Backward Design. SED 509 Fall 2010

Transcription

1 Backward Design SED 509 Fall 2010

2 What Is It? Backward Design is a process of lesson planning created by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe and introduced in Understanding by Design (1998). This lesson design process concentrates on developing the lesson in a different order than in traditional lesson planning. Treats teachers as designers. An essential act of our profession is the crafting of curriculum and learning experiences to meet specified purposes. too many teachers focus on the teaching and not the learning. Reaction to the twin sins of traditional design: activity-focused and coverage-focused teaching.

3 How Is It Different? Traditional Goals & objectives Activities Assessments Backward Design Goals & objectives Assessments Activities

4 Identify desired results. Determine acceptable evidence. Plan learning experiences and instruction. Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

5 Identify Desired Results. Enduring Understandings: What specific insights about big ideas do we want students to leave with? What essential questions will frame the teaching and learning, pointing toward key issues and ideas, and suggest meaningful and provocative inquiry into content? What should students know and be able to do? What content standards are addressed explicitly by the unit?

6 Enduring Understanding Worth being familiar with. Important to know and do. Enduring Understanding Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

7 Taking a closer look at Enduring Understandings: They are... specific generalizations about the big ideas. They summarize the key meanings, inferences, and importance of the content Require uncoverage because they are not facts to the novice, but unobvious inferences drawn from facts - counter-intuitive & easily misunderstood deliberately framed as a full sentence moral of the story Students will understand THAT

8 Examples of Enduring Understandings Sometimes the correct mathematical answer is not the best solution to real-world problems. Statistical analysis and data display often reveal patterns that may not be obvious. Heuristics are strategies that can aid problem solving (e.g. breaking a complex problem into chunks, creating a visual representation, etc.) Scientific claims must be verified by independent investigations. Standardized measures allow people to more accurately describe the physical world. Correlation does not ensure causality. Energy flows through ecosystems whereas matter cycles.

9 Six Facets of Understanding Explain - provide thorough, supported, and justifiable accounts of phenomena, facts and data. Interpret - tell meaningful stories; offer apt translations; provide a revealing historical or personal dimension to ideas and events; make it personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies, and models. Apply - effectively use and adapt what is known in diverse contexts. Perspective - can see and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears; see the big picture. Empathize - find value in what others might find odd, alien, or implausible; perceive sensitively on the basis of prior direct experience. Self-Knowledge - perceive the personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede our own understanding; having an awareness of what one does not understand and why understanding is so hard.

10 Brainstorming Essential Questions Based On the Facets Interpretation Explanation Application critique describe build illustrate express create judge justify design translate predict perform provide metaphors synthesize solve assume role of be aware of analyze consider realize argue imagine recognize compare relate reflect contrast role-play self-assess infer Empathy Self-Knowledge Perspective

11 Essential Questions Go to the heart of the discipline. Recur naturally throughout one s learning and in the history of a field. Raise other important questions. Provide subject- and topic- specific doorways to essential questions. Have no one obvious right answer. Are deliberately framed to provoke and sustain student interest.

12 Examples

13 Determine Acceptable Evidence. How will enduring understanding be measured? How will assessments vary? How will assessments vary? Both formal and informal Scope Time frame Setting Structure

14 Assessment Continuum Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

15 Reliability: Snapshot vs. Photo Album We need patterns that overcome inherent measurement error Sound assessment requires multiple evidence over time - a photo album vs. a single snapshot

16 Curricular Priorities and Assessment Methods Assessment Types Traditional quizzes and tests Paper-pencil Selected-response Constructed-response Worth being familiar with Important to know and do Performance tasks and projects Open-ended Complex Authentic Enduring understanding

17 Plan Learning Experiences. Learning experiences are planned after desired results and the method of measurement of those results are identified. What will the students need to know in order to achieve the desired goal, learning, or understanding? Various strategies are used to plan the learning.

18 W.H.E.R.E. Where is it going? Hook the students. Explore and equip. Rethink and revise. Exhibit and evaluate.

19 Misconception Alert: the work is non-linear It doesn t matter where you start as long as the final design is coherent (all elements aligned) Clarifying one element or Stage often forces changes to another element or Stage The template blueprint is logical but the process is non-linear

20 Questions