The

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The What and Why of Understanding By Design

• Merle C. Tan, PhD
• National Institute for Science and Mathematics
  Education Development
• University of the Philippines, Diliman

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UP NISMED was established in 1964 as a Science
Teaching Center became a national institute in
1997 named the National Center for Research
Innovations in SME 2005 recipient of 1st Gawad
Leader in SME 2008.
Major functions research, curriculum
development, and professional development of
teachers and school administrators
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This session will hopefully .

• broaden and deepen your concept of UbD, and
• help you understand why UbD is a powerful tool
  for (chemistry) teachers and educators.

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UbD What is it?

• A conceptual framework, a design process, and a
  set of design standards used in the development
  of units
• Offers a template used as an aid in the design of
  curriculum, instruction, and assessment
• Relies on backward design process for
  educational planning
• Focused on "teaching for understanding
• Designed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (1999),
  and published by the Association for Supervision
  and Curriculum Development.

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UbD A Conceptual framework

• A way of thinking ...pulling together many ideas
  and processes that have been tested both through
  research and classroom use
• These ideas and process give rise to powerful
  learning experiences that can result to deeper
  understanding of facts, concepts, generalizations
  , principles, and other ideas.
• The learning experiences engage and result in
  learners gaining sophisticated insights and
  abilities that will be reflected in a variety of
  performance both in school and in the real world.
  

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UbD A Conceptual Framework

• UbD is different from conventional thinking about
  teaching and learning
• Emphasizes the use of backward design process
• Prioritizes what students are to know,
  understand, and be able to do
• Gives serious consideration to the meaning of
  understanding

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• Backward design process

• Focuses thinking on the desired results of
  instruction, rather than beginning their planning
  process with activities, materials, or textbook
  content.
• The focal point for the planning of curriculum,
  instruction , and assessment is what the learner
  should know, understand, and be able to do as a
  result of instruction
• The results of instruction, are determined with
  reference to national standards

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• Backward design process

• The results of instruction, are determined with
  reference to national standards
• After the desired results of instruction have
  been specified , the backward design process
  turns the attention of the teachers or curriculum
  design team toward identifying the evidence that
  will be accepted to determining whether the
  learner has achieved the desired results.
• Finally, the attention is turned to planning
  learning experiences and activities.
• If design begins with the end in mind, the result
  is likely to be instruction that will focus more
  clearly and effectively on desired results.

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Stage 3 Planning learning experiences
instruction
Stage 2 Determining acceptable evidence
Stage 1 Identifying desired results (learning
outcomes)
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To begin with the end in mind means

• to start with a clear understanding of your
  destination.
• to know where youre going so that you better
  understand where you are now
• so that the steps you take are always in the
  right direction.
• Stephen R. Covey (n.d. ) The 7 Habits of Highly
  Effective People

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• Need to priorities what students are to know ,
  understand, and be able to do

• Rather than viewing knowledge as equal, this way
  of thinking suggests that some knowledge are
  essential and enduring, some knowledge are
  important to know, and some knowledge are worth
  being familiar with.
• A review of curriculum standards reveals that
  there is more content deemed important than can
  reasonably be covered in the classroom.
• Superficial coverage of all content is not the
  answer if the desire is to help learners
  understand important ideas.

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Worth being familiar with
Worth being familiar with
Important to know and do
Enduring understanding
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• Four criteria or filters to assist designers in
  determining which knowledge is essential and
  enduring, which is important, and which is worth
  being familiar with
• To what extent are the content standards and
  topics enduring and transferable big ideas having
  value beyond the classroom?
• To what extent are the content standards and
  topics big ideas and core processes at the heart
  of the discipline?
• To what extent are the content standards and
  topics abstract, counterintuitive, often
  misunderstood, or easily misunderstood ideas
  requiring uncoverage?
• To what extent are the content standards or
  topics big ideas embedded in facts, skills, and
  activities?

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• Gives serious consideration to the meaning of
  understanding-

• To some, understanding might mean simply
  answering the question correctly, or defining a
  term in your own words, or carrying out a simple
  skill, or explaining why something occurred.
• Understanding is more than just knowing or doing.
• Wiggins and McTighe describe understanding as the
  ability to use knowledge and skill in
  sophisticated, flexible ways.
• K S are necessary elements of understanding,
  but they are not synonymous with understanding.
  Matters of understanding require more.
• Students need to make conscious sense and apt use
  of the knowledge they are learning and the
  principles underlying it.

