Clarifying Transfer & How It Impacts What We Think Students Understand. Preface: In collaboration with Grant Wiggins of Understanding by Design and Authentic Education, TeachThought will be bringing you Grant’s industry-leading expertise on understanding, learning frameworks, and curriculum planning. This article originally appeared on Grant’s personal blog. There is some understandable confusion about the goal of transfer. When we say we want students to be able to “transfer” their learning, there are two possible meanings to our aim. We might mean that transfer involves a high-level ability that is thus somehow different content from low-level content. The confusion occurs, in part, because of the contrasting examples we tend to use. Here is an example. What is the Pythagorean Theorem? None of these questions requires transfer of prior learning. An Example From Mathematics Let’s ponder the specifics of a transfer goal for the Pythagorean Theorem.
In both examples students are expected – on their own! How Transfer Occurs Similarly in ELA. In sum: UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf. 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.