Making Sense of Understanding by Design

Understanding by Design
Adapted from and based on the work of

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Altamira
Altamira International
International School
School
Starting Point…
By the end of this workshop, you should be able to:

1. Explain the research principles underlying
Understanding by Design (UbD).
2. Describe and facilitate six ways your students
can demonstrate understanding, rather than
just knowledge-recall learning.
3. Apply the principles of backward design to your
professional role(s), including designing UbD
units.
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As you start this workshop…
• How do you define the term “understanding”?

• Reflect on your initial definition as you
participate in the next two warm-up activity.
• What are the various aspects of understanding
that they requires you to use?

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Warming UP to Understanding
If the day before the day before

yesterday were Tuesday…
What will be the day after the
day after tomorrow?

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Warming Up to Understanding
• IF Tuesday= day (1) before the day (2) before
yesterday (3).
• Then, today must be three days after Tuesday.
(Tuesday—day before the day before yesterday,
Wednesday—day before yesterday, Thursday—
yesterday…) SO, today must be Friday.
• Then, tomorrow must be Saturday.
• Therefore, the day after the day after tomorrow must
be Monday.

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Another Way of Seeing it…
Tuesday=day before the day before yesterday.

Wednesday=the day before yesterday.
Thursday=yesterday
Friday=TODAY
Saturday=tomorrow
Sunday=the day after tomorrow
Monday=the day after the day after tomorrow

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Another Way of Seeing it…
“How many buses does the

army need to transport 1,128
soldiers if each bus holds 36
soldiers?”

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Common Answer from 30 of 8thth Graders%:
• “31 buses, remainder 12”
-remainder 12

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An Essential Question for you to
Consider…
What’s so important about

understanding? Why should
we be concerned with it?

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Addressing These Trends Through Student
Engagement…
• In your opinion, what does it mean for

students to be “engaged” in learning?
• Is there a time you can remember when as a

student, you were actively engaged in the
learning process?

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How Can We Promote Student

Understanding, Rather than Just
“Knowing/Doing”?

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Overarching Essential Questions for
our Workshop
• Why are the best curriculum designs
backward?
• What is good design? How does UbD
support effective curriculum design?
• How does continuous improvement apply
to curriculum design?

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Overarching Essential Questions for
our Workshop
• Why teach for understanding?

• How will we know students really
understand?
• What is the difference between
understanding and knowing?

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Share with a neighbor…
1)Who was the most 2)When was a time you made
effective teacher you ever significant progress/
had? What made improvement as a learner?
him/her so? What was it that made that
possible?
• Share examples, then
generalize: “the best • Share examples, then
teachers…” generalize: “the greatest
learning happens when…”

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Common Responses:
• Upfront explicit goals and performance requirements
• Models and modeling provided
• The bigger picture, the “why”, is made clear
• Working back and forth from whole to part
• A genuine challenge/problem frames the work that stretches you-
real, meaningful tasks
• Work culminates in real or realistic application
• Trial and error, reflection and adjustment are needed and
expected
• Constant helpful feedback opportunities
• Safe environment for trying out, getting feedback, adjusting

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Key Points to Remember
• Too many students learn without thinking
– Instruction has become an activity in repeating the
teacher
• Most test questions are recall
– Where’s the deeper thinking?
• The “Course” is NOT
– The textbook: that’s a resource
– The activities: these are steps
– The content: this is to be mastered
• There is a BIG difference between just knowing
and really understanding…
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What is Understanding by Design?
• A framework that synthesizes research-
based best practices in curriculum,
assessment, and instruction that promote the
learning process.
• A language that educators can use to
describe and analyze the best ways to
promote student understanding, rather than
just knowledge/recall.
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Understanding by Design is not…
• It is not a program.
• It is not one more thing for you to “have to
do.”
• It does not include anything that hasn’t
been used by master teachers throughout
the centuries.

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What is UbD?
• Integrating curriculum, instruction, and

assessment within a unit of study in any
discipline
• A unit design template for beginning with
the end in mind
• A way to enhance meaningful
understanding and transfer of learning.

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Why the Need for Understanding?
• In even our best students and their work,
we see frequent…
– Amnesia
– Misunderstandings
– Rigid knowledge, no transfer of learning
Does this sound familiar?

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Two questions:
• What is good design?

– Best done “backward” from the desired result
• What is understanding?
– Transfer of knowledge- long term goal and key
evidence of understanding
– Use of Big Ideas to focus the work along with the
transfer tasks

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What is Transfer of Learning?
• The use of knowledge and skills (acquired in earlier context)
in a new context. It occurs when a person’s learning in one
situation influences that person’s learning and performance
in other situations.
• Transferability is Understanding
– Understanding reveals itself as transfer: an appropriate
and affective use of knowledge and skill, on one’s own;
using good judgment, with minimal cues and prompting,
in various important situations, about which content is
needed when and why.

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24
25
26
Thornburg: “The New Basics”
I. Digital-Age Literacy: III. Effective
Scientific, mathematical, and
technological literacies; visual and
Communication:
information literacies, and cultural Teaming, collaboration, and
literacy and global awareness interpersonal skills; personal and
social responsibility; interactive
II.Inventive Thinking: communication skills
Adaptability/ability to handle
complexity; curiosity, creativity, and
IV. High Productivity:
risk-taking; and higher-order Ability to prioritize, plan, and
thinking and sound reasoning manage for results; effective use of
real-world tools; and ability to
create relevant, high-quality
products

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The Three Stages
• The following slides will take you through how

to construct a unit, using the three stages of
backward design
• So, as you read, think of a unit that you
currently teach or would like to teach.
• As we go, consider how your unit would fit in
to the three stages.
Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, MEd

Altamira
Altamira Intenationl
Intenationl School
School
“You Are What Your Eat”

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The Three Stages of Backward Design
1. Identify Desired What is it that I want the students

Results to understand and know and be
able to do?
2. Determine Acceptable How will I know that they know
Evidence what I want them to know?
3. Plan Learning What do I need to do in the

Experiences classroom to prepare them for the
assessment?

