Understanding By Design

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Understanding By Design

• Grant Wiggins
• Jay McTighe

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Backward Design

• Start with desired results (goals or standards)
• Derive curriculum from
• evidence of learning called for by the standard
• teaching needed to equip students to perform
• Wiggins McTighe

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Enduring Understandings

• Represent a big idea having enduring value beyond
  classroom
• Reside at the heart of the discipline
• Require uncoverage (of abstract or often
  misunderstood ideas)
• Offer potential for engaging students

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Stage 1 Planning in 3 Stages

• What is worthy and requiring of understanding?
• What is evidence of understanding?
• What learning experiences and teaching promote
  understanding, interest, and excellence?

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The Learning Goals

• Enduring understandings
• Essential or guiding questions
• These go beyond facts and skills and focus on
  larger concepts, principles, or processes

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Enduring Understandings

• Two Levels
• Overarching understandings (broad understandings
  that hopefully are achieved by end of year (or a
  few years)
• Unit understandings (hopefully achieved through a
  learning sequence)

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AP Physics Big Ideas

• Big Idea 1 Objects and systems have properties
  such as mass, charge, and internal structure.
• Big Idea 2 Fields existing in space can be used
  to explain interactions.
• Big Idea 3 The interaction of an object with
  other objects can be described by forces which
  can cause a change of motion.

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Physics Big Ideas 2

• Big Idea 4 Interactions between systems can
  result in changes to those systems. Big Idea 5
  The interaction of one object or system with
  another is governed by conservation laws.Big
  Idea 6 Some phenomena may be described as a wave.
  Big Idea 7 The evolution of complex systems over
  time is described by probability.

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Big Idea 6Enduring Understandings

• How is a wave different from a particle?
• 6A A periodic wave can be described by its
  amplitude, frequency, wavelength, phase
  difference, speed, and energy.
• 6B Waves are not physical objects but can
  transfer energy and momentum.
• 6C Only Waves exhibit interference
  superposition.

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How is a wave different from a particle

• 6D Matter exhibits wave properties
• 6E  The direction of a light ray can be changed
  by interaction with a medium.
• 6F  Components of the electromagnetic spectra can
  be modeled as a wave or as a particle.
• 6G  Interference superposition lead to standing
  waves beats.

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Stage 2 Evidence of Understanding?

• Wiggins McTighe describe six facets of
  understanding. Students truly understand when
  they
• can explain
• can interpret
• can apply
• have perspective
• can empathise
• have self-knowledge

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Determining Acceptable Evidence

• Plan range of assessments before planning
  learning experiences to develop understandings
• The range of assessment tasks must
• support students in developing understanding
• give students opportunities to demonstrate
  understanding
• identify and differentiate levels of understanding

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Stage 3 Design Learning Experiences

• The learning experiences should require the
  students to
• theorize, interpret, use, or see in
  perspective what they are asked to learn (or)
  they will not likely understand it or grasp that
  their job is more than recall.

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Learning Experiences

• Experiences should blend depth and breadth
• depth requires students to unearth, analyze,
  question, prove, and generalize
• breadth requires students to make connections,
  picture or represent models, and to apply their
  understanding to new situations

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