Understanding by Design

they are ledto think the learning is the activity instead of seeing that the learning comesfrom being asked to consider the meaning of the activity.

A third important connotation for the term essential refers to what isneeded for learning core content. In this sense, we can consider a questionessential if it helps students effectively inquire and make sense of important but complicated ideas, knowledge, and know-how—a bridge to findings thatexperts may believe are settled but learners do not ye

in Understanding by Design we are tackling two recurring problems in design, the twin sins: aimless coverage of content, and isolated activities that are merely engaging (at best) while disconnected from intellectualgoals in the learners’ minds.

thegoal in understanding is to take whatever you are given to produce or findsomething of significance—to use what we have in memory but to go beyondthe facts and approaches to use them mindfully.

Using these criteria requires great care. Note that they refer not to anyinnate characteristic of a question itself but to its powers in context. No question is inherently essential (or trivial, complex, or important). It all comes downto purpose, audience, and impact: What do you as a teacher-designer intendto have students do with the question? I

You only understand it, we say, ifyou can teach it, use it, prove it, connect it, explain it, defend it, read betweenthe lines, and so on. The argument for performance assessment as a necessity,not a luxury, is thus clearly linked to these usages: Students must perform effectively with knowledge to convince us that they really understand what quizz

this: How do we make itmore likely—by our design—that more students really understand what they areasked to learn?

Our lessons, units, and courses should be logically inferred from theresults sought, not derived from the methods, books, and activities with whichwe are most comfortable. Curriculum should lay out the most effective waysof achieving specific results.

Knowledge, on the other hand, summarizes the relatively straightforwardfacts and concepts that are to be gained from the learning and teaching activities.