Transcript Jacque Melin, Facilitator  Examine the three big ideas behind Understanding by Design  Identify key challenges in teaching and learning in your classroom •

Jacque Melin, Facilitator
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 Examine
the three big ideas behind
Understanding by Design
 Identify key challenges in teaching and
learning in your classroom
• Student Achievement
• Coherence
• Preparation for post-graduation
2
 What
is “understanding” as a goal and
what does it demand of assessment and
instruction?
 How can we more likely achieve
understanding by design rather than by
good fortune?
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Plan
Adjust
Teach
Assess
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A
framework to –
• Stay focused on the long-term goals
• Get the blend of ‘content’ and ‘performance’ right
• Engage learners by using questions and tasks
that focus on “understanding.”
5
 If
too many students…
• do not apply their learning unless you ‘hold their
hand’
• do not know why they are learning what they are
asked to
• see their job as passive learners
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I
learn like a ______________________
because __________________________
Sample response: I learn like a car
because when I hop into gear, I accelerate
quickly when I get into the swing of things.
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I
learn like a turtle because it takes awhile
for me to get something but in the end I
understand.
 I learn like a lamp; when I’m “on” I do my
job well and when I’m “off” I don’t do much.
 I learn like a dog because it takes me a
while to completely understand things but
once I get it, I won’t forget it.
 I learn like a digestive system because I
take in what I want and take out the rest.
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I
learn like a clock because every second
changes. One second I’m listening, the next
second I’m not.
 I learn like a little kid because everything they
see and hear they want to touch and talk about it.
 I learn like a CD because in some subjects I just
flow freely and in others I skip like a scratched
one and in others I need things repeated like the
way a favorite song is repeated over and over
again.
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


I learn like a tabletop. Things just get piled on top of me
and after a while everything gets cluttered. Eventually I
discard everything and the process starts all over again.
I learn like meatloaf because my brain is fat in the
beginning and then it shrinks up when it is overheated.
I learn like a camera because I am capable of doing
great things, but I need motivation. I need to know why.
Just like a camera, I need the perfect light and a perfect
moment, then everything is in focus. Without these
things, the camera has no use. Without inspiration I am
like a camera without film.
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I
learn like a dead body because all I do is lay
there.
 I learn like a ball of clay because teachers can
mold my mind into whatever they teach.
 I learn like a parrot because after seeing
something I can mimic it.
 I learn like a sponge because I absorb all of the
information that is thrown at me.
 I learn like a tunnel because things go in one
side and out the other.
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 Your
thoughts…
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 How
did learners come to see
themselves that way?
• Too much “stuff”
• Too much “teacher talk”
• Not enough student questioning
• Not enough student application
• Not enough connections
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The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content effectively
for transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and competent understanding, not ‘coverage’
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The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content effectively
for transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and effective understanding, not ‘coverage’
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By
the end of the year,
learners should be (better)
able, on their own, to
effectively use all the
‘content’ learned this year,
to...
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By
the end of their formal
schooling, learners should
be able, on their own, to use
all the‘content’learned, to...
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19
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“Learning
is an
active process.
We learn by
doing. Only
knowledge that
is used sticks in
your mind.”
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The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content effectively
for transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and effective understanding, not ‘coverage’
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 If
you really
understand you can...
 If
you know a lot, but
don’t really
understand, you can
only...
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 If
you really understand you can...
Connect
Figure Out
Support
Not just
Plug in
Teach
Use
Create
Say why
Apply
Interpret
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If
you really understand you can...
Figure Out
Apply
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 "Application
is different from simple
comprehension: the student is not
prompted to give specific knowledge, nor is
the problem old-hat. The tests must involve
situations new to the student...”
 “Ideally
we are seeking a problem which
will test the extent to which the individual
has learned to apply an abstraction in a
practical way."
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 Efficiently
and
effectively retrieve
and adapt the most
appropriate
content, in context,
to make sense of
things and
perform
effectively
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 Work
must require students to –
• Learn how to use content in novel situations
• Confront endless problems with no obvious
answer and various plausible alternatives
• Face challenges that require figuring out which
prior learning applies here
• Handling varied situations: different
demands/audiences/purposes/options/
constraints
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 What
is fair? How can math help (or not)?
• When we say something is ‘fair’ or ‘unfair’ what
do we mean? How ‘mathematical’ should our
evidence be?
 Students generate, categorize examples of “That’s
fair!” and “That’s not fair!”
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Problem - Four 7th-grade
classes had a race of all the
students.
IN GROUPS: Devise at least 2
different ways to determine
a fair ranking of the classes,
given the results.
Agree on the most fair way,
and be prepared to defend
your answers…
Individual ranking of runners in a
race by all 7th-grade classes
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 Jigsaw on fairness
• What do we mean when we say that the rules of a
game of chance are “not fair”? What role does math
play in our judgment?
• What is a fair way to rank many teams when they do
not play each other?
• When is straight majority voting “fair” and when is it
“not fair”?
• When is it “fair” to consider an “average” in ranking
performance (e.g. salaries, home prices, batting
average) and when is it “unfair”?
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
“You know what? Mathematicians have a
few tools that might help us…”
• Lessons on measures of central
tendency:
oMean
oMedian
oMode
•Quizzes to check for skill
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
Propose and defend a “fair” grading
system for use in this class.
• How should everyone’s grade be calculated?
Why is your system more fair than the current
system (or: why is the current system most
fair?)
A
final reflection on the question: What
is fair and what isn’t fair?
• When should you and shouldn’t you use mean,
median, mode?
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THIS UNIT....