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TEMPLATE
G
L
U Q
K S
OE

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“Backward Design”
According to Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, the best

curriculum and instructional designs are “backwards”:
a. Stage One: Determining Desired Results
b. Stage Two: Assessing Results
c. Stage Three: Designing Instructional Activities

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Backward Design ar a Glance
• Stage One: Identify Desired Results:
a. Content Standards
b. Enduring Understandings & Essential Questions
c. Enabling Knowledge Objectives
• Stage Two: Assess Desired Results:
a. Use a Photo Album, Not Snapshot, Approach
b. Integrate Tests, Quizzes, Reflections and Self-Evaluations with
Academic Prompts and Projects
• Stage Three: Design Teaching and Learning Activities to
Promote Desired Results:
a. W.H.E.R.E.T.O. Design Principles
b. Organizing Learning So That Students Move Toward Independent
Application and Deep Understanding Using Research-Based Strategies

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Key Points to Remember…
• In order to begin, we must start at the end:
– Clarify results and evidence of them before designing
lessons.
• UbD is a way of thinking more carefully about
design; it is NOT a program.
• Thinking like an assessor (not only an activity
designer) is key to effective design
• The work is only “coverage” or “nice activity”
unless focused on questions and big ideas, related
to the Standards

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Make
Acquire
Meaning
Learning for
Understanding
Effective
Crucial to to get
Instruction
the balance &
sequence right!
Transfer
35
UNIT COVER PAGE
Unit Title: You Are What You Eat Grade Level: 5th
Subject/Topic Areas: Health and Nutrition
Key Words: nutrition, health, wellness, balanced diet, food

pyramid
Designed by: Bob James Time Frame: 3 Weeks
School: Cheshire Cat Elementary

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You Are What You Eat
Brief Summary of Unit(including curricular context and unit goals)

In this introductory unit of the health education course, students
will learn about human nutritional needs, the food groups, the
nutritional benefits of various foods, the USDA Food Pyramid
guidelines, and health problems associated with poor nutrition. They
will design an illustrated nutrition brochure to teach younger
children about the importance of good nutrition for healthy living,
work in cooperative groups to analyze a hypothetical family’s diet
and recommend ways to improve their nutritional value, and
conduct research on health problems resulting from poor eating
habits.

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The Big Ideas of UbD
UbD big idea Why is this If not…
important?
Backward Design Plans need to be well Twin sins: Aimless activity

aligned to be effective and coverage
Transfer as goal The essence of Students fail to apply

understanding and the point learning
of schooling
Understanding via How transfer occurs; creates Fragmented learning; more
connections in learning difficult, less engaging
Big Ideas
Meaningful Learning This engages and invites Plans need to be well
students aligned to be effective

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Teaching Does Not Cause Understanding
How do we know
when we really
understand something?

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Knowing and Understanding
• Are knowing and understanding the same?
• Can you know something and not

understand it? Explain.
• What is the evidence of understanding

something?

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Essential Question One
What Does the Research Tell Us

About How Schools Can Promote
Student Understanding?

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Knowing and Understanding
• Knowledge: look it up somewhere.
• Understanding – derived by you.
• Knowledge – a set of established not
controversial facts.
• Understanding – an unobvious and
important judgment about what the
facts mean.

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A Reflection Checkpoint
1. THINK of a time when you moved from knowing

about or being able to do something—to
understanding it.
2. PAIR: Describe that time to another participant.
3. SHARE: What are the behaviors and attitudes

common to the experiences you described?

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Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

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Remembering: can the student recall or remember the
information? define, duplicate, list, memorize, recall, repeat,
reproduce,state
Understanding: can the student explain ideas or concepts?

classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognize,
report, select, translate, paraphrase
Applying: can the student use the information in a new

way? choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate,
interpret, operate, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.

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Analyzing: can the student distinguish between the different
parts? appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate,
discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question,
test.
Evaluating: can the student justify a stand or decision?

appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value,
evaluate
Creating: can the student create new product or point of

view? assemble, construct, create, design, develop,
formulate, write.
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Understanding or Knowing
• Knowing as a “state of possession” – you
have the information.
• Understanding enables one to go beyond

the information given – to do something
with the information.

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How Knowledge is Structured
Facts Concepts Principles

Discrete pieces of Ways of organizing or Ideas and deeper
information believed to be categorizing things that understandings that give
true have something in common meaning to the concepts
May typically fall within Example: (essential understandings,
topics Concept of migration is a generalizations, "big ideas”)
Example: Westward way of viewing Westward Example:
Movement Movement "People migrate to meet
 ...a way of organizing a variety of needs"
Early American settlers
migrated to the west. facts about the settlers' "Migration may lead to
experiences enhanced opportunity or
Many settlers traveled in
wagon trains. greater freedom."

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The Difference
I want students to understand… I want students to understand
THAT…
The US Constitution
The US Constitution was a
solution based on compromise to
(this is content!) real and pressing problems and
disagreements in government
The three branches of US
government They were a brilliant balance and
limit of powers.

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How Can We Tell When Students Are
Understanding?
• Explanation • Analysis of
• Interpretation Perspectives
• Application • Empathy
• Self-Knowledge

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The Six Facets of Understanding
• ____________: Backing up • ___________: Analyzing

claims and assertions with differing points of view about
evidence. a topic or issue.
• ____________ : Drawing • ___________: Demonstrating
inferences and generating the ability to walk in another’s
something new from them. shoes.
• ____________:Using
knowledge and skills in a • ____________: Assessing and
new or unanticipated setting evaluating one’s own thinking
or situation. and learning: revising,
rethinking, revisiting, refining.

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A Reflection Checkpoint
With which of the following “facets of

understanding” do your students generally
perform well? With which do they have trouble?
Why?
a. Explanation d. Perspective
b. Interpretation e. Empathy
c. Application f. Self-Knowledge

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Activity
1. How would you describe the six facets of

understanding to a colleague who is not
present?
2. Create at least three “enabling knowledge”
objectives using some of the six facets
verbs.

