1. Backward design starts with the desired results. What is it that we want

What is Backward Design?

our audience to learn? What concepts need to be developed? Are they

based on content standards? Life Skills? Determine these first.

Given that there are usually more concepts available than can be

addressed in a curriculum, one must prioritize desired results. Determine:

a) What’s worth being familiar with; b) What’s important to know or do; and

c) What should be considered “enduring” understandings, things that are

important for the audience to retain after they’ve forgotten many of the

details?

How do I determine what’s most important to include? Suggested filters:

a. Determine the “big ideas” that are essential for understanding. Do

not “clutter” a curriculum with facts and ideas that are not going to

having enduring value.

b. What will allow for authentic learning experiences that involve

learners the opportunity to “do” the subject rather than be told or

demonstrated the subject?

c. Concepts, processes, and/or skills that learners often have difficulty

understanding or mastering are important ones to consider. Teach

for understanding such that the learners can gain an understanding

or master a skill.

d. Decide what ideas, topics, or processes are most interesting to

your audience and will most likely engage the learners. (Is what

you choose interesting to your specific audience, or to you?)

2. How will we know if our audience has learned the content, Life Skill, or

skill that is our desired result? Determine the acceptable evidence (based

on the desired results) that will help the educator determine whether or not

acceptable levels of learning have taken place.

How do I assess whether or not learning has occurred? Understanding

does not appear magically at the end of an activity, program, or project;

rather, it develops over time as a result of ongoing exploration, reflection,

and further questioning by the learner. With that in mind, assessment

should not be an isolated event (e.g., test or survey) at the end of a

program, project, or activity. The assessment of understanding should be

a collection of evidence that is gathered over time. In 4-H, an

“Assessment Continuum” might look like the following:

Informal Checks for Understanding

observations, informal dialogues) used to provide evidence of

learning during the Exploration Phase of the Learning Cycle.

(e.g., questions,

Academic Prompts

learners to think critically about the concept being explored; not a

recitation of facts) can help assess learners as a component of the

Exploration and Concept Development Phases of the Learning

Cycle.

(open-ended questions that challenge the

Performance Tasks and/or Projects

require the transfer of knowledge and skills to an independent

situation) can provide evidence as part of the Concept Application

Phase of the Learning Cycle.

3. Plan the learning experiences and instruction.

With clearly identified results and assessment tools identified, “Curriculum

Architects” can now proceed to planning their instructional activities. Key

questions to consider include:

(e.g., authentic tasks that

What background knowledge, skills, and/or abilities will the learners

What is the best instructional method? Will advance teaching or

What materials and resources will be needed? How can these be

Does the design of the activities flow well and is it effective in

Why is “backward” a desirable approach?

Many educators design activities and teach they way they were taught. They

often design activities using what they know from previous experience, which

usually includes traditional approaches (e.g., lectures or demonstrations) to wellestablished

activities, rather than beginning at the “design codes” that need to

drive our work. Furthermore, results from activities, projects, and programs are

typically assessed only once: A “snapshot of knowledge” test at the end of the

activity, project, or program. The Backward Design looks at what the learners

need first and targets assessment and instructional strategies around those

needs.

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What is the Backward Design Method?