteria.

• Encourage active feedback and adjustment.

Formal and Informal Reflective Assessments


1. Reflective Journal Entries: How well do you understand this passage? What are the main ideas from this lesson? What did this material mean to you?

2. Think Logs: How would you describe the process of classification? How has your approach to problem-solving changed during this unit?

3. Self-Evaluations: Based upon our evaluation criteria, what grade would you give yourself? Why?

4. Peer Response Group Activities: What can you praise about the work? What questions can you pose? What suggestions can you make for polishing the product?

5. Interviews: Tell me about your perceptions of this project. What do you consider to be your strengths and areas in need of improvement?

Sample Reflective Assessment Activities


• A structured performance task that elicits the student’s creation of a controlled performance or product.

• These performances and products should align with criteria expressed in a scoring guide or rubric.

• Successful prompts articulate a format, audience, topic/content focus, and purpose.

The Academic Prompt


Think about a time when you were surprised (topic). Write a letter (format) to a friend

(audience) in which you describe that experience. Use a logical narrative sequence

with concrete sensory details to help your friend understand what this event was like

and how you experienced it (purpose).

A Sample Academic Prompt with a FAT-P


A Sample Academic Prompt with a FAT-P


Prompt: Describe two health problems that could arise as a result of

poor nutrition and explain how these could be avoided.

• G=real-world goals• R=real-world role(s)• A=real-world audience• S=real-world situation• P=real-world products and performances• S=standards for acceptable performance

Elements of an Effective Performance Task and Culminating Project


You are a member of a team of scientists investigating deforestation of the Amazon rain forest. You are

responsible for gathering scientific data (including such visual evidence as photographs) and producing a scientific report in which you summarize current conditions, possible future trends, and their implications for both the Amazon itself and its broader influence on our planet. Your report,

which you will present to a United Nations sub-committee, should include detailed and fully-supported

recommendations for an action plan which are clear and complete.

A Sample G.R.A.S.P.S.by Design


Use the G.R.A.S.P.S. design elements to create a powerful culminating performance task or project for a unit you teach.

Activity


Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

Performance Tasks (summary in GRASPS form) You Are What You Eat- Students create an illustrated brochure to teach younger children about the importance of good nutrition for healthful living. Offer students ideas for breaking bad eating habits.

Chow Down- Students develop a three-day menu for meals and snacks for an upcoming Outdoor Education camp experience. They write a letter to the camp director to explain why their menu should be selected (by showing that it meets the USDA Food Pyramid recommendations, yet is tasty enough for students). Include at least one modification for a specific dietary condition (diabetic or vegetarian) or religious consideration.


What evidence will show that students understand?

Other Evidence:

• Quiz- The food groups and the USDA Food Pyramid

• Academic Prompt• Skill Check- Interpret nutritional

information on food labels


Other Evidence

Informal Observations/discussions During work on the performance tasks and the camp and the camp menu project.

Student Self-Assessment and Reflection:1.Self-assess brochure, You Are What You Eat.2.Self-assess the camp menu, Chow Down.3.Reflect on the extent to which you eat healthy at the

end of the unit (compared to the beginning).


How can schools and districts promote instructional practices that

reinforce the engagement, achievement, and understanding of

all learners?

Essential Question Three










Stage 3







Designing Instructional Activities (I)


• W• H• E• R• E• T• O

• W=Where are we going? Why are we going there? In what ways will we be evaluated?

• H=How will you hook and engage my interest?• E=How will you equip me for success?• R=How will you help me revise, rethink, refine, and revisit what

I am learning?• E=How will I self-evaluate and self-express?• T=How will you tailor your instruction to meet my individual

needs and strengths?• O=How will you organize your teaching to maximize

understanding for all students?

Designing Instructional Activities to Promote Understanding (II)


• Articulation of Goals: Where are we going in this unit or course? What are our goals and standards? What resources and learning experiences will help us achieve them?

• Communication of Expectations: What is expected of students? What are the key assignments and assessments? How will students demonstrate understanding? What criteria and performance standards will be used for assessment?