The start:

The assessment:

The textbook:

The EQ:

Building efficacy:
TYPICAL UNITS...
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Make
Meaning
Acquire
Authentic
Learning
Transfer
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Transfer
 Adapt
your knowledge, skill, and
understanding to specific and realistic
situations and contexts
 AIM: efficient, effective
solutions for realworld challenges, audiences, purposes,
settings
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Make
Meaning
 Make
connections & generalizations,
using the facts and skills –
• e.g. interpret, gist, main idea, thesis, empathize,
critique, etc.
 AIM: independent
and defensible student
inferences about situations, texts –
‘helpful and insightful understandings’
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Acquire
 Learn, with
accurate and timely recall,
important facts and discrete skills
 Aim: automaticity
of recall when needed
in performance
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T: Make a map of your school; see if
people can read your map and use it to get
somewhere
M: Make sense of the spatial relations, so
as to interpret three dimensions into two;
make sense of other people’s maps
A: Acquire skills of making and reading
maps
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T: Solve a non-routine and unfamiliar
problem in context in which there may or
may not be a linear relationship.
M: Correctly interpret the meaning of data
patterns or line of ‘best fit’ of data points
A: Acquire skills of plotting point pairs,
accurately drawing the graph of a line from a
linear equation, etc.
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The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content for
transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and competent understanding, not ‘coverage’
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Stage 1: Identify the long-term desired results
Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment
evidence to achieve those results
Stage 3: Design learning activities and
instruction, given the goals of Stage 1 and
evidence in Stage 2
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Stage 1: GOALS
Stage 2: ASSESSMENT
Stage 3: LEARNING EVENTS
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Identify the topics and content to be covered
Determine instruction for teaching the
content
When grades are due, assess the learning of
the content
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I
want students to understand –
• The Constitution
• The 3 branches of government
No - not a goal - this just says what the
content is
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want students to leave having
inferred/realized that, now & in the future
–
 “I
• The Constitution is a solution, based on
compromise, to real problems of balance and
limit of powers
• The compromise has a long, sometimes bitter
history – with many fights that are with us and
will always be with us.
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want students to leave able to transfer
their understanding – on their own – to
concretely address current and future
situations:
 “I
 Design a school government
 Design a government for Syria
 Support candidates who understand our core
principles
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 There
has to be a
deliberate plan for
developing
independent and
pro-active meaning &
transfer
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 Content
Standards =
building code
 The
Curriculum =
the architect’s
blueprint
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Stage 1 - Desired Results
The
UbD
Template–
• ‘by design’
Stage 2 - Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks
Stage 3 - Learning Plan
Other Evidence:
Other Evidence
Other Evidence:
addresses the
issues we have
identified
• T-M-A live at
each stage of the
template
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WHAT
HOW we assess
HOW we teach
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STAGE 1
Standards
Transfer
Long term goals of schooling
Meaning
Enduring Understandings
Essential Questions
Insight, wisdom, inference, Kid friendly question that
gist, generalization that the activates prior knowledge and
learner develops over time
focuses learning events
Acquisition
Primary knowledge and skills embedded in this topic, chapter
or theme as a basis for transfer
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Enduring Understandings
-Reflect big ideas in the form of
powerful generalizations
-Transferrable across situations,
places and times
-Must be “earned” through
processes of inquiry, inference
and rethinking
-Assessed through performance
tasks
Factual Knowledge
-Consists of facts and basic
concepts
-Facts do not transfer
-Can be learned in rote fashion
-Can be assessed using test or
quiz items that have a “right” or
“wrong” answer
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Essential Questions
-Are meant to be explored,
argued, and continually revisited
-Have various plausible answers
(and often the answers raise new
questions)
-Spark and provoke thought and
stimulate students to engage in
sustained inquiry and extended
thinking
-Reflect genuine questions that
real people seriously ask
Knowledge Questions
-Have a specific, straightforward
or unproblematic answer
-Are asked to prompt factual recall
rather than generate a sustained
inquiry
-Are more likely to be asked by a
teacher or a textbook tan by a
curious student or person out in
the world
-Are more rhetorical than genuine
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 Addition
of 21st century skills
 Addition of “student friendly” goals
 Addition of critical vocabulary
 Separation of knowledge and skill
 Elimination of Transfer
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STAGE 2 — ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
Evaluative
Criteria
Elements of
Success
Aligned with
Transfer
Meaning
Acquisition
Transfer Tasks
Novel problems or challenges that requires
explanation and application of learning
Aligned with meaning and transfer in Stage 1
Other Evidence
Straightforward, efficient forms of assessment
Aligned with acquisition in Stage 1
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Traditional quizzes
& tests
Paper/pencil
•Selected-response
•Constructed response
Worth being
familiar with
Important
to
know & do
Performance tasks &
projects
Complex
•Open ended
•Authentic
ASCD SF 2011; Zmuda and Herold
Big ideas &
Enduring
Understandings
Nice to know
