Understanding by Design

A tool for curriculum designers that is becoming increasingly popular is Understanding by Design introduced by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design (UbD) focuses on helping students better understand classroom material in order to be able to apply the knowledge gained, not just retain the information. “UbD is an embodiment of common sense, and best practice in design and what we know about learning” (Wiggins and McTighe, 2004).
According to Wiggins and McTighe, the typical error of curriculum development is the process of identifying content, brainstorming ideas, then coming up with an assessment and linking it to some standard. Wiggins and McTighe argue that you cannot start planning how you are going to teach until you know exactly what you want your students to learn. Their philosophy led them to create Backward Design, which is gaining popularity because it seems to be a more logical way of developing curriculum. Backward Design is a three-stage process that is concerned with concentrating on the end result. The Backward Design process proceeds in three stages as follows:
Stage 1: Identify desired results: First you consider learning goals for the course. What should students know, understand, and be able to do? Wiggins and McTighe suggest considering these questions during stage one:
What should participants hear, read, view, explore, or otherwise encounter?
What knowledge and skills should participants master? What facts, concepts, and principles should they know?
What are big ideas and important understandings participants should retain?
In this stage, examining established content standards (national, state, district), and reviewing curriculum expectations is highly important. This stage calls for clarity about priorities.
Stage 2: Determine acceptable evidence: This stage concentrates on how the curriculum will be assessed. In stage two, it is important to determine what you will consider evidence that students are making progress toward the learning goals. Wiggins and McTighe suggest considering a wide range of assessment methods in order to ensure that the assessments match the learning goals.
Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction: In the final stage, planning how to teach occurs. This stage involves designing instructional strategies and students’ learning activities. It is important to foster increasing understanding, not just rote memorization according to Wiggins and McTighe. They suggest devising activities and exercises that encourage students to understand new concepts in order to “own” them.
Backward Design helps teachers to avoid the “twin sins” or problems of traditional design: activity-oriented and textbook coverage. “The error of activity-oriented design might be called “hands-on without being minds-on”—engaging experiences that lead only accidentally, if at all, to insight or achievement” (Wiggins & McTighe) Textbook coverage is an approach in which students march through a textbook, page by page in a brave attempt to traverse all the factual material within a prescribed time. Backward Design avoids these two “sins.”
Along with Backward Design, Wiggins and McTighe feel that once a student grasps the Six Facets of Understanding, they will be able to transfer knowledge from one lesson to the next. The Six Facets proposed by Wiggins and McTighe include students being able to explain, interpret, apply, have perspective, empathize, and have self-knowledge about a given topic. Mastering the Six Facets of Understanding enables students to make meaningful and lasting connections while enduring understanding.
As I learned more about Understanding by Design and Wiggins and McTighe, I grew to truly respect and idealize their ideas. Even though their design is “backward,” it does make the most sense. With the traditional curriculum design, teachers jump right into how they are going to teach. This neglects the big concept of what they want their students to learn. The Backward Design allows for teachers to grasp what they want their students to learn, along with the standards that need to be met. After this is established, teachers are truly able to look at the whole picture and teach what the students are supposed to learn.
Wiggins and McTighe are changing the way educational leaders look at curriculum development. Understanding by Design can change the education world. Teachers and students can benefit from UbD. Teachers can still add creativity while teaching the necessities, and students learn vital information in an interesting way. UbD helps students retain their learning and helps them make lasting connections.