The Understanding by Design; Guide to Creating High-Quality Units (1st Edition)

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Book Description

Understanding by Design (UbD) is a framework for creating curriculum units and assessments that focus on developing students' understanding of important ideas. The UbD framework is based on the idea that learning is enhanced when teachers think purposefully about curricular planning. The UbD process involves three stages:

Identifying desired results
The first stage of UbD is to identify the desired results of learning. This involves identifying the knowledge, skills, and understandings that students should acquire as a result of the unit. These desired results are often referred to as “essential understandings.”

Planning learning experiences and assessments
The second stage of UbD is to plan learning experiences and assessments that will help students achieve the desired results. This involves identifying the types of activities that students will engage in to learn the desired content, and the types of assessments that will be used to measure student learning.

Reflecting on and refining the design
The third stage of UbD is to reflect on and refine the design of the unit. This involves reviewing the unit to ensure that it is aligned with the desired results, and that the learning experiences and assessments are effective in helping students achieve those results.

UbD is a powerful framework for creating curriculum units that focus on student understanding. The UbD process helps teachers to think more strategically about their teaching, and to create units that are more likely to be effective in helping students learn.

Here are some of the benefits of using UbD:

UbD helps teachers to focus on the desired results of learning. This ensures that the unit is aligned with the curriculum standards, and that students are learning what they need to know.
UbD helps teachers to plan learning experiences that are effective in helping students achieve the desired results. The UbD process forces teachers to think about the different ways that students learn, and to create activities that are tailored to meet the needs of all learners.
UbD helps teachers to design assessments that are aligned with the desired results. This ensures that students are being assessed on what they have actually learned, and not on what they have been told to learn.
UbD helps teachers to reflect on and refine their teaching. The UbD process provides a framework for teachers to continually improve their units, and to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their students.