Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
Identifying desired results in McTighe's Understanding By Design (UBD) framework is the first stage of the backward design process. This stage is critical because it sets the foundation for curriculum development, ensuring that teaching and assessment are aligned with clear learning goals. Here’s how to effectively identify desired results:
1. Clarify Learning Goals and Objectives
Start by identifying the big ideas, core concepts, and essential understandings that you want students to achieve by the end of the unit or course. These should be aligned with state or national standards and reflect the most important content knowledge and skills.
Process:
Review Standards: Examine relevant curriculum standards to identify key concepts, skills, and knowledge that students need to learn.
Determine Enduring Understandings: Focus on the big ideas that have lasting value beyond the classroom. These are the understandings that students should retain long after they’ve forgotten specific details.
Establish Essential Questions: Develop open-ended questions that guide inquiry and exploration, helping students make connections between ideas and encouraging deeper thinking.
2. Identify Transfer Goals
Transfer goals refer to the abilities and knowledge that students should be able to apply in new and different contexts beyond the classroom. These goals focus on what students should be able to do independently with their learning.
Process:
Focus on Application: Consider how students will use what they’ve learned in real-life situations or future academic work. What skills or understandings should they be able to transfer to new problems, challenges, or contexts?
Articulate Transfer Tasks: Identify tasks or scenarios where students will need to apply their knowledge in novel ways, ensuring that learning is relevant and applicable beyond the current course.
3. Define Knowledge and Skills
Clearly define the specific knowledge (facts, concepts) and skills (processes, procedures) that students need to acquire. These should be measurable and directly tied to the learning goals.
Process:
List Key Knowledge: Identify the critical facts, vocabulary, and concepts that students need to understand.
Specify Skills: Determine the skills students need to develop, such as analytical thinking, problem-solving, or writing. Ensure that these skills are explicitly taught and assessed.
4. Prioritize Learning Outcomes
Not all learning outcomes are equally important. Prioritizing outcomes helps focus teaching and assessment on what matters most.
Process:
Determine What’s Worth Understanding: Focus on concepts that are central to the discipline, are transferable, and are likely to be encountered in future learning.
Rank Objectives: Identify which learning outcomes are essential, which are important, and which are desirable. Prioritize essential outcomes in your planning and assessment.
Take into account the students’ backgrounds, prior knowledge, interests, and learning needs when identifying desired results.
Process:
Assess Prior Knowledge: Identify what students already know and where there might be gaps in their understanding.
Differentiate Goals: Consider whether different groups of students might need different learning goals or approaches to achieve the desired results.
Make sure that the desired results are aligned with the assessments and learning activities you plan to use. This alignment is critical to the backward design process.
Process:
Check for Coherence: Ensure that your desired results, assessments, and instructional activities all support each other and lead to the same learning goals.
Revise as Needed: Be prepared to adjust your desired results if you find that they do not align well with assessments or if they are too broad or too narrow.
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Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence
In Stage 2, the focus is on identifying the types of assessments and evidence that which will demonstrate whether students have achieved the desired learning outcomes established in Stage 1. This stage ensures that assessments are aligned with learning goals and provide clear, valid evidence of student understanding and proficiency. Here’s how to approach this stage:
Determine which types of assessments will best measure the desired results. These assessments should align with the learning objectives and provide multiple forms of evidence.
Process:
Performance Tasks: Design tasks that require students to apply their knowledge and skills in real-world contexts. These tasks should reflect the complexity and depth of the desired understandings.
Quizzes and Tests: Use traditional assessments like multiple-choice tests, short answer questions, or essay exams to measure specific knowledge or skills.
Formative Assessments: Include ongoing assessments such as observations, discussions, or quick checks for understanding to monitor progress and provide feedback throughout the learning process.
Self-Assessment and Peer Assessment: Incorporate assessments where students evaluate their own or their peers’ work, fostering reflection and self-directed learning.
2. Ensure Alignment with Desired Results
Make sure that the assessments directly align with the learning objectives established in Stage 1. The evidence gathered should clearly demonstrate whether students have achieved the desired outcomes.
Process:
Review Learning Goals: Revisit the desired results to ensure that each assessment measures a specific learning objective.
Map Assessments to Objectives: Create a matrix or chart that links each assessment type to the corresponding learning goals and objectives.
3. Determine Criteria for Success
Establish clear criteria for what constitutes successful performance on each assessment. This involves defining what acceptable evidence looks like and how it will be evaluated.
Process:
Rubrics: Develop detailed rubrics that outline the criteria for different levels of performance. Rubrics should be specific, clear, and aligned with the learning goals.
Exemplars: Provide examples of high-quality work that meets the criteria, helping students understand the expectations.
4. Incorporate a Variety of Evidence
Use multiple forms of evidence to capture the full range of student understanding and skills. This includes both formative and summative assessments, as well as diverse assessment methods.
