You Can't Teach Understanding. You Can’t Teach Understanding by Grant Wiggins, Ed.D, Authentic Education A cardinal principle in aiming at understanding is that understanding requires different pedagogy than acquisition of knowledge and skill. Knowledge and skills are best developed by direct instruction and reinforcement if we want recall and fluency. Understanding, however, involves something beyond mere acquisition for later straightforward use. To understand, students must do something with, adapt, and sometimes question what they (think they) know. They have to think and rethink. They must be required to draw inferences and come to realizations, try performing with that understanding, and draw further inferences from what works, what doesn’t, when, and why.
Thus, to achieve understanding as an educator, you have to help students “by design” come to realizations that they own and appreciate as insightful. The temptation to teach understandings is great. Alas, it almost never works in the end. “Falling Behind” Teaching for Understanding (Harvard GSE) Mtuniontalk. Tomlinson_McTighe_BigIdeas. Ubd And Di Presentation. AbDDIandUbDpresentation_revised. PP-fall2008-UbD-copy. Study_Guide_for_DI_and-UbD. Grant Wiggins - Understanding by Design (2 of 2) What is UbD? Grant Wiggins Answers, with Video Cases. Grant Wiggins - Understanding by Design (1 of 2) UbD exemplars. What is UbD™?
Understanding by Design® (UbD™) is a framework for improving student achievement. Emphasizing the teacher's critical role as a designer of student learning, UbD™ works within the standards-driven curriculum to help teachers clarify learning goals, devise revealing assessments of student understanding, and craft effective and engaging learning activities. Developed by nationally recognized educators Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, and published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), Understanding by Design® is based on the following key ideas: A primary goal of education should be the development and deepening of student understanding.
Students reveal their understanding most effectively when they are provided with complex, authentic opportunities to explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, empathize, and self-assess. In practice, Understanding by Design® offers: The potential of UbD™ for curricular improvement has struck a chord in American education. UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf.