Understanding by Design

Stage One In-Depth

Monday, August 29, 2011

Understanding by Design

With your table group, write down everything and anything you know about UbD.

You have three minutes. Go!

Three Minute Review

MeaningTransferAcquisition

Essential QuestionsUnderstandingsBig Ideas

SkillsGoalsLearning

Stage One

Overall, Stage One is basically about having a good grasp of what you want your students to…

KNOW

UNDERSTAND &

BE ABLE TO DO.

Stage One

Established GoalsTransferMeaning

UnderstandingsEssential Questions

AcquisitionKnowledgeSkills

Stage One

Established GoalsTransferMeaning

UnderstandingsEssential Questions

AcquisitionKnowledgeSkills

Stage One

What kinds of long-term independent accomplishments are desired?

You truly understand and excel when you can take what you have learned in one way or context and use it in another, on your own.

What do we want students to be able to do in the world beyond school?

Transfer =

Effective application of understandings (inferences, connections, etc.) in new situations.

In the end, what should a learner eventually be able to do with this and similar content that really matters?

The learner grasps the significance of what is learned and can apply it wisely in the future (in other coursework and in life beyond the classroom).

Transfer =

Students recognize what is expected and act appropriately when a related but new challenge presents itself, without teachers reminding them what to do.

Transfer goals should specify desired long-term, genuine accomplishment.

The successful driver, soccer player, historian, or mathematician can size up a new challenge and transfer learning efficiently and effectively. Someone who learned only by rote cannot.

Transfer =

A soccer player may be able to complete drills effectively, but only demonstrates true “transfer” of understandings, knowledge, and skills when he/she can apply them effectively (on his/her own) in the game.

If I help you make better sense of the four types of goals (knowledge, skill, meaning, and transfer), I am working to create “meaning” for you. If I ask you to take that new meaning to design your own set of goals for a given unit, I am working to create “transfer” for you.

HISTORY: Discuss the applicability of the history they have been learning to current and future events.

READING: Read and respond to various types of text through personal connections.

MATH: Recognize and solve never-before-seen problems where it’s not clear what the problem is asking or what approach would be appropriate.

SCIENCE: Evaluate scientific claims and analyze current issues involving science or technology.

Transfer Goal Examples

WRITING: Effectively write in various genres to persuade.

HEALTH / P.E.: Make healthful choices and decisions regarding diet, exercise, stress management, alcohol, drug use.

PERFORMING ARTS: Create and perform an original work in a selected medium to express ideas and evoke mood/emotion.

WORLD LANGUAGE: Communicate effectively in the target language, in various situations with different challenges to understanding (speed, accent, over phone, etc.).

Transfer Goal Examples

Application (not simply recognition or recall)

Application in new situations (not ones previously taught or encountered)

Learners to apply their learning on their own

Transfer Goals Require…

Driver’s Education Unit

Established GoalsTransferMeaning

UnderstandingsEssential Questions

AcquisitionKnowledgeSkills

Stage One

An understanding is an idea that results from reflecting on and analyzing one’s learning:An important generalizationA new insightA useful realization

Understandings

Is NOT a fact, but a “theory” in the broadest sense.

Is a statement students can only “get” after lots of experience and prompted reflection.

Cannot be “covered” but is always “uncovered”.

Is an A-ha!Has to be owned by the students.

Otherwise it is just a lifeless sentence.

An Understanding…

HISTORY: People move for a variety of reasons – for new economic opportunities, greater freedoms, or to flee something.

MATH: Mathematics is a language, and over the centuries mathematicians have come to agree on certain conventions, or ways of doing things, so that we can communicate our intentions clearly and efficiently.

MUSIC: The foundation of rhythm is pulse (steady beat), which continues through sound and silence.

HEALTH / P.E.: A muscle that contracts through its full range of motion will generate greater force.

Understanding Examples

FOOD & CONSUMER SCIENCE: The USDA Food Pyramid presents relative, not absolute, guidelines for a balanced diet.

LANGUAGE ARTS: Good readers approach a nonfiction text with just the right mix of respect for the author’s argument and skepticism about its truth.

VISUAL ARTS: Artists use narrative conventions similar to oral and written storytellers to tell stories.

Understanding Examples

Established GoalsTransferMeaning

UnderstandingsEssential Questions

AcquisitionKnowledgeSkills

Stage One

Criteria for a Valid Essential Question:Cause inquiry into core contentProvoke deep thoughtRequire students to justify and support their

ideasSpark rethinking of big ideasCreate opportunities for transfer

Essential Questions Should NOT:Have a yes/no answerHave one, clear-cut answerBe mentioned once and never referenced

again

*EQ’s focus a unit and force our students (and us) to think more deeply!!!!

Essential Questions

(Wiggins 70-73)

MUSIC: What is the value of studying music theory? How is music theory used in the real world?

SOCIAL STUDIES: What is worth fighting for? Who decides? How should governments balance the rights of individuals with the common good?

ART: What can the artworks tell us about a culture or society? Do artists have a responsibility to their audiences?

HEALTH / P.E.: How can a diet be healthy for one person and not another? What is healthful living?

Essential Question Examples

SCIENCE: How should we evaluate a scientific claim? How can we best measure what we can not directly see?

MATH: How accurate does this need to be? How does what we measure influence how we measure?

LANGUAGE ARTS: How are the stories from other places and times about me? Have we run across this idea before?

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: How can I sound more like a native speaker? How can I explore and describe cultures without stereotyping them?

Essential Question Examples

When did the Civil War occur?How do you convert a decimal to a

percentage?Can you find an example of conflict in the

story?What are the steps of the Scientific

Method?How does the body turn food into energy?Why does the future tense matter?

Nonessential Questions

1.Less is More

2.Kid Language

3.Post Them

4.Connect

Tips for Using EQ’s

Driver’s Education Unit

Established GoalsTransferMeaning

UnderstandingsEssential Questions

AcquisitionKnowledgeSkills

Stage One

KnowledgeFactsDeclarative in natureStraightforwardAccepted “truths”Do not transfer

KnowledgeWhat we want students to know:

VocabularyDefinitionsKey factual informationFormulasCritical detailsImportant eventsSequence and timelines

Knowledge ExamplesMUSIC: Not all sounds have a beat

P.E.: Rules of the game

SOCIAL STUDIES: Key facts about the westward movement and pioneer life on the prairie

LITERATURE: The plot, setting and main characters in the novel The Catcher in the Rye

MATH: The commutative property and to which operation it applies (and when it does not apply)

SkillsProceduralSimple and discreteStep toward your goalLimited transfer

SkillsWhat we want students to be able to do:

Basic skills (decoding, arithmetic)Communication skills (listening, speaking,

writingThinking Skills (compare, infer, analyze,

interpret)Research skillsStudy skillsGroup skills

Skills ExamplesMUSIC: Demonstrate a steady beat individually or in a small group.

P.E.: Execute the golf swing so the ball takes flight.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Using research skills (with guidance) to find out about life on the wagon trail and prairie.

LITERATURE: Using interpretive / inferential reading strategies to better analyze literature on their own.

MATH: Using the convention of “order of operations” to perform calculations and simplify algebraic equations.

Driver’s Education Unit

Table Activity

Please use a note card on your table to write down a question, comment or concern you have about Stage

One.

Exit Card