Foundational
knowledge & skill
“Big ideas”
worth
exploring and
understanding
in depth
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Meaning
Making
Acquisition
Authentic
Critical analysis
Immediate
recall
Application
Judgment or
conclusion
Procedural
steps
Transfer
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 (TRANSFER)
By what evidence can we
convince ourselves that they understand
well enough to transfer what they have
learned?
 (MEANING MAKING) How will we
determine if they grasp subtle
understandings or can make new meaning
of the content?
 (ACQUISITION) Where do we look and what
do we look for to see if students genuinely
understand what they also recall?
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 EXPLAIN
in their own
words the “meaning
making”
 APPLY to new,
complex situations
 SELECT (without
being cued) what is
relevant based on an
existing repertoire of
knowledge and skills
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 Students
will work in groups to identify the
main offerings in the lunch line. Using their
knowledge of “My
Plate”http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
students will determine the most healthful
and least healthful options offered in the
cafeteria (rank ordering). Students will
explain the rationale for their order.
(Critical thinking, Communication)
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 Students
will design and draw their plate
for their favorite cafeteria lunch. Write a
persuasive letter to the cafeteria
manager to ask for additional healthy
items to be offered to supplement that
favorite lunch. (Problem Solving,
Communication)
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
You are a researcher hired by a group of expert mountain
climbers. Hypoxia is the set of symptoms (headache, fatigue,
nausea) that comes from a lack of oxygen in body tissues. It
is often felt by mountain climbers as they ascend altitude
quickly. Sherpas, long-time residents of high altitudes, seem
to feel no hypoxic discomfort. Why might that be? Your
group wants to know, and to benefit from the knowledge.
Design a series of experiments that would test the
difference in hypoxic symptoms between mountain climbers
and Sherpas. Explain, using chemical equilibrium, why high
altitude causes hypoxia in the climbers. How can Sherpas
avoid these symptoms? How can you test for these
possibilities? What would a positive test look like? What
inherent errors would you have to be aware of?
BIGMART is a chain of very large department stores. The owners of
BIGMART have asked you, a geographer, for advice. They want to know if
Rockford, Michigan will eventually be large enough to support a
BIGMART store. Currently, there aren’t enough people living in Rockford
and the surrounding area to make the investment in building a BIGMART
store worth while. But, if the population of Rockford is likely to grow by as
much as 10 percent in the next 5 to 10 years, then the owner will go ahead
with plans to build a store.
Your task is to obtain enough geographical information about Rockford to
predict whether the population of Rockford is going to increase by 10
percent in the next 5 to 10 years. In the space below, identify the
geographical information you would need to obtain in order to formulate
a reasonable prediction.
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• The design of a tour of the world’s most holy sites
• The writing of a Bill of Rights for use in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other new
•
•
•
•
•
•
democracies
Report on Latin America to the Secretary of State: Policy analysis and
background report on a Latin American country. What should be our
current policy, and how effective has recent policy with that country
been?
Collect and analyze media reports from the Internet on other countries’
views of US policies in the Middle East. Do we understand the issues?
Provide a briefing on the AIDS crisis in Africa and how American policy
has helped as well as hurt the situation
Take part in a model UN on the issue of terrorism: you will be part of a
group of 2-3, representing a country, and you will try to pass a Security
Council resolution on terrorism
Russia: friend or foe? Provide the Foreign Relations Committee with a
briefing on the current state of Russia, the last century of AmericanRussian relations, and future worries and possibilities
India and outsourcing: to what extent is the global economy a good
thing for America? India? India’s neighbors?
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G
=
R=
A=
S=
P=
S=
Goal
Role
Audience
Situation
Product/Performance and Purpose
Standards for Criteria and Success
Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development
 How
likely is it that a student could do well
on the assessment by...
• Making clever guesses, parroting back, or plugging
in what was learned, perhaps with accurate recall
but limited or no understanding?
• Making a good-faith effort, with lots of hard work and
enthusiasm but with limited understanding?
• Producing a lovely product or an engaging and
articulate performance but with limited
understanding?
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 How
likely is it that a student could do
poorly on the assessment by...
• Failing to meet the requirements of this
particular task while nonetheless revealing a
good understanding of the ideas?
• Not being skilled at certain aspects of the task
but those skills are not central to the goal or
involve outside learning or natural talent (e.g.
require acting or computer ability unrelated to
Stage 1 goals)?
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Efficiently
measures acquisition goals
Goal is a balanced assessment plan
• Performance tasks are necessary to measure
transfer and meaning making
• Other evidence is necessary to measure the full
complement of knowledge and skills
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 Renamed “performance
tasks” or
“performance assessments”
 Add G.R.A.S.P.S prompt
 Elimination of established criteria and
added link for rubrics
 Separation of Summative Tasks and
Formative Tasks
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STAGE 3 — LEARNING EVENTS
Code
Key Learning Events & Instruction
Goal is to maximize engagement and
effectiveness of instruction through —
• Robust use of formative assessment
Transfer
• Gradual release of responsibility
Meaning
Acquisition
• Encourage “learning from failure”
Identify
learning
events as
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