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Through which facets will students develop
EXPLANATION
and reveal their understandings?
Develop an INTERPRETATION
illustrated brochure
to explain the
APPLICATION
principles and
practices of healthy
SELF-KNOWLEDGE
eating to younger
students. 1. Analyze a hypothetical family
Reflect on their own ´s diet for nutritional balance.
eating habits and Six Facets of 2. Develop a menu for meals
and snacks for an upcoming
evaluate the extent to Understanding three day trip to the outdoor
which they are eating education camp.
healthy.
Investigate
Modify their eating habits for healthy eating
two days to have a taste of from the
the experience of people wiho perspective of
must restrict their diets different regions
because of specific conditions. and cultures.
PERSPECTIVE
EMPATHY

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1. Identify Desired What is it that I want the

Results students to understand and
know and be able to do?
2. Determine How will I know that they know
Acceptable Evidence what I want them to know?

Experiences classroom to prepare them for
the assessment?

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Stage 1
Stage 1- Desired Results
Established Goals: G
Understandings: U Essential Questions: Q
Students will understand that…
Students will know… K Students will be able to… S
Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks: T Other Evidence: OE
Stage 3- Learning Plan

Learning Activities: L

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Stage 1- Identify Desired Results
Established Goals
• What goal am I addressing?

• What’s the point?
• How does this fit into the content
standards?
• What should they come away having
learned?
• What is the bigger purpose?
• Answer: Consider BIG IDEAS
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To What Extent Does Your School Have
Consensus About…
• Content Standards: i.e., what all students should be
able to know, do, and understand?
• Performance Standards: i.e., levels of competency
expected of all students at key points in their
educational development?
• Benchmark Assessments: i.e., ways in which
students will be assessed at key points in their
development to ensure they are mastering identified
performance standards in order to show progress
relative to long-range content standards?

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Reflection Activity (I)
To what extent do you agree or

disagree with the following
statement?
“Standards have to be interpreted
and ‘unpacked’ by educators. They
can’t just be ‘pasted on the
board.’”

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An “Overloaded” Curriculum
• Robert Marzano (McRel): “If teachers are

expected to get students to learn all of the
[K-12] standards identified by their
district, on average we need to expand
students’ time in school by a minimum of
6,000 hours.”

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What Does It All Mean?
• Marzano, and others report a test

preparation paradox:
We seem to feel the obligation to “cover” and
“touch on” lots of things in case they are “on
the test.” Results confirm, however, that
superficial coverage of material causes poorer,
not better, test results.

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Why Should We Care?
• “What an extensive research literature now
documents is that an ordinary degree of
understanding is routinely missing in many, perhaps
most students. If, when the circumstances of testing
are slightly altered, the sought-after competence
can no longer be documented, then understanding
—in any reasonable sense of the term—has simply
not been achieved.”
Howard Gardner, The Unschooled Mind

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Essential Question Two
In light of the need for standards to be

“unpacked,” how can we build consensus
about what all students should
understand (not just know and do) so
that they can see the universal issues,
patterns, and significance of what they
are studying?

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Creating Your Own UBD Unit
Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
Standard 6 - Students will understand essential concepts

about nutrition and diet.
6, a -Students will use an understanding of nutrition
to plan appropriate diets for themselves and
others.
6, c -Students will understand one’s own eating
patterns and ways in which these patterns may
be improved.

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Stage 1
Understandings: Essential Questions:
U Q
S
Performance Tasks: Other Evidence: OE
T
Learning Activities:
L

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Established Goals
What are BIG IDEAS? (Think CONCEPTS)

• Core idea at the “heart” of the discipline
• Enduring: has lasting, universal value
• Transferable to other topics/disciplines
• Connective of facts and skills
• Requires “un-converage” or “unpacking”

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Test your ideas against Stage
1 Design Standards and
G
revise as needed
“Unpack” the Goals (e.g.
K S
content standards) to
derive the big ideas, key
knowledge and skills
Identify key
Knowledge and
Skills
Identify
STAGE 1 the big
ideas
Consider possible
misunderstandings
Q
Select and develop
Frame the big ideas Essential Questions to
as specific guide inquiry into the
U Understandings
(“the student will
big ideas
understand THAT …”)

How can I tell if something is as Big
Idea?
 Does it have many layers and nuances, not obvious to the naïve or
inexperienced person?
 Does it yield optimal depth and breadth of insight into the
subject?
 Do you have to dig deep to really understand its meanings and
implications even if you have a surface grasp of it?
 Is it (therefore) prone to misunderstanding as well as disagreement?
 Are you likely to change your mind about its meaning and
importance over a lifetime?
 Does it reflect the core ideas as judged by experts?

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You Are What You Eat
The understandings to be developed in this unit
elements of good nutrition
Why do foods
that are good Why do foods
Will an “apple for you taste that are good
a day” keep bad? for you taste
the doctor
?
bad?
away?
What would What is

happen if you healthy
only ate junk What is a eating?
food? balanced
diet?

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To What Extent Do Your Desired Results
Address Understanding?
• Big Ideas: interdependence, heroism, patterns and systems,
investigation
• Enduring Understandings: All great writing is rewriting. Science

can help us reveal the structural patterns and processes that
shape and define our physical universe.
• Essential Questions: Is war inevitable? How can we determine

what an author means? To what extent is mathematics a
language?—How can we learn to “speak” it with fluency and
mastery?

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“Big Ideas” as Curriculum Organizers
1. Big ideas are significant and recurring concepts, principles,

theories, and processes that represent essential focal points or
“conceptual lenses” for prioritizing content.
2. Through the identification of big ideas, we can find ways to

organize discrete curriculum elements such as facts, skills, and
activities.
3. They are powerful because they embody transferable ideas

applicable to other settings, situations, and content areas.
4. They engage students in the process of “uncoverage,”

discovering meaning, drawing significant inferences, and
enhancing the authenticity of learning experiences.

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Categories for “Big Ideas”
Concepts Themes Issues/Debates
Equivalent Fractions The American Dream Homeland Security
Adaptation Ethical citizenship Creationism vs. Evolution
Problems Challenges Processes

Deforestation of the rain Surviving the harsh and Historiography
forests dangerous frontier life Scientific inquiry
Prospering in a global economy
The technology gap
Theories Paradoxes Assumptions/

The Theory of Relativity  Poverty in the Wealthiest Nation Perspectives
Natural Selection
in the World
One person’s healthiest diet may
We are experiencing a condition
be another’s least healthy. of global warming.
We need to go back to the
“basics” in education.

