"Knowledge means knowing what to do; Understanding means knowing why it should be done"
Author Unknown
Why do we have school?What's the point? Why have some of our greatest minds (Newton, Einstein, Jobs) been mediocre students?
I believe the point of education is to prepare and equip students to address life's essential questions. Those great minds? They did poorly because their education was not helping them answer their essential questions. Understanding by Design (UbD) is a way of thinking about education. A backwards way of planning that begins with the goal in mind. A flowchart of my interpretation of UbD can be found here. |
UbD is essentially a curriculum planning model that starts by asking - What do we want students to understand? What essential questions are they trying to investigate?
Once we have identified what we want students to know, then we have to decide how to measure if they indeed understand. What should they be able to do?
Only when those questions have been answered can we begin to design lessons that will teach the knowledge and skills that will allow students to develop their understanding.
The three stages of curriculum planning are:
Stage 1. Identifying the desired results
Stage 2. Determine acceptable evidence
Stage 3 Plan learning experiences and instruction
UbD avoids the problem of "activity oriented" instruction that lacks clear learning goals. It is of no use to have a wonderful activity if upon ending the activity you ask a student what they learned and they reply, "I don't know - but it sure was fun!".
UbD also avoids the temptation to simply "cover content". A book - or software program - is not a curriculum.
Quality instructional design must provide a pathway for students to transfer knowledge and skills into an understanding of big ideas. These big ideas should enable students to then address life's essential questions.
A detailed explanation of Understanding by Design is found in this document.
Once we have identified what we want students to know, then we have to decide how to measure if they indeed understand. What should they be able to do?
Only when those questions have been answered can we begin to design lessons that will teach the knowledge and skills that will allow students to develop their understanding.
The three stages of curriculum planning are:
Stage 1. Identifying the desired results
Stage 2. Determine acceptable evidence
Stage 3 Plan learning experiences and instruction
UbD avoids the problem of "activity oriented" instruction that lacks clear learning goals. It is of no use to have a wonderful activity if upon ending the activity you ask a student what they learned and they reply, "I don't know - but it sure was fun!".
UbD also avoids the temptation to simply "cover content". A book - or software program - is not a curriculum.
Quality instructional design must provide a pathway for students to transfer knowledge and skills into an understanding of big ideas. These big ideas should enable students to then address life's essential questions.
A detailed explanation of Understanding by Design is found in this document.