What Is It? n Backward Design is a process of lesson planning
created by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe and introduced in Understanding by Design (1998).
n This lesson design process concentrates on developing the lesson in a different order than in traditional lesson planning.
n Treats teachers as designers. “An essential act of our profession is the crafting of curriculum and learning experiences to meet specified purposes.”
n “…too many teachers focus on the teaching and not the learning.”
n Reaction to the “twin sins” of traditional design: activity-focused and coverage-focused teaching.
How Is It Different?
Traditional n Goals & objectives
n Activities
n Assessments
Backward Design n Goals & objectives
n Assessments
n Activities
Identify desired results.
Determine acceptable evidence.
Plan learning experiences and
instruction.
Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
n Enduring Understandings: What specific insights about big ideas do we want students to leave with?
n What Essential Questions will frame the teaching and learning, pointing toward key issues and ideas, and suggest meaningful and provocative inquiry into content?
n What should students know and be able to do? n What content standards are addressed explicitly
by the unit?
Identify Desired Results.
Starting with standards n Standards (benchmarks, learning results, performance
indicators, etc.) n A Nation At Risk (1983) n Distributed nature of U.S. education n 1990’s – federal funds used to pay for drafting of national
curriculum standards n Science – National Science Education Standards (NRC),
Benchmarks for Science Literacy (AAAS) n Math – Curriculum and Evaluation Standards (NCTM)
n State standards n No Child Left Behind (2002) n Common Core Standards
Using standards
n Purpose – guides, not prescriptive n Unpacking standards n General structure:
n Nature/history of discipline n Unifying concepts and processes n Content
How can we take a mass of content knowledge and shape
it into engaging, thought-provoking, and effective work?
Essential Questions Serve as doorways through which learners explore the key concepts, themes, theories, issues, and problems that reside
within the content (p. 106) n Center on major issues, problems, concerns, interests, or
themes relevant to students’ lives and to their communities. n Go to the heart of the discipline and highlight big ideas. n Are open-ended, non-judgmental, meaningful and purposeful
with emotive force and intellectual bite, and invite an exploration of ideas.
n Encourage collaboration amongst students, teachers, and the community.
n Raise other important questions. n Have no one obvious “right” answer. n Are deliberately framed to provoke and sustain student interest.
Essential Questions n For example:
n Why should students read the novel, Lord of the Flies? Why this book and not another? What will they gain from this experience that will make a difference to them? What are the ‘big ideas’ in this work? What makes this book a classic?
n Essential questions relevant to ‘Lord of the Flies’ might include: n What does it mean to be civilized? Are modern
civilizations more civilized than ancient ones? What is necessary to ensure civilized behavior? Do children need to be taught to be civilized? What causes us to lose civilized behavior?
Essential Questions – E.G.s
n Mathematics: n What makes an estimate reasonable? n How can change be described mathematically? n What kinds of questions can be answered using
proportional reasoning? n Why do we use roots and powers? n When is multiplication useful? n How does an architect use geometry? n What makes a mathematical argument
convincing?
Essential Questions – E.G.s n Science:
n Is it possible to make a list of the characteristics of living things that fits all known organisms?
n How does an organisms structure affect its ability to survive? n How can you tell that energy has transformed? n Why is a perpetual motion machine impossible? n How is life on earth affected by the universe around it? n How are water and air related? n Do animals need plants to survive? Do plants need animals? n Is the earth unique? n Do all scientists follow the scientific method? n How does the ocean affect someone living in Corvallis? n What would happen if all of the worms disappeared? n Why is there order to the periodic table? n Is Corvallis in any danger from natural disasters?
Essential Questions
n Overarching essential questions n Unifying concepts and processes (science) n Practices (math)
n Topical essential questions n Content standards
A good unit requires both
Enduring Understanding
Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Worth being familiar with
Important to know and do
“Enduring Understanding”
Taking a closer look at Enduring Understandings: They...
n Are specific generalizations about the “big ideas.” They summarize the key meanings, inferences, and importance of the ‘content’
n Require “uncoverage” because they are not “facts” to the novice, but unobvious inferences drawn from facts - counter-intuitive & easily misunderstood
n Are what students should remember 20 years from now.
n Are deliberately framed as a full sentence “moral of the story” – “Students will understand THAT…”
Examples - math n There are many ways to represent a number. n In certain situations, an estimate is as useful as an exact answer. n Real-world situations can be represented symbolically and graphically. n Algebraic expressions and equations generalize relationships from
specific cases. n Proportional relationships express how quantities change in
relationship to each other. n Fractions, decimals, and percents express a relationship between two
number. n Relationships among quantities can often be expressed symbolically in
more than one way. n Linear functions arise when there is a constant rate of change. n Geometric models are useful in representing algebraic relationships. n Inductive and deductive reasoning can be used to formulate
mathematical arguments.
Examples - science n Systems have cycles and patterns that allow us to make predictions. n All living things are made from cells that carry on chemical reactions necessary
to sustain life. n Life depends on energy flow within systems. An ecosystem transfers matter and
energy from one organism to another. n The diversity of life is the result of ongoing evolutionary change. n Species alive today have evolved from ancient common ancestors. n DNA is the universal code for life; it enables an organism to transmit hereditary
information and, along with the environment, determines an organism’s characteristics.
n All changes in and interactions of matter are associated with changes in energy. n Scientific ideas evolve as new information is discovered. n The periodic table is arranged in a logical sequence that can be used to predict
the properties of elements. n Energy not only provides the ability to do work, but drives systems and cycles of
our universe, solar system, Earth, and life. n Acids and bases and the pH scale are important to understanding the
environment, household chemicals, and homeostasis in the body.
Determine Acceptable Evidence n How will the enduring understandings
be measured? n Use your essential questions! n Match the goals to the appropriate type
of assessment
Assessment Continuum
Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Reliability: Snapshot vs. Photo Album n We need patterns that overcome
inherent measurement error
n Sound assessment requires multiple evidence over time - a photo album vs. a single snapshot
Curricular Priorities and Assessment Methods
Worth being familiar with
Important to know and do
“Enduring” understanding
Assessment Types Traditional quizzes and tests Paper-pencil Selected-response Constructed-response Performance tasks and projects Open-ended Complex Authentic
Plan Learning Experiences
n Learning experiences are planned after desired results and the method of measurement of those results are identified.
n What will the students need to know and be able to do in order to achieve the desired goal, learning, or understanding?
n These will then be translated to the specific lesson plans that make up your unit.
Lesson objectives - science
n Students will know that… n Cells are the basic unit of life and combine themselves into
increasingly complex levels of organization. n The cell membrane is involved in protection, transport, and
maintenance of the internal cell environment. n Plants transform light energy into chemical energy for
storage and use in the process of photosynthesis.
n Students will be able to… n Mount and stain onion root tip cells. n Utilize a microscope to identify the parts of the cell. n Design a controlled experiment.
Lesson objectives - math n Students will know that…
n Students will be able to… n Students will know that solving linear
inequalities utilizes inverse operations that maintain the relationship between quantities in an inequality. n Students will be able to solve linear
inequalities using inverse operations, properties of addition and multiplication, and the distributive property.
Misconception Alert: the work is non-linear It doesn’t matter where you start
as long as the final design is coherent (all elements aligned) n Clarifying one element often
forces changes to another element
n The template “blueprint” is logical but the process is non-linear
Top Related