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Concepts as Big Ideas
Change Justice Exploration
Abundance Charity Environment
Freedom Interaction Communication
Migration Patterns Power
Symbols Diversity Culture
Conflict Cycles Fairness
Balance Perspective Friendship
What else can you think of?
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Use Big Ideas to form Understandings and
Essential Questions
Understandings Essential Questions

What insights will students take away Important questions that will reoccur
about the meanings of the content via throughout our lives
Big Ideas?
Understandings summarize the Helps students make sense of Big
desired insights we want the students Ideas through questioning and then
to realize about the Big Ideas making decisions.
Understandings connect the dots;
they tell us what our knowledge means Engages and motivates.
and make sense of facts and skills.

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The UbD “Three-Circle Audit”
Process

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The UbD “Three-Circle Audit” Process
1. Standards need to be interpreted and

“unpacked.”
2. Staff members need to determine:
a. Outer Circle: What is worth being
familiar with?
b. Middle Circle: What should all students
know and be able to do?
c. Center Circle: What are the enduring
understandings students should explore and
acquire?

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For Example…
For a group of tenth-grade World History students, how

would you rank each of these:
• The day and year the Magna Carta was signed…
• The historical significance of the Magna Carta…
• The enduring influence of significant political
documents throughout the history of world
civilization…

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Into Which Circles Would You Place
the Following Learning Goals?
1. Identify the years in which 2. Use the Periodic Table to 3. Describe how a bill becomes
Mark Twain was born and died. identify the atomic weights of law at state and national levels.
(English, Grade 8) carbon, oxygen, and helium. (Civics, Grade 9)
(Chemistry, Grade 11)
4. Explain how we can use the 5. Apply the habits of mind 6. Interpret how a primary
relationships between sounds used by scientists to engage in source document reflects
and letters to make sense of scientific inquiry. (Science, political bias on the part of an
text. (Reading, Grade 1) Grade 5) author. (U.S. History, Grade 8)
7. Describe eating patterns and 8. Identify key figures who 9. Trace universal patterns,
menus from previous historical contributed to the themes, and motifs common to
eras. (Health, Grade 4) development of modern art through the ages.
statistics. (College-Level Intro. (Humanities, Grade 12)
to Statistics Course)

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Reflection Activity (II)
How can you use the UBD

three-circle curriculum audit to
“unpack” your standards?

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Three Ring Audit Process
What concepts
should be students Worth Being
be familiar with Familiar With
Important to Know
What important
and Do
knowledge and skills
must students have
for mastery
Anchors the Enduring
unit; Why is this Understanding
topic worth
studying

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s
Focusing in On Understandings- Nutrition

Familiar:
• General eating patterns and menus from the past
• Different conditions requiring dietary restrictions
Important:
• Types of food in each of the food groups and their nutritional
value
• The USDA Food Pyramid guidelines
• Nutritional information on food labels and how to interpret
Worth being familiar with Big Ideas:
• Balanced Diet
• Nutritional Needs
Understandings:
The students will understand that…
• “You are what you eat.” Your diet affects you
health, appearance and performance.
• People have different dietary needs based on
age, activity level, weight and various health
considerations.

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Enduring Understandings
1. Statements or declarations of understandings comprised of
two or more big ideas.
2. Framed as universal generalizations—the “moral” or essence
of the curriculum story.
3. Help students to “uncover” significant aspects of the
curriculum that are not obvious or may be counterintuitive or
easily misunderstood.
4. Formed by completing the statement: Students will
understand THAT:……

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Sample Enduring Understandings
1. Numbers are abstract concepts that enable us to represent concrete
quantities, sequences, and rates.
2. Democratic governments struggle to balance the rights of individuals with the
common good.
3. The form in which authors write shapes how they address both their audience
and their purpose(s).
4. Scientists use observation and statistical analysis to uncover and analyze
patterns in nature.
5. As technologies change, our views of nature and our world shift and redefine
themselves.
6. Dance is a language through which the choreographer and dancer use shape,
space, timing, and energy to communicate to their audience.

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What enduring understandings are desired?
Students will understand that . . .
• A balanced diet contributes to physical and mental health.

• The USDA Food Pyramid presents relative guidelines for nutrition.
• Dietary requirements vary for individuals based on age, activity level,
weight,and overall health.
• Healthful living requires an individual to act on available information
about good nutrition even if it means breaking comfortable habits.

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Stage 1

Established Goal: G


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Essential Questions…
• Are interpretive, i.e., have no single “right answer.”
• Provoke and sustain student inquiry, while focusing
learning and final performances.
• Address conceptual or philosophical foundations of a
discipline/ content area.
• Raise other important questions.
• Naturally and appropriately occur.
• Stimulate vital, ongoing rethinking of big ideas,
assumptions, and prior lessons.

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Overarching Vs. Topical Essential
Questions
• Essential questions vary according to their scope and
level of generalization.
• An overarching essential question can apply to
multiple points during a student’s education; the most
overarching can also apply to multiple content areas.
• A topical essential question is unit or time-specific
and generally applies to a specific unit within the
student’s course of study.

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Examples of Overarching and Topical
Essential Questions
Overarching Topical
• How do effective writers • How do great mystery
hook and hold their writers hook and hold
readers? their readers?
• How do organisms • How do animals and
survive in harsh or plants survive in the
changing environments? desert?

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Avoiding Common Pitfalls…
• Avoid questions that have a single correct answer or a range of
correct answers: e.g., What makes fractions equivalent? What
are the major characteristics of Romantic poetry?
• Avoid merely “rephrasing” lesson objectives as questions:
How can we edit for subject-verb agreement? How can we
describe the parts of a cell? How can we apply the steps in the
scientific method?
• Avoid emphasizing overly obscure or subsidiary aspects of the
curriculum as a basis for essential questions: How did
Emerson’s family history contribute to his ideas about
Transcendentalism? How did Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle
shape his views about natural selection?
• Avoid excessively vague or unfocused questions: Why is
PriscillaHow
literature important? Ruizhasde the
Vergara,
United M.Ed
States changed?
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School
Try Your Hand at Correcting the Following
“Flawed” Essential Questions…
1. What are the differences between a democracy and

a monarchy?
2. What were the major causes of the American Civil
War?
3. Why is mathematics important?
4. How can we create a personal fitness plan?
5. How do Socrates and Euripides differ in their use of
the chorus?