• Establishment of Relevance and Value: Why is this worth learning? How will this benefit students now and in the future?

• Diagnosis: From where are students coming? What prior knowledge, interests, learning styles, and talents do they bring? What misconceptions may exist that must be addressed?

“W” Essential Questions


• Odd facts, anomalies, counterintuitive examples• Provocative entry questions• Mysteries and engaging anecdotes or stories• Challenges• Student-friendly problems and issues• Experiments and predictions of outcomes• Role-plays and simulations activities• Sharing personal experiences• Allowing students choices and options• Establishing emotional connections• Humor

“H” Strategies


• Experiential and Inductive Learning:What experiential or inductive learning will help students to explore the big ideas and essential questions?

• Direct Instruction: What information or skills need to be taught explicitly to equip students for successful achievement of desired results?

• Homework and Other Out-of-Class Experiences: What homework and other out-of-class experiences are needed to equip students to achieve desired results and complete expected performances?

“E” Essential Questions


• Rethink:What big ideas do we want students to rethink? How will your design challenge students to revisit important ideas?

• Revise or Refine: What skills need to be practiced or rehearsed? How might student products and performances be improved?

• Reflect: How will you encourage students to reflect on their learning experiences and growing understanding? How will you help them to become more meta-cognitive?

“R” Essential Questions


• What do you really understand about …….?• What questions and uncertainties do you still have?• What was most and least effective in ….?• How could you improve …..?• How would you describe your strengths and needs in…?• What would you do differently next time?• What grade or score do you deserve? Why?• How does what you’ve learned connect to other learnings?• How have you changed your thinking?• How does what you’ve learned related to your present and future?• What follow-up work is needed?

Sample “E” Questions


• Content: How will you accommodate different knowledge and skill levels? How will you address a variety of learning modalities and preferences? How will you use a range of resource materials?

• Process: How will you vary individual and group work? How will you accommodate different learning style preferences and readiness levels?

• Product: To what extent will you allow students choices in products for activities and assignments? How will you allow students choices for demonstrating significant understandings?

“T” Essential Questions


• Conceptual Organization Along a Developmental Continuum: How will you help students to move from initial concrete experience toward growing levels of conceptual understanding and independent application?

• Coverage: What aspects of your unit or program are most appropriately and effectively addressed in linear, teacher-directed, or didactic fashion?

• “Uncoverage”: What is most appropriately and effectively “uncovered” in an inductive, inquiry-oriented experiential manner?

“O” Essential Questions


Learning Experience1. Begin with an entry question (Can the foods you eat cause zits?) to hook students into considering the effects of nutrition on their lives. M H2. Introduce the essential questions and discuss the culminating unit performance tasks (Chow Down and Eating

Action Plan). M W3. Note: Key vocabulary terms are introduced as needed by the various learning activities and performance tasks.

Students read and discuss relevant selections from the Health textbook to support the learning activities and tasks. As an on-going activity students keep a chart of their daily eating and drinking for later review and evaluation. A E

4. Present concept attainment lesson on the food groups. Then, have students practice categorizing pictures of foods accordingly. M E

5. Introduce the Food Pyramid and identify foods in each group. Students work in groups to develop a poster of the Food Pyramid containing cut-out pictures of foods in each group. Display the posters in the classroom or hallway. A E

6. Give quiz on the Food groups and Food Pyramid (matching format). E E7. Review and discuss the nutrition brochure from the USDA. Discussion question: Must everyone follow the

same diet in order to be healthy? A M R8. Working in cooperative groups, students analyze a hypothetical family*s diet (deliberately unbalanced) and

make recommendations for improved nutrition. Teacher observes and coaches students as they work. M T E29. Have groups share their diet analyses and discuss as a class. M E, E2


Learning Experience (Continued)10. Each student designs an illustrated nutrition brochure to teach younger children about the importance of good

nutrition for healthy living and the problems associated with poor eating. This activity is completed outside of class. M T E, T

