Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum.

Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

ASCD Bestseller! Wiggins and McTighe provide an expanded array of practical tools and strategies for designing curriculum, instruction, and assessments that lead students at all grade levels to genuine understanding.

How do you know when students understand? Can you design learning experiences that make it much more likely that students understand content and apply it in meaningful ways?

Thousands of educators have used the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework to answer these questions and create more rigorous, engaging curriculums. Now, this expanded 2nd edition gives you even more tools and strategies for results-oriented teaching:

* An improved template for creating curriculum units based on the breakthrough "backward design" method.
* More specific guidelines on how to frame the "big ideas" you want students to understand.
* Better ways to develop the "essential questions" that form the foundation of high-quality curriculum and assessment.
* An expanded toolbox of instructional approaches for obtaining the desired results of a lesson.
* More examples, across all grade levels and subjects, of how schools and districts have used the UbD framework to maximize student understanding.

Educators from kindergarten through college can get everything they need--guidelines, stages, templates, and tips--to start designing lessons, units, and courses that lead to improved student performance and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.