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School
An Algorithm for Creating Essential
Questions
1.Determine the “big ideas” in your enduring
understandings.
2.Decide which of the big ideas you wish your students
to explore and debate.
3.Use “how, why,” or to what extent” to reframe your
big ideas as questions:
• How=process
• Why=cause and effect
• To what extent=matters of degree or kind
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School
What essential questions will be considered?
• What is healthful eating?

• Are you a heathful eater? How would you know?
• How could a healthy diet for one person be
unhealthy for another?
• Why are there so many health problems caused
by poor eating despite all of the available
information?

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School
Altamira
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Stage 1


Altamira
School
Stage 1



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The Structure of Knowledge
Declarative (Know) Procedural (Do)
• Facts • Skills
• Concepts • Procedures
• Generalizations • Processes
• Theories
• Rules
• Principles

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School
Knowledge and Skills
Knowledge Skills
Vocabulary Basic- decoding, arithmetic,
Terminology computation
Communication- listening,
Definitions writing, speaking
Key factual information 21st Century Literacies
Formulas Thinking- comparison,
Technologies inference, analysis,
Critical details interpretation
Research, inquiry,
Important events and people
investigation
Sequence and timelines Study- note taking
Interpersonal- group skills

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School
Knowledge and Skills
Knowledge includes… Skills include…
Vocabulary/terminology Basic skills
Definitions Communication skills
Key factual information Research/inquiry/
Critical details investigation skills
Important events and Thinking skills (problem-
people solving, decision
Sequence/timeline making)
These questions HAVE Study skills
a correct answer! Interpersonal or group
collaboration skills

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School
Declarative Knowledge (Know)
• Facts: 1776; Annapolis is the capital of Maryland; Lyndon Johnson
succeeded John F. Kennedy.
• Concepts: interdependence; scientific method; equivalent fractions;
grammar and usage
• Generalizations: Tragic heroes frequently suffer because of a failure to
recognize an internal character defect; Technology changes frequently
produce social and cultural changes.
• Theories: Einstein’s Theory of Relativity; Natural Selection
• Rules: The Pythagorean Theorem; rules for pronouncing sound-symbol
combinations in English
• Principles: Newton’s Laws; the Commutative Principle

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School
Procedural Knowledge (Do)
• Skill: Focus a microscope; Decode the meaning of a
word using a context cue.
• Procedure: Prepare and analyze a slide specimen;
Summarize the main idea of a paragraph or passage.
• Process: Collect a variety of leaf specimens and
compare their structures using a microscope; Trace
the development of an author’s theme in a work of
literature.

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School
What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a
result of this unit?
Students will know: Students will be able to:
• key terms - protein, fat, calorie, • Read and interpret nutrition

carbohydrate, cholesterol, etc. • Information on food labels.
• types of foods in each food group & • Analyze diets for nutritional
their nutritional values. value.
• the USDA Pyramid guidelines. • Plan balanced diets for
• variables infl uencing nutritional needs. themselves and others
• general health problems caused by
poor nutrition.

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School
To What Extent Do Your Desired Results Contain
Objectives That Emphasize the
Six Facets of Understanding?
• The Six Facets: explain, interpret, apply, analyze

perspectives, express empathy, demonstrate self-knowledge
and meta-cognitive awareness
• Know: facts, concepts, generalizations, rules and

principles
• Do: skills, procedures, processes

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School
For Example…
Students will be able to:

1. Explain the significance of the following facts about the
American Civil War.
2. Interpret the meaning of and apply the following concepts to
the analysis of cause and effect patterns in labs focusing on
chemical and physical changes in matter.
3. Analyze and explain the origins of conflicting perspectives about
the Kennedy assassination.
4. Express empathy for the characters by participating in a role-
play or simulation of events from the novel.

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School
Activity
1. What are the four key elements of

Stage One in the backward-design
process?
2. How does each element relate to
the three-circle audit process?

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School
If you were asking questions on

the left side of the last slide,
you’re ready to design some
assessment evidence!

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1. Identify Desired What is it that I want the students

Results to understand and know and be
able to do?


the assessment?

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Stage 2!


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Stage 2- Determine Acceptable
Evidence
• This is where UbD departs from
conventional unit design and planning.
• Before we plan the activities and lessons,
we must plan the assessment.
• What then logically follows is an orderly
progression of activities, specifically
designed to meet their target.

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School
Evidence
• Understanding develops as a result of ongoing
inquiry.
• Think of effective assessment like a scrapbook of
mementos and pictures, rather than a single
snapshot.
• Gather lots of informal evidence along the way in
a variety of formats!
• Use the continuum on the next slide as a guide.

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School
Continuum of Assessment
Think of anchoring your unit with a performance task.
But use the Other Evidence along the way.
(i.e. Don’t throw out all your old quizzes!)
Other evidence

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School
Collect Diverse Evidence from Assessments
Informal Tests Academ Perfor

checks for
understan and ic mance
ding Quizzes Prompts Tasks
• Informal checks for understanding- ongoing assessments such as questioning,
observations, dialogue, examining work, think alouds
• Tests and Quizzes- simple, content focused items
• Academic Prompts- open ended questions, problems that require students to
think critically, not just recall knowledge, and to prepare a specific academic
response, product or performance
• Performance Tasks- complex challenges that mirror the issues and problems
faced by adults, ranging from short-term to long term tasks, multistaged
projects, they yield one or more tangible products and performances.

