The Understanding by Design Handbook

What Is Understanding And How Does It Differ From Knowledge? How Can We Determine The Big Ideas Worth Understanding? Why Is Understanding An Important Teaching Goal, And How Do We Know When Students Have Attained It? How Can We Create A Rigorous And Engaging Curriculum That Focuses On Understanding And Leads To Improved Student Performance In Today S High-stakes, Standards-based Environment? Authors Grant Wiggins And Jay Mctighe Answer These And Many Other Questions In This Second Edition Of Understanding By Design. Drawing On Feedback From Thousands Of Educators Around The World Who Have Used The Ubd Framework Since Its Introduction In 1998, The Authors Have Greatly Revised And Expanded Their Original Work To Guide Educators Across The K 16 Spectrum In The Design Of Curriculum, Assessment, And Instruction. With An Improved Ubd Template At Its Core, The Book Explains The Rationale Of Backward Design And Explores In Greater Depth The Meaning Of Such Key Ideas As Essential Questions And Transfer Tasks. Readers Will Learn Why The Familiar Coverage- And Activity-based Approaches To Curriculum Design Fall Short, And How A Focus On The Six Facets Of Understanding Can Enrich Student Learning. With An Expanded Array Of Practical Strategies, Tools, And Examples From All Subject Areas, The Book Demonstrates How The Research-based Principles Of Understanding By Design Apply To District Frameworks As Well As To Individual Units Of Curriculum. Combining Provocative Ideas, Thoughtful Analysis, And Tested Approaches, Understanding By Design, 2nd Edition, Offers Teacher-designers A Clear Path To The Creation Of Curriculum That Ensures Better Learning And A More Stimulating Experience For Students And Teachers Alike. What Is Backward Design? -- What Is A Matter Of Understanding? -- Understanding Understanding -- The Six Facets Of Understanding -- Thinking Like An Assessor -- How Is Understanding Assessed In Light Of The Six Facets? -- What Is Uncoverage? -- What The Facets Imply For Unit Design -- Implications For Organizing Curriculum -- Implications For Teaching -- Putting It All Together : A Design Template. Grant Wiggins And Jay Mctighe. Includes Bibliographical References Grade Level: The Handbook Offers The Practical Side: A Unit Planning Template, Worksheets, Exercises, Design Tools, Design Standards And Tests, And A Peer Review Process For Learning And Applying The Ideas In Understanding By Design. Grade Level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, P, E, I, S, T. List Of Figures -- List Of Worksheets -- Acknowledgments -- About The Authors -- Overview. Introduction ; Understanding Understanding ; Module 1. Clarifying Understanding ; Module 2. The Backward Design Process ; Module 3. The Understanding By Design Template -- Stage 1. Identify Desired Results (modules 4-6). Module 4. Identifying Enduring Understandings ; Module 5. From Topics And Skills To Understandings ; Module 6. Framing Units Around Essential Questions -- Stage 2. Determine Acceptable Evidence (modules 7-11). Module 7. Evidence Of Understanding ; Module 8. Transforming Understandings Into Performances ; Module 9. Designing Performance Tasks ; Module 10. Designing Scoring Rubrics ; Module 11. Anchoring Unit Designs -- Stage 3. Plan Learning Experiences And Instruction (modules 12-19). Module 12. Engaging And Effective Design ; Module 13. Uncoverage ; Module 14. Misunderstanding ; Module 15. Where ; Module 16. Questions To Guide Teaching ; Module 17. Teaching Approaches ; Module 18. A Story Structure For Curriculum Design ; Module 19. Curriculum As Task Analysis -- Testing And Peer Review (modules 20-21). Module 20. Testing Designs Against Standards ; Module 21. Peer Review -- Glossary And Bibliography. Jay Mctighe And Grant Wiggins. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 285-287). This book explores ways to design courses and units to emphasize understanding and uncoverage rather than coverage, offering practical solutions for teacher-designers. It focuses on a different use for performance assessment, concluding that performance is the key to assessing understanding. The book analyzes the logic of backward design as an alternative to coverage and activity-oriented plans. Designing for understanding begins with what teachers want students to be able to do and proceeds to the evidence they will accept to prove that students have learned it. Only then does it turn to how students will learn it. Along the way, teachers must be clear about how they want students to understand and what they mean by understanding. The book proposes a multifaceted approach, with the six facets of understanding (explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge). The facets combine with backward design to provide a practical framework for designing curriculum, assessment, and instruction. After an introduction, there are 11 chapters: (1) "What Is Backward Design?" (2) "What Is a Matter of Understanding?" (3) "Understanding Understanding," (4) "The Six Facets of Understanding," (5) "Thinking Like an Assessor," (6) "How Is Understanding Assessed in Light of the Six Facets?" (7) "What Is Uncoverage?" (8) "What the Facets Imply for Unit Design," (9) "Implications for Organizing Curriculum," (10) "Implications for Teaching," and (11) "Putting it All Together: A Design Template." (Contains 194 references.) (SM) What is understanding, and how does it differ from knowing? How will we know that students truly understand and can apply their knowledge in meaningful ways? How might we design our courses and units to emphasize understanding and "uncoverage" rather than "coverage"? These are questions that The Understanding by Design Handbook guides users in answering. The handbook is the companion book to Understanding by Design (ASCD, 1998). Understanding by Design provides the conceptual foundation for a theory of understanding that is based on six facets of understanding. The handbook offers the practical side: a unit planning template, worksheets, exercises, design tools, design standards and tests, and a peer review process for learning and applying the ideas in Understanding by Design. Following the logic of the authors' backward design approach, handbook materials show users how to plan curriculum, assessment, and instruction. The handbook was developed to assist educators interested in designing units and courses of study that focus on developing and deepening students' understanding. It is also intended to serve as a resource for undergraduate and graduate-level coursework and in-service professional development. Various users, including teachers (elementary through graduate levels), school-based administrators, curriculum directors, subject matter specialists, staff developers, and assessment-evaluation personnel, will benefit from these practical and proven ideas and resources. Workshop materials based on the book by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (10 copies included). Explores the nature of understanding and its implications for teaching. Shows that designing lessons for understanding begins with what teachers want students to be able to do and proceeds to the evidence teachers will accept that they have learned it. Offers filters for each stage of the design process and criteria for essential questions. Proposes six facets of understanding and shows what each facet suggests about assessment. Considers implications for organization of the curriculum and for instruction. Intended for facilitators of study groups and action research teams, university instructors, and staff developers using Understanding by design as a basic text for a course, long-term workshop, study group, or action research effort Provides resources to educators in developing curriculum and assessments and includes templates for designing a unit or course, criteria for reviewing curricular designs, workshop activities, and graphic organizers.