Understanding by Design

Understanding By Design – Backward Design

Design needs to be content focused design versus result focused design. The aim is towards what performance goal do the readings and the discussions lead to. There are two “sins” which teachers generally indulge in, activity oriented design and coverage design are the two sins. Activity teachers are unable to give a satisfactory answer to the key design questions such as: What should students understand as a result of the activities or content covered? What should the experience or lecture equip them to do? How can the activities achieve the desired results? And in coverage sin, the teachers are so much under pressure of covering everything or the curriculum that they lose focus of student understanding and the misunderstandings that may arise because of covering too much in a rush. The interesting and meaningful activities which take time to implement are then discarded at the expense of coverage.

What’s the point? What’s the big idea? Is something that teachers need to keep in mind at all times when designing a lesson. The three stages of backward design are: Stage 1: Identify desired results; 2) Determine acceptable evidence; 3) Plan learning experience and instruction. Evidence must be gathered through a variety of formal and informal means of assessment. It can include quizzes, tests, projects, observations and dialogues.

It is like purposeful task analysis. It creates appropriate habits of mind to design understanding for students.