Process:
Triangulate Evidence: Combine different types of assessments (e.g., performance tasks, tests, projects) to get a comprehensive view of student learning.
Balance Assessment Types: Ensure that assessments cover both content knowledge and the application of skills, and that they vary in format to accommodate different learning styles.
Design assessments that reflect real-world tasks and challenges, ensuring that the evidence collected is authentic and meaningful.
Process:
Create Real-World Tasks: Design assessments that simulate real-world problems or require students to produce work that has real-world relevance.
Engage Students in Authentic Audiences: Where possible, have students present their work to real or simulated audiences, such as peers, community members, or professionals in the field.
6. Plan for Reliability and Validity
Ensure that the assessments are reliable (yielding consistent results) and valid (accurately measuring what they are intended to measure).
Process:
Pilot Assessments: Test assessments with a small group of students to identify potential issues and ensure reliability and validity.
Review and Revise: Continuously review and refine assessments based on student performance data and feedback.
7. Provide Opportunities for Reflection
Encourage students to reflect on their learning and assessment performance. This helps deepen their understanding and supports continuous improvement.
Process:
Incorporate Reflection Activities: Include self-assessment and reflection questions as part of the assessment process.
Facilitate Discussions: Use classroom discussions to explore what students have learned and how they can improve.
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Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences (LE) and Instruction
Linking Learning Activities to Outcomes: Recommendations for Classroom Teachers
Understanding how specific learning activities can lead to various educational outcomes is key to effective teaching. Below is an explanation of these connections, along with recommendations for the most effective learning activity to achieve each outcome.
1. Outcome: Mastery of Content Knowledge
How LE Connects to Outcome: Activities that focus on direct instruction and practice help students acquire and retain key facts, concepts, and information. Repeated exposure and structured learning help solidify understanding.
Recommended Learning Activity: Interactive Lectures with Guided Practice
Why: Interactive lectures allow teachers to present content systematically while integrating questioning techniques and immediate feedback. Guided practice reinforces learning as students apply concepts in structured exercises.
Example: A history teacher could deliver a lecture on the causes of World War I, interspersed with questions that prompt students to identify key factors. Afterward, students complete a worksheet with timelines or cause-and-effect diagrams to reinforce the material.
2. Outcome: Development of Critical Thinking Skills
How LE Connects to Outcome: Activities that require analysis, synthesis, and evaluation promote critical thinking. These activities encourage students to go beyond memorization and apply their knowledge in new contexts.
Recommended Learning Activity: Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
Why: PBL challenges students to solve real-world problems, requiring them to research, analyze data, and propose solutions. This active engagement fosters deep understanding and critical thinking.
Example: In a science class, students might be tasked with developing a plan to reduce the school’s carbon footprint. They would need to gather data, evaluate different strategies, and present a proposal to the class.
3. Outcome: Enhancement of Communication Skills
How LE Connects to Outcome: Activities that involve speaking, listening, and writing improve communication skills. These activities should encourage students to articulate their thoughts clearly and engage with others' ideas.
Recommended Learning Activity: Debates
Why: Debates require students to research a topic, formulate arguments, and present them persuasively while also listening to and rebutting opposing views. This activity sharpens both oral and written communication skills.
Example: In an English class, students could debate the merits of different interpretations of a classic novel, requiring them to defend their viewpoint with evidence from the text.
4. Outcome: Collaboration and Teamwork
How LE Connects to Outcome: Group activities that involve cooperation, communication, and shared responsibility help students develop teamwork skills. These activities prepare students for collaborative work environments.
Recommended Learning Activity: Group Projects
Why: Group projects require students to work together to achieve a common goal, dividing tasks, negotiating roles, and resolving conflicts. This collaborative effort teaches essential teamwork skills.
Example: In an Individuals & societies class, students could work in groups to create a presentation on a historical event, with each member responsible for researching and presenting a different aspect of the event.
5. Outcome: Application of Knowledge in Real-World Contexts
How LE Connects to Outcome: Activities that simulate real-world scenarios or involve hands-on tasks help students apply theoretical knowledge in practical situations. This bridges the gap between classroom learning and real-world application.
Recommended Learning Activity: Simulations and Role-Playing
Why: Simulations and role-playing immerse students in scenarios that require them to use their knowledge and skills in context. This hands-on approach enhances understanding and retention.
Example: In an economics class, students could participate in a stock market simulation, where they manage a portfolio and make investment decisions based on current market trends.
6. Outcome: Independent Learning and Self-Directed Inquiry
How LE Connects to Outcome: Activities that promote autonomy and self-reflection encourage students to take ownership of their learning. These activities help students develop the skills needed for lifelong learning.
Recommended Learning Activity: Independent Research Projects
Why: Independent research projects allow students to explore topics of personal interest, develop research skills, and engage in self-directed learning. This fosters curiosity and initiative.
Example: In a history class, students might choose a historical figure to research in-depth, culminating in a written report or multimedia presentation.
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