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• Wiggins and McTighe, suggest that when we truly
  understand an idea we
• Can explain provide thorough, supported, and
  justifiable accounts of phenomena, facts, and
  data.
• Can interpret tell meaningful stories offer
  apt translations provide a revealing historical
  or personal dimension to ideas and events make
  it personal or accessible through images,
  anecdotes, analogies, and models.
• Can apply effectively use and adapt what we
  know in diverse contexts.
• Have perspective see and hear points of view
  through critical eyes and ears see the big
  picture.
• Can empathize find value in what others might
  find odd, alien, or implausible perceive
  sensitively on the basis of prior direct
  experience.
• Have self knowledge perceive the personal
  style, prejudices, and habits of mind that both
  shape and impede our own understanding we are
  aware of what we do not understand and why
  understanding is so hard..

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• Six facets of understanding

Interpret
Explain
Apply
Understanding means being able to..
Have perspective
Have self- Knowledge
Empathize
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Understanding by Design A Design
Process Understanding by Design is both a road
map and a checklist. As a road map it guides us
to our destination of well designed curriculum,
instruction, and assessment, avoiding wrong turns
and delays. As a checklist it reminds us of what
we need to do during the beginning, middle, and
end of our journey. .
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Understanding by Design A Design Process The
Understanding by Design process includes three
stages. These stages are as follows Stage 1
identify desired results of instruction, Stage 2
determine acceptable evidence to judge whether
the results were achieved and how well they
were achieved, and Stage 3 plan learning
experiences and instruction.
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• Stage 1 Tasks
• Identifying most essential and enduring
  understanding
• Identifying essential questions
• Identifying important knowledge and skills that
  will result for the unit
• i

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• Essential and enduring ideas - those big ideas
  that are as useful and valid in the real world
  outside of the school as they are in the
  classroom.
• (refer to filters)
• Essential questions (EQs) are the basis for
  framing the unit. Engaging questions
• can serve as doorways to understanding. set
  directions for inquiry providing students with a
  purpose
• provide learners with a focus on enduring
  understandings
• invite the learners to think about interesting
  problems that they might not perceived as a
  question before
• as they engage in learning activities.

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• Curriculum developers will be guided by the EQs
  in developing learning experiences
• that are focused on important understanding
• rather than coming up with a set of disconnected
  activities that are simply designed to be hands
  on.

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• EQs share common characteristics
• Are framed to provide and sustain student
  interest
• Recur naturally throughout ones learning and in
  the history of the field
• Address the philosophical or conceptual
  foundations of the discipline
• Raise other important questions, often across
  subject area disciplines, and
• Have no obvious right answer but serves as
  doorways into focused yet lively discussion ,
  inquiry, and research

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• Identifying important knowledge and skills
• As essential understandings are identified, the
  design team will discover that there are pieces
  of important or worth being familiar with .
• K/S of this nature are included because they are
  related to or give rise to the essential
  understanding that is the focus of the unit.

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Stage 2 Tasks Choosing appropriate assessments
methods (there are multiple methods of
assessments- performance tasks and projects as
well as traditional assessments such as quizzes
and tests. Designing authentic performance
assessments Using GRASPS Using the facets of
understanding in designing authentic performance
assessments Designing scoring rubrics
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GRASPS Goal the goal of the performance
task Role the role of the students as they carry
out the performance task Audience the target
audience to which the finished product/performance
will be presented Situation the context Product
or performance the result of the activity or
task Standards success the criteria by which
the product/performance will be judged
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Stage 3 Tasks Where is the unit headed and what
is the purpose of day to day work? Hook the
students through engaging work that makes them
more eager to explore key ideas. Explore the
subject in depth, equip students with required
K/S to perform successfully on final tasks and
help students experience key ideas Rethink with
students the big ideas . They rehearse and revise
their work Evaluate results and develop action
plans through self assessment of resulst.
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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• The Unit of Course Design
• The big ideas and essential questions clearly
  guide the design of, and are aligned with
  assessments and T/L activities
• Makes clear distinctions between big ideas and
  essential questions and the knowledge and skills
  necessary for learning big ideas and answering
  the questions

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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• The Unit of Course Design
• Uses multiple forms of assessment that let
  students demonstrate their understanding in
  various ways.
• Incorporates instruction and assessment that
  reflects the six facets of understanding
• Anchors assessment of understanding with
  authentic performance tasks

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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• The Unit of Course Design
• Uses clear criteria and performance standards for
  teacher, peer, and self evaluation of students
  products and performances
• Enables students to revisit and rethink important
  ideas to deepen their understanding
• Incorporates a variety of resources (the
  textbook serving as one resource rather than as
  the syllabus)

