Understanding by Design

Understanding by Design PDF

Author: Grant P. Wiggins

Publisher: ASCD

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 1416600353

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What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units

The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units PDF

Author: Grant Wiggins

Publisher: ASCD

Published: 2011-03-11

Total Pages: 139

ISBN-13: 1416613307

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The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units offers instructional modules on the basic concepts and elements of Understanding by Design (UbD), the "backward design" approach used by thousands of educators to create curriculum units and assessments that focus on developing students' understanding of important ideas. The eight modules are organized around the UbD Template Version 2.0 and feature components similar to what is typically provided in a UbD design workshop, including— * Discussion and explanation of key ideas in the module; * Guiding exercises, worksheets, and design tips; * Examples of unit designs; * Review criteria with prompts for self-assessment; and * A list of resources for further information. This guide is intended for K-16 educators—either individuals or groups—who may have received some training in UbD and want to continue their work independently; those who've read Understanding by Design and want to design curriculum units but have no access to formal training; graduate and undergraduate students in university curriculum courses; and school and district administrators, curriculum directors, and others who facilitate UbD work with staff. Users can go through the modules in sequence or skip around, depending on their previous experience with UbD and their preferred curriculum design style or approach. Unit creation, planning, and adaptation are easier than ever with the accompanying downloadable resources, including the UbD template set up as a fillable PDF form, additional worksheets, examples, and FAQs about the module topics that speak to UbD novices and veterans alike.

Essential Questions

Essential Questions PDF

Author: Jay McTighe

Publisher: ASCD

Published: 2013-03-27

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 1416615709

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What are "essential questions," and how do they differ from other kinds of questions? What's so great about them? Why should you design and use essential questions in your classroom? Essential questions (EQs) help target standards as you organize curriculum content into coherent units that yield focused and thoughtful learning. In the classroom, EQs are used to stimulate students' discussions and promote a deeper understanding of the content. Whether you are an Understanding by Design (UbD) devotee or are searching for ways to address standards—local or Common Core State Standards—in an engaging way, Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins provide practical guidance on how to design, initiate, and embed inquiry-based teaching and learning in your classroom. Offering dozens of examples, the authors explore the usefulness of EQs in all K-12 content areas, including skill-based areas such as math, PE, language instruction, and arts education. As an important element of their backward design approach to designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the authors *Give a comprehensive explanation of why EQs are so important; *Explore seven defining characteristics of EQs; *Distinguish between topical and overarching questions and their uses; *Outline the rationale for using EQs as the focal point in creating units of study; and *Show how to create effective EQs, working from sources including standards, desired understandings, and student misconceptions. Using essential questions can be challenging—for both teachers and students—and this book provides guidance through practical and proven processes, as well as suggested "response strategies" to encourage student engagement. Finally, you will learn how to create a culture of inquiry so that all members of the educational community—students, teachers, and administrators—benefit from the increased rigor and deepened understanding that emerge when essential questions become a guiding force for learners of all ages.

Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics

Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics PDF

Author: Susan Loucks-Horsley

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2003-02-14

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 0761946861

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This New Edition collects and brings together in one place what has been learned from professional developers efforts across the country in order to make the framework, principles, and strategies of the first edition come to life. This edition deepens our understanding of professional development through further research and new resources. The original purpose of this book to put a competent and caring teacher in every classroom has yet to be fulfilled and is more urgent now than ever. The authors provide one-stop shopping for busy practitioners that incorporates the most up-to-date research gleaned from the broadest possible research base as well as robust and rich descriptions of effective professional development programmes. It incorporates the growing knowledge base about learning, teaching, the nature of science and mathematics, professional development, and change. The authors scanned the field of professional development in mathematics and science over the last five years, noting what has changed and what has not, dissected the original framework, updated examples, incorporate what authors have learned as well as advances in the field. This essential primer offers a framework that considers key inputs and combines strategies uniquely tailored to their environment and goals; summarizes key knowledge and best practices; provides guidance on assessing one′s context; describes strategies that go beyond most common workshops and institutes; provides real-life examples of how elements of the framework were used to create professional development initiatives; offers references and resources for further exploration and inquiry. Highlights of the Second Edition include: - New design framework that incorporates standards, student learning data, and evaluation techniques - More guidance for assessing context using data - More strategies for professional development, including lesson study, aligning and selecting curriculum, and demonstration lessons. - Stronger real-life examples, including new uses of technology and data-driven designs An essential resource for educators who design, conduct, and support professional development for teachers of mathematics and science, including staff developers, principals, teacher leaders, curriculum supervisors, and leadership teams. College and university faculty in education, science, and mathematics will also find this to be a useful compendium of ideas for improving mathematics and science education.

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