11. Show and discuss the video, Nutrition and You. Discuss the health problems that result from poor nutrition. A R, E-212. Students listen to, and question, a guest speaker (nutritionist from the local hospital) about health problems caused

by poor nutrition. A E13. Students respond to written prompt: Describe two health problems that could arise as a result of poor nutrition and

explain what changes in eating could help to avoid them. (These are collected and graded by teacher.) A E14. Teacher models how to read and interpret food label information on nutritional values. Then, have students practice

using donated boxes, cans and bottles (empty!). A E-215. Students work independently to develop the 3-day camp menu. T E 16. At the conclusion of the unit, students review their completed daily eating chart and self assess the “healthfulness”

of their eating. Have they noticed changes? Improvements? Do they notice changes in how they feel and/or their appearance? M T E-2 , T

17. Students develop a personal “eating action plan” for healthful eating. These are saved and presented at upcoming student-involved parent conferences. T E-2

18. Conclude the unit with student self evaluation regarding their personal eating habits. Have each student develop a personal action plan for their “healthful eating” goal. M T E-2, T


1. How is W.H.E.R.E.T.O. the “blueprint” for Stage Three learning activities?

2. How would you explain each of the W.H.E.R.E.T.O. elements to a colleague with whom you work?

Activity Seventeen


…So what can we conclude about schools that promote various dimensions of engaged student learning that result in understanding, not just knowledge-recall learning?

Some Final Thoughts…


• Changes in our society necessitating the need to emphasize student engagement.

• The need to emphasize student understanding, not just knowledge-recall learning.

• The power of a core and conceptually-organized curriculum built upon high expectations for all students.

• The necessity of differentiating assessment and instruction.• The power of using research-based instructional practices to

promote student engagement.

We’ve Explored…


“• We all have a few habits that are neither

helpful nor in line with ‘Best Practice’– For example, many of us too often –

• Confuse the textbook with a valid syllabus based on transfer goals

• Confuse fun activities with learning• “Teach” without checking for understanding

early and often enough• Test what is easier to test and grade rather than

what is most in line with our personal and institutional long-term goals

• We all have a few habits that are neither helpful nor in line with ‘Best Practice’– For example, many of us too often –

• Confuse the textbook with a valid syllabus based on transfer goals

• Confuse fun activities with learning• “Teach” without checking for understanding

early and often enough• Test what is easier to test and grade rather than

what is most in line with our personal and institutional long-term goals

Nothing personal, but…”

– Clear goals and explicit performance requirements– Models and modeling provided – A genuine challenge/problem/question frames work that stretches

you - real, meaningful tasks– Lots of focused practice, feedback, and opportunities to use it built in

- not over-planned and taught– Trial and error, reflection and adjustment are expected, encouraged

and ‘designed in’– The teacher is more of a facilitator, coach– There is a safe, supportive environment for risk-taking, trying out

new learning– ‘Designed in’ variety, choice, and attention to difference– A good mix of collaboration/solo work– Immersion, active, hands-on - and earlier than typically done

– Clear goals and explicit performance requirements– Models and modeling provided – A genuine challenge/problem/question frames work that stretches

you - real, meaningful tasks– Lots of focused practice, feedback, and opportunities to use it built in

- not over-planned and taught– Trial and error, reflection and adjustment are expected, encouraged

and ‘designed in’– The teacher is more of a facilitator, coach– There is a safe, supportive environment for risk-taking, trying out

new learning– ‘Designed in’ variety, choice, and attention to difference– A good mix of collaboration/solo work– Immersion, active, hands-on - and earlier than typically done

Nothing personal: “Best design” characteristics (from 8000+ educators)…”

• A commitment to continuous progress

• Involvement of all stakeholders in decision-making and problem-solving

• Built on a community of inquiry and learning

• Ongoing use of collaborative processes, including study groups, inquiry teams, and action research cohorts.

One Last Note About the Learning Organization…


1. As you reflect back on the training, what do you consider to be the “big ideas” of UBD?

2. What are some possible next steps for implementing what you have learned?

Activity


Making Sense of Understanding by Design

Documents

understandingpriscilla

jay mctighe priscilla

student understanding

meaningful understanding

term understanding

best curriculum

best students

design ubd