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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• The Teacher
• Informs students of the big ideas and essential
  questions, performance requirements, and
  evaluative criteria at the beginning of the unit
  or course
• Hooks and holds students interest while they
  examine and explore big ideas and essential
  questions
• Uses a variety of strategies to promote better
  understanding of subject matter

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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• The Teacher
• Facilitates students active construction of
  meaning (rather than simply telling.
• Promotes opportunities to students to unpack
  their thinking to explain, interpret, shift
  perspectives, empathize, or self assess
• Uses questioning, probing, and feedback to
  stimulate student reflection and rethinking

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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• The Teacher
• Teaches basic knowledge and skills in the
  context of big ideas and explore essential
  questions
• Uses information from ongoing assessments as
  feedback to adjust instruction
• Uses information from ongoing assessments to
  check for student understanding and
  misconception along the way
• Uses a variety of resources to promote
  understanding

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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• The Learners
• Can describe the goals and performance
  requirements of the unit or course
• Can explain what they are doing and why.
• Are hooked at the beginning and remain engaged
  throughout the unit or course.
• Can describe the criteria by which will be
  evaluated
• Are engaged in activities that help them to learn
  the big ideas and essential questions

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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• The Learners
• Are engaged in activities that promote the six
  facets of understanding.
• Demonstrate that they are learning the background
  knowledge and skills that support the big ideas
  and EQs.
• Have opportunities to generate relevant
  questions.
• Are able to explain and justify their work and
  answers

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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• The Learners
• Are involved in self or peer performance
  assessment based on established performance
  standards.
• Use criteria or rubrics to guide and revise their
  work.
• Set relevant goals based on feedback.

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Indicators for Teaching with Understanding

• In the Classroom Environment
• The big ideas and the EQs are central to the work
  of students, the classroom activity, and the
  norms and culture of the classroom.
• There are high expectations and incentives for
  all students to come to understand the big ideas
  and EQs.
• Big ideas, EQs, and rubrics are posted.
• Sample models of student work are made visible.
• Exploration of big ideas and EQs is
  differentiated.

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UbD.. in brief

• UbD is a way of thinking more carefully about
  design it is NOT a program.
• Helps us design instruction that promotes
  students understanding and engagement
• Looks at instructional design from a results
  orientation

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• UbD contd
• Targets achievement through a backward planning
  process that focuses on assessment first and
  relevant instructional activities later
• Expects us to establish spirals of learning where
  students use and reconsider ideas and skills vs
  linear scope and sequence

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UbDcontd

• Provides a lens for prioritizing
• Serves as an organizer for facts, skills and
  actions focusing on big ideas, helps students
  see purpose and relevance of pieces
• Creates coherence
• Manifests itself in many ways and in many content
  areas
• Requires uncovering - its meaning is abstract,
  so it must be discovered, constructed or inferred
  by learners.

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Backward design takes time. Grant Wiggins
suggests to plan on one well-designed gourmet
unit per year when you start and seek the
support of colleagues.
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UbD (contd)

• Puts together many ideas and processes that have
  been tested both through research and classroom
  use UbD represents a way of thinking about the
  design of curriculum, instruction, and assessment
  
• While it takes some time and effort to learn this
  way of thinking, the investment is worthwhile as
  it will result in learning experiences
• It will engage learners and result in learners
  gaining more sophisticated insights and abilities
  that will be reflected in a variety of
  performances both in school and in the real
  world.

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The Understanding by Design process may seem
cumbersome upon first reading and even more
difficult upon the first attempt to use it.
Everything that is worthwhile in life requires
work.
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The UbD process begins with the end in mind,
identify evidence of quality products/
performances, and focus engaging learning
experiences on the desired results. In reality,
the work that is required in developing units of
instruction using the UbD process is no more
difficult or time consuming than conventional
ways of developing units. The end result is
considerably different, however In UBD-
instructional units that are efficient and
effective in producing deep understanding In
conventional teaching ,units are fun but result
in little learning. .
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References Petner C. et al. (2009) UbD as a tool
for effective unit design. Slideshare. Retrieved
12.07.09 McTighe,J. Seif, E. Indicators of
Teaching for Understanding. TLL Academics.
Retrieved 12.07.09 Wiggins ,G. McTighe, J
(nd) Understanding by Design A brief
instroduction . Center for technology and school
change at teachers college.Retrieved12.07.09.
Understanding by design httpen.
Wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_ by_ Design,
Retrieved 10.21.09