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School
What should a Performance Task ask students
to do?
• Contextualize it to a real-world situation.
• Require students to use judgment and innovation.
• Call for exploration of the subject like a professional in the
field.
• Replicate challenging situations in which people are truly
“tested” in life and work.
• Compel students to use a repertoire of knowledge and skill
to negotiate a task
• Allow opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult
resources, get feedback, and refine performance.
• Use the Six Facets of Understanding

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School
The Six Facets of Understanding
Use these when generating ideas for
Performance Tasks!
When we truly understand, we…
1. Can Explain (generalize, connect, provide examples)
2. Can Interpret (tell accessible stories, provide dimension)
3. Can Apply (use what we know in real contexts)
4. Have perspective (see points of views through critical eyes)
5. Can Empathize (walk in another’s shoes, value what others do)
6. Have Self-knowledge (meta-cognitive awareness, know what we don’t
know, reflect on meaning of learning and experience)
These are excellent starting points or touchstones for

performance tasks!

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School
Evidence
• Assessments are too often created without
carefully considering the evidence needed
or only as a means for generating grades.
• Instead, consider this: How do we know
that the learner…
– met the goal through performance?
– “got” the understandings?
– deeply considered the essential questions?

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School
How to tell if you’re thinking like an assessor
Assessors ask: Activity designers ask:

What would be sufficient and revealing What would be fun and interesting
evidence of understanding? activities on this topic?
Given the goals, what performance tasks What projects might students wish to do
must anchor the unit and focus the on this topic?
instructional work?
What are the different types of evidence What tests should I give, based on the
required by Stage 1? content taught?
Against what criteria will we appropriately How will I give students a grade and
consider work and assess levels of quality? (justify it to their parents)?
Did the assessments reveal and
distinguish those who really understood How well did the activities work?
from those who only seemed to? Am I clear
on the reasons beyond learner mistakes? How did the students do on the test?

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School
Essential Question Four
How can schools develop and sustain

an effective assessment process that
reinforces the monitoring the
understanding of all learners?

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School
Assessing Understanding: Some
Starting Points…
• Assessment and instruction are inextricably
linked.
• The nature of your desired result(s) will
determine the type(s) of assessment task you
use to monitor student achievement.
• When assessing for understanding, more than
selected-response test items (true-false, fill in
the blank, multiple choice) are required.
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School
Curricular Priorities and Assessment Methods
 Traditional quizzes
and tests (selected response)…….
 Quizzes and tests

(constructed response)…….
 Performance tasks and projects…
 Performance tasks and projects

(complex, open-ended, authentic)……...

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School
Assessing Your Assessments…
• Do you select the appropriate assessment tool or
process to assess each desired result?
• Do you use a range of assessment tools, rather than
just tests and quizzes?
• Do you strive for a photo album, not a snapshot, of
student performance data?
• Does your photo album provide a full portrait of what
your students know, do, and understand relative to
your desired results?
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School
Assessing Your Assessments
Do you make use of…

• Tests and quizzes that include constructed-
response items?
• Reflective assessments (reflective journals, think
logs, peer response groups, interviews)?
• Academic prompts with a FAT-P (audience, format,
topic, purpose) clearly stated?
• Culminating performance assessment tasks and
projects?

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School
Assessing Understanding: Some
Starting Points…
• Assessment and instruction are inextricably
linked.
• The nature of your desired result(s) will
determine the type(s) of assessment task you use
to monitor student achievement.
• When assessing for understanding, more than
selected-response test items (true-false, fill in the
blank, multiple choice) are required.
Altamira
School
Criteria for Differentiated Assessment
“Products”
• Clearly lay out what students should demonstrate, transfer, or
apply to show what they understand and can do as a result of
the study.
• Provide one or more modes of expression.
• Lay out clear, precise expectations for high-quality content (e.g.,
rubrics, scoring guides); steps and behaviors of developing the
product; and the nature of the product itself.
• Provide support and scaffolding for high-quality student success.
• Provide for variations in student readiness, interest, and learning
profile.

Altamira
School
Activity
1. Why does UBD recommend a “photo

album” approach to assessment, rather
than just a snapshot?
2. Describe the four UBD “non- negotiable”
elements of a good assessment photo
album.

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School
Constructed-Response
Test Items
• Require some form of performance by the
student within the testing situation.
• Involve students in demonstrations of
understanding, not just knowledge-recall
learning.
• Are often written, but can be differentiated to
allow for alternative approaches.
• Can involve some form of choice by the learner.
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School
Sample Constructed-
Response Test Items
1. Defend or negate the following statement: Those who
fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
2. Examine the solution to the math word problem
presented below. Describe an alternative—and more
efficient—way of solving it.
3. Observe the following videotape, which highlights
elements of a local eco-system. Describe your
observations and conclusions about the health of that
system.
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School
Formal and Informal
Reflective Assessments
• Encourage students to internalize and apply to
themselves and peers significant evaluation
standards and criteria.
• Engage students in self-evaluation and meta-
cognitive processing.
• Ensure that all learners are becoming self-
monitoring and are “owning” the evaluation
criteria.
• Encourage active
Priscilla feedback andM.Ed
Ruiz de Vergara, adjustment.
Altamira
School
Sample Reflective Assessment Activities
1. Reflective Journal Entries: How well do you understand this passage? What
are the main ideas from this lesson? What did this material mean to
you?
2. Think Logs: How would you describe the process of classification? How has
your approach to problem-solving changed during this unit?
3. Self-Evaluations: Based upon our evaluation criteria, what grade would you
give yourself? Why?
4. Peer Response Group Activities: What can you praise about the work?
What questions can you pose? What suggestions can you make for
polishing the product?
5. Interviews: Tell me about your perceptions of this project. What do you
consider to be your strengths and areas in need of improvement?

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School
The Academic Prompt
• A structured performance task that elicits the

student’s creation of a controlled performance
or product.
• These performances and products should align
with criteria expressed in a scoring guide or
rubric.
• Successful prompts articulate a format,
audience, topic/content focus, and purpose.

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School
A Sample Academic Prompt with a FAT-P
Think about a time when you were surprised

(topic). Write a letter (format) to a friend
(audience) in which you describe that
experience. Use a logical narrative sequence
with concrete sensory details to help your
friend understand what this event was like
and how you experienced it (purpose).