If you have determined
the goals (STAGE 1), and
If you have determined
the evidence of learning
(STAGE 2),
THEN what kinds of
learning activities are
most appropriate?
(STAGE 3)
 Plan
purposeful learning activities and
directed teaching to help all students
reach the desired achievements
W – Where the unit is going, What is expected
H – Hook and hold the students
E – Equip students, Experience, Explore
R – Rethink and Revise
E – Evaluate and reflect
T – Tailored learning to varied needs, interests, styles
O – Organize and sequence learning
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 Identified
technology resources
 Identified any pedagogical strategies to
be used (i.e. – think/pair/share; jigsaw;
exit card; etc.)
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 Given
the three stages and the variations
presented, build your ideal template
• (15 minutes) Work in groups of 2-4
 Use Post-it Notes or index cards
 Be prepared to explain your thinking to others
• (5 minutes) Determine similarities and
differences through gallery walk of templates
• (10 minutes) Conference committee of everyone
to get consensus on final version
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How are these alike? How are they different? What do
I learn from the grouping/comparison?
 How can one person impact the world around them?
 What are the rules of this relationship? How does the
context/situation affect the rules?
 What am I bringing to the text? What am I getting
from it? (text-self connection)
 What relationship do I see here? How do I apply that?
 Where do I see evidence of interactions in the world?

