Unit Planning

Introduction to Understanding by Design (UbD) - "Backwards Planning"

This short paper provides a summary of the three stages of "Backwards Planning" from the Understanding by Design (UbD) model of Wiggins and McTighe. UbD guides teachers in powerful and meaningful unit planning.

Establish Unit Learning Goals — Design Assessments — Plan and teach lessons toward Learning Goals — Give Assessments —Re-establish Learning Goals if necessary — & Repeat….

C3 Teachers Inquiry Design Models

Many schools across the U.S. have embraced the UbD model for unit planning over the past decade. Since the College, Career, and Civil Life (C3) Frameworks were developed in 2013, many states have used UbD to design Model Units to allow students to learn content using the Inquiry Arc. Click here to view a sample from the state of New York.

What is the C3 Inquiry Arc? Here are some graphics to help...

Online Resources

Click here for the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) C3 Intro Page which includes the PDF of the actual Frameworks and other helpful links on using NCSS C3 resources.

Click here for the C3 Teachers Model Inquiry Units which serves to help teachers who are using or are planning to use the Inquiry Design Model (Inquiry Arc) to teach social studies. It offers model units for inquires on a wide range of topics across social studies and across K-12. It was created with the state of New York who has adopted the C3 Frameworks for Social Studies.

Click here for blogs by teachers (and some students) using the Inquiry Model who write about their ongoing experiences with the inquiry model and the C3 Framework.

Click here for the C3 Inquiries with the Library of Congress Hub which has emerged from a collaboration between C3 Teachers, North Caroina State University, and the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Regional Program, Eastern, Midwest and Western Regions. The Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program encourages teachers to begin the inquiry design process with a source from the Library of Congress.

Click here for the C3 Brief on Questions, Frameworks, and Classrooms which will give you some ideas to help you help your students formulate questions for the inquiry arc.

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