Introduction to UbD Stages 1

February 23, 2015

What UbD is NOT!

• Philosophy of teaching

• Approach to teaching

What is UbD? • Key Concepts that drive the planning framework

– We are more likely to be goal focused and effective when we plan by design.

– Long term goals are more likely reached through assessment and planned instruction.

– There is more to assessment than just grading. • Focus of design should be on curricular units rather than on

individual lesson plans. – We ask ourselves:

• What is the point of our course? • What needs to happen to support our long term instructional

goals? • How do we establish desired outcomes and plan backward?

– Transforms Standards into learning targets based on big ideas and transfer tasks.

– It establishes a continuous improvement model. – “Chance favors the prepared mind”

Primary Goals of UbD

• Student understanding

– Making sense of the big ideas and the ability to transfer their learning

– Goal is for students to be able to use the stuff, not just learn the stuff, we teach

• Evidence of student understanding (stage 2 more later)

– Transferring learning through authentic learning and performance (six facets of understanding)

Six Facets of Understanding Handout 1 and discussion

• Explain

• Interpret

• Apply

• Shift perspective

• Empathize

• Self assess

Key Research Findings to Support UbD

• The shift from ‘drill and kill’ to students’ understanding and application – List of facts and formulas to big ideas

– Rote memory to understanding underlying principles

– Narrow context in which material is initially learned to when it can be used-conditions of application

– Summative assessments to regular formative assessments

– Assessments for factual knowledge to assessments that check understanding or when, where and why to use that knowledge

Introduction to Backward Design handout 3

• Identify Desired Results (stage 1)

– What should students know, understand and be able to do?

• Big idea(s) and guiding questions

• Essential questions

• Determine Acceptable Evidence (stage 2)

– How will we know if students really understand the big idea(s)?

• Planning for learning experiences and instruction (stage 3) - General Eisenhower said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

– What and how in light of performance goals

– Sequence of activities

– How will we make learning engaging and effective, given goals and needed evidence of understanding?

Stage 1 Identifying Desired Results-Designing for

Understanding

• The goal is to make understanding (transference) more likely by design.

• Design for the end (backward design):

– What is the big idea?

– What is the essential question based on that big idea?

– What are the desired outcomes or learning standards/goals?

– Keep template out-Document 1

Identifying Desired Results Cont. Handout 4

– What will students:

• Know? (Factual knowledge and Skills)

• Understand?

• Be able to do?

Big Ideas

• Big ideas provide the basis for transfer and relevance for the student. – “education with inert ideas is not only useless it is

above all things harmful…let the main ideas which are introduced be few and important…” Whitehead 1929 • Ex. Newton’s Laws of Motion and Gravitation

• Big ideas are abstract and must be discovered by the student, constructed and inferred, all which lead to higher order thinking.

Big Ideas Continued Handout 5

• The focus is on learning not teaching

• Big ideas are enduring understandings, not finished in a lesson, connect lessons throughout the year or years.

• Big ideas lead to essential questions

Essential Questions

• The goal of an essential question is to pursue the question, not necessarily answer it.

• The answers students find should only lead to more questions…that’s true learning

– Wiggins and McTighe

Characteristics of Essential Questions

• Open-ended provocative questions designed to guide inquiry and focus instruction for uncovering the important ideas of the content

• No simple right answer, meant to be argued and discussed

• Lead to more questions

• Ongoing rethinking of big ideas

• Naturally recurring when learning

A Question is Essential When It: Handout 6, 7, 8-activity

• Causes genuine and relevant inquiry into the big ideas and core content

• Provokes deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, and new understanding as well as more questions

• Requires students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support their ideas, and justify their answers

• Sparks meaningful connections with prior learning and personal experiences

• Naturally recurs, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and subjects

Big Idea vs. Essential Question

• Just as a big idea will unpack into multiple essential questions (usually), so an essential question will itself unpack into multiple smaller questions. The smaller questions are not unimportant, but it is crucial to understand how the smaller questions relate to the Big Idea. For instance:

• Essential Question: What traits and characteristics are collectively used to determine a classification?

• Not an Essential Question: How many legs does a spider have?

Take Ten Minutes to Look at Stage 1 on Document 1

• Consider questions surrounding

– Established Goal(s)

– Understanding(s)

– Essential Question(s)

– What students will know and be able to do

• Look at the examples of Stage 1 before and after backward design

• Comments?

Stage 2 Assessment Evidence

• Before we plan the lesson and activities the assessment must be created

• Refer back to the Six Facets of Understanding handout

Refer to Handouts 9-11

• Discuss in your groups

Stage 3 Planning the Learning Experience