Understanding by Design In Social Studies in Social Studies Refresher Training Jennifer Rauscher, Angie Strick & Paul Aleckson March 2, 2009  

To sum up … Big ideas go beyond discrete facts or skills to focus on larger concepts, principles, or processes. These are applicable to new situations within or beyond the subject. Wiggins & McTighe, Understanding by Design 2e, 2005

Economics Sociology Education Sports Family Life Texas History Concepts: Rules/Laws Values Conflict Interdependence Fairness Diversity Power Rights Adaptation Movement Diffusion Democracy Region Self Interest Government Cooperation Compromise Aggression Innovation Leadership Family Life Texas History U.S. History Political Science Geography Movies World History Understanding concepts is ultimately what enables students to transfer understandings learned in one time/place setting to a new time and place – even a setting with which they have no previous acquaintance. When we teach concepts we allow our students to transcend the settings that we have taught. -John Hergesheimer

Concepts and Generalizations: Teaching for Understanding in Social Studies Using BIG IDEAS to Teach History

Points to consider Both models value foundation of specific fact-based knowledge and skills Difference is in culminating focal point of instruction Topic-based: learning specific facts about a given topic Concept-based: learning conceptual understandings drawn from the facts Learning WHY things happen rather than WHAT HAPPENED in the past.

be able to list all of the compromises made at the Constitutional Convention OR be able to explain the role of compromise and conflict throughout history using examples from the Constitutional Convention?

Would you rather your students… be able to tell you the populations, natural resources, and climates found in Latin America OR be able to explain the impact of population, natural resources, and climate on Latin America’s role in the contemporary world? Concepts include: Global connections People, places, and environment Production, distribution, and consumption

You’ve got to go below the surface...

3 Stages of (“Backward”) Design 1. Identify desired results 2. Determine acceptable evidence 3. Plan learning experiences & instruction

The stages are logical but they go against habits We’re used to jumping to lesson and activity ideas - before clarifying our performance goals for students By thinking through the assessments upfront, we ensure greater alignment of our goals and means, and that teaching is focused on desired results

to uncover the really ‘big ideas.’

Establishing Priorities Knowledge that is worth being familiar with Worth being familiar with Important to know and do “Enduring” understanding Worth being familiar with Important to know and do “Enduring” understanding Knowledge and skills that are important to know and do Understandings that are enduring

Taking a Closer Look at Understandings: They are... specific generalizations about the “big ideas.” They summarize the key meanings, inferences, and importance of the ‘content’ Require “uncoverage” because they are not “facts” to the novice, but unobvious inferences drawn from facts - counter-intuitive & easily misunderstood deliberately framed as a full sentence “moral of the story” – “Students will understand THAT…”