Understanding by Design, often called backward design, is a curriculum planning framework developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe and published in 1998. It reverses the usual order of lesson planning: rather than starting from a textbook or a sequence of activities, a teacher first identifies the understanding students should walk away with and the essential questions that frame it, then decides how that understanding will be assessed, and only then designs the specific learning activities that will get students there. The framework's central test of real understanding is transfer, whether a student can apply what was learned to an unfamiliar situation, rather than merely reproduce it on a test resembling the ones practiced in class. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Core ClaimCurriculum is best designed backward from the understanding students should demonstrate and how that understanding will be assessed, rather than forward from a sequence of textbook content or activities. 2 Classification
Education Level FAQs
Is Understanding by Design the same thing as backward design?
Not exactly: backward design is the general practice of planning from outcomes first, and Understanding by Design is one named example of it.
Not quite. Backward design is the general practice of looking at the outcomes first, and Understanding by Design, or UbD, is an example of it that focuses on teaching to achieve understanding. It is advocated by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins in their 1998 book Understanding by Design, published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, which holds Understanding by Design and UbD as registered trademarks. The backward design approach has three stages: identifying the desired results for students, assessing learning, and listing the learning activities that will lead to those results. In the first stage planners write what students will understand and list the essential questions that guide the learner toward understanding.
Connections
Developed By
Source Wikipedia: Understanding by Design
Source Wikipedia: Understanding by Design
Includes
Sources
1. Understanding by Design (Wikipedia)
an educational theory for curriculum design of a school subjectView the Source 2. Wikipedia: Understanding by Design
Wikimedia FoundationDefinition / Three-Stage Process
UbD is an educational theory for curriculum design where planners look at desired outcomes to design curriculum units, assessments, and instruction.
Core Principle
If a student is able to transfer the skills they learn in the classroom to unfamiliar situations, they are said to truly understand.
Developers & Timeline
It is advocated by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins in their Understanding by Design (1998), published by ASCD.
- Developed By: Grant Wiggins
- Developed By: Jay McTighe
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