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School
A Sample Academic Prompt with a FAT-P
Prompt:
Describe two health problems
that could arise as a result of
poor nutrition and explain how
these could be avoided.

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School
Elements of an Effective Performance
Task and Culminating Project
• G=real-world goals
• R=real-world role(s)
• A=real-world audience
• S=real-world situation
• P=real-world products and performances
• S=standards for acceptable performance

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School
A Sample G.R.A.S.P.S.by Design
You are a member of a team of scientists investigating
deforestation of the Amazon rain forest. You are
responsible for gathering scientific data (including such
visual evidence as photographs) and producing a scientific
report in which you summarize current conditions, possible
future trends, and their implications for both the Amazon
itself and its broader influence on our planet. Your report,
which you will present to a United Nations sub-committee,
should include detailed and fully-supported
recommendations for an action plan which are clear and
complete.

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School
Activity
Use the G.R.A.S.P.S. design

elements to create a powerful
culminating performance task
or project for a unit you teach.

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School
Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence
What evidence will show that students understand?
Performance Tasks (summary in GRASPS form)

You Are What You Eat- Students create an illustrated brochure to teach
younger children about the importance of good nutrition for healthful
living. Offer students ideas for breaking bad eating habits.
Chow Down- Students develop a three-day menu for meals and snacks for
an upcoming Outdoor Education camp experience. They write a letter to
the camp director to explain why their menu should be selected (by
showing that it meets the USDA Food Pyramid recommendations, yet is
tasty enough for students). Include at least one modification for a specific
dietary condition (diabetic or vegetarian) or religious consideration.

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School
Other Evidence:
• Quiz- The food groups and the USDA

Food Pyramid
• Academic Prompt
• Skill Check- Interpret nutritional
information on food labels

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School
Other Evidence
Informal Observations/discussions
During work on the performance tasks and the camp
and the camp menu project.
Student Self-Assessment and Reflection:

1.Self-assess brochure, You Are What You Eat.
2.Self-assess the camp menu, Chow Down.
3.Reflect on the extent to which you eat healthy at the
end of the unit (compared to the beginning).

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School
Essential Question Three
How can schools and districts

promote instructional practices that
reinforce the engagement,
achievement, and understanding of
all learners?

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1. Identify Desired What is it that I want the

Results students to understand and know
and be able to do?

the assessment?
Stage 3
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Designing Instructional Activities (I)
•W
•H
•E
•R
•E
•T
•O
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School
Designing Instructional Activities
to Promote Understanding (II)
• W=Where are we going? Why are we going there? In what
ways will we be evaluated?
• H=How will you hook and engage my interest?
• E=How will you equip me for success?
• R=How will you help me revise, rethink, refine, and revisit what
I am learning?
• E=How will I self-evaluate and self-express?
• T=How will you tailor your instruction to meet my individual
needs and strengths?
• O=How will you organize your teaching to maximize
understanding for all students?

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School
“W” Essential Questions
• Articulation of Goals: Where are we going in this unit or course?
What are our goals and standards? What resources and learning
experiences will help us achieve them?
• Communication of Expectations: What is expected of students?
What are the key assignments and assessments? How will students
demonstrate understanding? What criteria and performance
standards will be used for assessment?
• Establishment of Relevance and Value: Why is this worth learning?
How will this benefit students now and in the future?
• Diagnosis: From where are students coming? What prior knowledge,
interests, learning styles, and talents do they bring? What
misconceptions may exist that must be addressed?
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School
“H” Strategies
• Odd facts, anomalies, counterintuitive examples
• Provocative entry questions
• Mysteries and engaging anecdotes or stories
• Challenges
• Student-friendly problems and issues
• Experiments and predictions of outcomes
• Role-plays and simulations activities
• Sharing personal experiences
• Allowing students choices and options
• Establishing emotional connections
• Humor

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School
“E” Essential Questions
• Experiential and Inductive Learning:What experiential or inductive
learning will help students to explore the big ideas and essential
questions?
• Direct Instruction: What information or skills need to be taught

explicitly to equip students for successful achievement of desired
results?
• Homework and Other Out-of-Class Experiences: What homework

and other out-of-class experiences are needed to equip students to
achieve desired results and complete expected performances?

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School
“R” Essential Questions
• Rethink:What big ideas do we want students to rethink?
How will your design challenge students to revisit important
ideas?
• Revise or Refine: What skills need to be practiced or
rehearsed? How might student products and performances
be improved?
• Reflect: How will you encourage students to reflect on their
learning experiences and growing understanding? How will
you help them to become more meta-cognitive?
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School
Sample “E” Questions
• What do you really understand about …….?
• What questions and uncertainties do you still have?
• What was most and least effective in ….?
• How could you improve …..?
• How would you describe your strengths and needs in…?
• What would you do differently next time?
• What grade or score do you deserve? Why?
• How does what you’ve learned connect to other learnings?
• How have you changed your thinking?
• How does what you’ve learned related to your present and future?
• What follow-up work is needed?

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School
“T” Essential Questions
• Content: How will you accommodate different knowledge and skill
levels? How will you address a variety of learning modalities and
preferences? How will you use a range of resource materials?
• Process: How will you vary individual and group work? How will you
accommodate different learning style preferences and readiness
levels?
• Product: To what extent will you allow students choices in products
for activities and assignments? How will you allow students choices
for demonstrating significant understandings?

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School
“O” Essential Questions
• Conceptual Organization Along a Developmental Continuum: How
will you help students to move from initial concrete experience
toward growing levels of conceptual understanding and independent
application?
• Coverage: What aspects of your unit or program are most

appropriately and effectively addressed in linear, teacher-directed, or
didactic fashion?
• “Uncoverage”: What is most appropriately and effectively

“uncovered” in an inductive, inquiry-oriented experiential manner?