 What
changes occurred? What stayed the
same?
 How is this story/shape/problem the same?
 How do people/communities change over
time?
 What are the events/challenges that create
change?
 How do people/environments respond to
change?
 What
looks familiar here? How do I use that
to make sense of this situation?
 What’s the pattern here? How does that help
me make predictions?
 How do I find/set up a pattern? How do I
know if it works?
 How do I describe/communicate a pattern?
 What is the pattern in the text? How does
that help me be a better reader?
What does the author / text / the results mean? How
do my results compare with what other people have
found?
 What are the relationships that I see in the text?
 What is the relationship that I see in the equation?
 How do I read between the lines?
 How do I use my inferences to draw a conclusion?
 Is my conclusion supported by my details/evidence?

What information is this text giving me? What’s
missing?
 What is the intent of the text/author?
 What does the author/character want me to believe?
 How do I convince someone that I’m right?
 Why am I so sure that I’m right?
 Why is this person so convinced that he/she is right?
 What do these groups/people disagree about? Is it
possible to resolve it?
 How do I justify my conclusion/judgment?

 What’s
my strategy? How is it working? What
do I do if I’m stuck?
 Where do I go for help?
 How am I learning from how other people
see or work on the problem?
 What is the best strategy for this given
problem?
What kind of problem/situation is this? Have
I seen it before? How do I use that past
experience to help me?
 Pursue
the Essential
Questions in order
to…
• establish or create a
theory
• craft an inference
• develop and test ideas
by the learner
 Big
ideas at the heart of the discipline
 Requires “uncoverage” in order to be
earned
 Assessor-friendly language -measurable
Successful teams strategically position themselves
to enhance performance. K-12 Collaboration,
Knowledge
 An effective training plan is clearly grounded in the
goals of the individual. 9-12 Knowledge
 Attention to detail has significant effect on overall
results. K-12 Preparation, Knowledge
 Successful individuals constantly monitor and adjust
their plan to ensure that they are appropriately
challenged. 9-12 Knowledge
 Understanding rules and the appropriate use of
equipment decreases the risk of injury to you and
other people. K-12 Collaboration, Knowledge

(Relations: Functions, Inverses) Recognizing the
predictable patterns in mathematics allows the
analysis of functional relationships.
 (Variables) Variables represent the unknown so that
we can generalize a pattern rather than being limited
to looking at specific values.
 (Measurement, Formulas) The accurate measurement
of space is determined by the ability to visualize the
object/problem situation and apply an appropriate
algorithm.

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I
do, you watch
 I do, you help
 You do, I help
 You do, I watch
• This is a general schema for the development of
transfer ability at any age, in any subject
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GOAL TYPE
ACTION VERBS
ACQUISITION
apprehend • calculate • define • discern •
identify • memorize • notice • paraphrase
• plug in • recall • select • state
Making
Meaning
analyze • compare • contrast • critique • defend •
evaluate • explain • generalize • interpret •
justify/support •prove • summarize • synthesize •
test • translate • verify
Transfer
adapt (based on feedback)• adjust (based on
results) • apply • create • design • innovate •
perform effectively • self-assess • solve •
troubleshoot
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GOAL
TYPE
ACTION VERBS
Acquisition
apprehend • calculate • define • discern • identify •
memorize • notice • paraphrase • plug in • recall •
select • state
MAKING
MEANING
analyze • compare • contrast • critique •
defend • evaluate • explain • generalize •
interpret • justify/support •prove •
summarize • synthesize • test • translate •
verify
Transfer
adapt (based on feedback)• adjust (based on results)
• apply • create • design • innovate • perform
effectively • self-assess • solve • troubleshoot
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GOAL TYPE
ACTION VERBS
Acquisition
apprehend • calculate • define • discern • identify •
memorize • notice • paraphrase • plug in • recall •
select • state
Making
Meaning
analyze • compare • contrast • critique • defend •
evaluate • explain • generalize • interpret •
justify/support •prove • summarize • synthesize • test •
translate • verify
adapt (based on feedback)• adjust (based on
TRANSFER results) • apply • create • design • innovate •
perform effectively • self-assess • solve •
troubleshoot
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“The research is very clear on this point:
students who really develop and ‘own’ an
idea are more likely to successfully
interpret new situations and tackle new
problems than students who possess only
drilled knowledge and skill.”
— Wiggins and McTighe
 PowerPoint
by Allison Zmuda
 The Understanding by Design Guide to
Creating High-Quality Units – Jay
McTighe and Grant Wiggins - 2011
 An Introduction to Understanding by
Design – Jay McTighe - 2010
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