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School
Learning Experience
1. Begin with an entry question (Can the foods you eat cause zits?) to hook students into considering the
effects of nutrition on their lives. M H
2. Introduce the essential questions and discuss the culminating unit performance tasks (Chow Down and Eating
Action Plan). M W
3. Note: Key vocabulary terms are introduced as needed by the various learning activities and performance tasks.
Students read and discuss relevant selections from the Health textbook to support the learning activities and
tasks. As an on-going activity students keep a chart of their daily eating and drinking for later review and
evaluation. A E
4. Present concept attainment lesson on the food groups. Then, have students practice categorizing pictures of
foods accordingly. M E
5. Introduce the Food Pyramid and identify foods in each group. Students work in groups to develop a poster of
the Food Pyramid containing cut-out pictures of foods in each group. Display the posters in the classroom or
hallway. A E
6. Give quiz on the Food groups and Food Pyramid (matching format). E E
7. Review and discuss the nutrition brochure from the USDA. Discussion question: Must everyone follow the
same diet in order to be healthy? A M R
8. Working in cooperative groups, students analyze a hypothetical family*s diet (deliberately unbalanced) and
make recommendations for improved nutrition. Teacher observes and coaches students as they work. M T E2
9. Have groups share their diet analyses and discuss as a class. M E, E2

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Learning Experience (Continued)
10. Each student designs an illustrated nutrition brochure to teach younger children about the importance of good
nutrition for healthy living and the problems associated with poor eating. This activity is completed outside of class.
M T E, T
11. Show and discuss the video, Nutrition and You. Discuss the health problems that result from poor nutrition. A R, E-2
12. Students listen to, and question, a guest speaker (nutritionist from the local hospital) about health problems caused
by poor nutrition. A E
13. Students respond to written prompt: Describe two health problems that could arise as a result of poor nutrition and
explain what changes in eating could help to avoid them. (These are collected and graded by teacher.) A E
14. Teacher models how to read and interpret food label information on nutritional values. Then, have students practice
using donated boxes, cans and bottles (empty!). A E-2
15. Students work independently to develop the 3-day camp menu. T E
16. At the conclusion of the unit, students review their completed daily eating chart and self assess the “healthfulness”
of their eating. Have they noticed changes? Improvements? Do they notice changes in how they feel and/or their
appearance? M T E-2 , T
17. Students develop a personal “eating action plan” for healthful eating. These are saved and presented at upcoming
student-involved parent conferences. T E-2
18. Conclude the unit with student self evaluation regarding their personal eating habits. Have each student develop a
personal action plan for their “healthful eating” goal. M T E-2, T

Altamira
School
Activity Seventeen
1. How is W.H.E.R.E.T.O. the

“blueprint” for Stage Three learning
activities?
2. How would you explain each of the
W.H.E.R.E.T.O. elements to a
colleague with whom you work?

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School
Some Final Thoughts…
…So what can we conclude about

schools that promote various
dimensions of engaged student
learning that result in understanding,
not just knowledge-recall learning?

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School
We’ve Explored…
• Changes in our society necessitating the need to emphasize
student engagement.
• The need to emphasize student understanding, not just
knowledge-recall learning.
• The power of a core and conceptually-organized curriculum
built upon high expectations for all students.
• The necessity of differentiating assessment and instruction.
• The power of using research-based instructional practices to
promote student engagement.

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School
Nothing personal, but…”
“
• We all have a few habits that are neither
helpful nor in line with ‘Best Practice’
– For example, many of us too often –
• Confuse the textbook with a valid syllabus based
on transfer goals
• Confuse fun activities with learning
• “Teach” without checking for understanding
early and often enough
• Test what is easier to test and grade rather than
what is most in line with our personal and
institutional long-term goals
Nothing personal: “Best design” characteristics
(from 8000+ educators)…”
–– Clear goals and explicit performance requirements
–– Models and modeling provided
–– A genuine challenge/problem/question frames frames work
work that
that stretches
you - real, meaningful tasks
tasks
–– Lots of focused practice, feedback, and opportunities
opportunities toto use
use itit built
built in
in
- not over-planned
over-planned andand taught
taught
–– Trial and error, reflection and adjustment
adjustment are
are expected,
expected, encouraged
encouraged
and ‘designed in’
–– The teacher is more of a facilitator, coach
–– There
There isis aa safe,
safe, supportive
supportive environment
environment for risk-taking, trying out
new learning
–– ‘Designed in’ variety, choice, and attention
attention to
to difference
difference
–– A good mix of collaboration/solo work
–– Immersion, active, hands-on - and earlier than typically
typically done
done
One Last Note About the
Learning Organization…
• A commitment to continuous progress
• Involvement of all stakeholders in decision-making
and problem-solving
• Built on a community of inquiry and learning
• Ongoing use of collaborative processes, including
study groups, inquiry teams, and action research
cohorts.

Altamira
School
Activity
1. As you reflect back on the training,

what do you consider to be the “big
ideas” of UBD?
2. What are some possible next steps
for implementing what you have
learned?

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School

Making Sense of Understanding by Design

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Making Sense of Understanding by Design

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Understanding by Design

Adapted from and based on the work of

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

By the end of this workshop, you should be able to:

• How do you define the term “understanding”?

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

If the day before the day before

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Tuesday=day before the day before yesterday.

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

“How many buses does the

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

• “31 buses, remainder 12”

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

What’s so important about

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

• In your opinion, what does it mean for

• Is there a time you can remember when as a

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

How Can We Promote Student

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

• Why teach for understanding?

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

• Integrating curriculum, instruction, and

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Does this sound familiar?

• What is good design?

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

• The following slides will take you through how

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, MEd

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

1. Identify Desired What is it that I want the students

3. Plan Learning What do I need to do in the

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

According to Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, the best

c. Stage Three: Designing Instructional Activities

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Subject/Topic Areas: Health and Nutrition

Key Words: nutrition, health, wellness, balanced diet, food

Designed by: Bob James Time Frame: 3 Weeks

School: Cheshire Cat Elementary

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Brief Summary of Unit(including curricular context and unit goals)

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Backward Design Plans need to be well Twin sins: Aimless activity

Transfer as goal The essence of Students fail to apply

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

• Are knowing and understanding the same?

• Can you know something and not

• What is the evidence of understanding

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

What Does the Research Tell Us

Priscilla Ruiz de Vergara, M.Ed

• __: Backing up • _: Analyzing