Understanding by Design is a book written by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe that offers a framework for designing courses and content units called “Backward Design.”

In Understanding by Design, Wiggins and McTighe argue that backward design is focused primarily on student learning and understanding. When teachers are designing lessons, units, or courses, they often focus on the activities and instruction rather than the outputs of the instruction. Therefore, it can be stated that teachers often focus more on teaching rather than learning. This perspective can lead to the misconception that learning is the activity when, in fact, learning is derived from a careful consideration of the meaning of the activity.

The Three Stages of Backward Design

“Deliberate and focused instructional design requires us as teachers and curriculum writers to make an important shift in our thinking about the nature of our job. The shift involves thinking a great deal, first, about the specific learnings sought, and the evidence of such learnings, before thinking about what we, as the teacher, will do or provide in teaching and learning activities.”

To summarise, the UbD framework flips, the planning process to start with the outcomes and finish with the learning. This is often the reverse to how many teachers might plan. Due to the administrative and other pressures of the job, in many schools, planning what is taught first is not uncommon. Although a UbD approach requires additional time at the start of a unit of work, that time can be recouped throughout the semester.

4.2.1 Establishing Learning Outcomes

When beginning your planning, it’s essential to establish clear learning outcomes guided by the principles outlined in section 4.2. Start by developing your essential understandings with a focus on the specific outdoor environment you will be teaching in, the needs and characteristics of your students, and the overall objectives you aim to achieve with your program.

Once you have defined the direction for your unit, we recommend linking your outcomes to the relevant curriculum descriptions and achievement standards in the Victorian Curriculum F-10. This ensures that your program is aligned with the broader educational framework and that you are approaching your curriculum development holistically. After mapping your learning goals to the curriculum, you may need to refine them to ensure they align seamlessly, particularly with key terminology and concepts.

In turn an assessment task may include a reflective journal at the end of the unit of work based on what the students learnt in the unit.

Upon assessing these journals, it is likely that you might discover that the students spent more time focusing on the climbing itself, rather than their relationships with each other and Country. The learning tasks, although valid, may also seem somewhat fragmented for the students. Without a skilled and highly experienced teacher, building the interconnections between the learning about climbing and the ongoing relationship to Country may have not been recognised or understood.

With UbD

By taking a UbD approach, you would begin by thinking about the desired results of the unit. If you were to answer the UbD questions above designed to help you identify desired results you might respond as follows.

• • What should participants hear, read, view, explore or otherwise encounter?
  • Traditional Owners Relationship with Country
  • Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk peoples Language and Custodianship for Country
  • Climbing and the impact of climbing on Country
  • Climbing as a way to build relationships with self and others
  • Ways of being responsible when climbing on Country
  • What knowledge and skills should participants master?
  • Working safely in teams to bely, climb, etc.
  • Respecting Country through actions (minimal impact)
  • Analysing Traditional Owners Relationship with Country
  • What are big ideas and important understandings participants should retain?
  • People and Country are inseparable, Country cares for People and People need to care for Country
  • Through undertaking respectful learning activities on Country, we can build relationships with self, others and the environment

Following this, you could then answer the questions about the desired results as follows.

How will I know if students have achieved the desired results?

• • Students demonstrate through actions during practical activities, discussions, and assessment tasks a respect for Country
  • Students approach climbing in a mature way, that supports themselves and their peers to take managed risks and learn from those risks

What will I accept as evidence of student understanding and proficiency?

• • Students document their experiences of the unit through photographs and videos. They then use either multi-media or a written narrative to present a story of their learning journey to answer the question: ‘What does it mean, to develop a respectful relationship with Country and peers?’

By taking this approach, we have shifted the focus of both the unit and the assessment task, whilst still providing a rigorous framework through which learning can take place.

4.3 Unit Planning and Sequencing Learning

The development of unit planners is a key skill for teachers. There are multiple benefits to planning via a unit planner rather than a sequence of individual lessons. These include:

1. Scaffolding: Through the planning of a unit, you can develop a sequence of learning (4.3.1) that scaffolds students through a process of guided inquiry. This means that you can be strategic about how both constructs (what is taught) and skills (the cognitive application of what is taught) are scaffolded within the unit. For example, students might first describe different minimal-impact strategies that could be used on a bush walk, then, during and after the walk, evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies.
2. Diversity of Practice: Students in the middle years respond to diverse teaching and assessment strategies. Through using a unit planner, you can map a diverse range of teaching strategies and assessment practices across a given number of weeks to help make your curriculum more relevant to middle years students.
3. Teacher Workload: The development of unit planners helps to manage teacher workloads, which has been directly linked to teacher wellbeing. Through planning over a larger period, you can develop a better curriculum and become more efficient with your planning time and manage your workload.

The e5 Model (3.1.2) can be used to help structure units that you develop. Through doing so, the model will assist you in scaffolding learning across the unit and create opportunities for students to take an active role in their own learning during units of work.

4.3.3 Student Research Tasks

Student research tasks are common in middle years education. However, some teachers avoid this approach to learning, believing that students may not acquire the necessary knowledge or may become off-task during research time. This is often due to issues in the design of the task itself and the accompanying instruction. When designing student research tasks, the following elements should be considered:

• • Purpose and appropriateness: Student research tasks should be purpose-driven—for example, when there is a genuine topic to be investigated by the students. They should align with the intended learning outcomes of the lesson. Assigning all students to research the same case study is not an effective use of a research task, as answers can be easily shared among the group and a lack of interest can be the result. Instead, an appropriate research task might be based on a student’s or small group’s interest in a particular topic or problem, where they have been able to negotiate aspects of the task (see Section 4.3.2).
  • Scaffolding and teaching: For research tasks to be effective, they need to be scaffolded and broken down into achievable parts. Deciding on research questions or determining the types of sources to be used are components that should be embedded within the task. When developing research tasks over one or more lessons, teachers should consider how to break down the elements of the task and identify explicit skills (note-taking, analytical skills, communication skills, etc.) that may need to be taught.
  • Use of technology: Students will primarily use technology during these tasks. Teachers should ensure that the use of technology is taught in a safe and ethical manner, including the use of generative AI as part of the task. It is important to follow the school’s relevant policies. Further information about the use of technology in schools and developing digitally literate citizens can be found on the following websites:

• • • • eSafety Commission: https://www.esafety.gov.au/educators

• • • • Curriculum Connection: Online Saftey https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-curriculum-connection/online-safety/

• • • • Curriculum Connection: Artificial Intelligence https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-curriculum-connection/artificial-intelligence/

4.3.4 Mapping Assessment Tasks

When developing a unit planner, it is essential to map assessment tasks that include assessment as, of, and for learning. This is particularly important for middle years outdoor education teachers for several reasons:

1. Assessment drives effective teaching and learning practices: For example, if students are tasked with a project examining how outdoor activities can be made more inclusive for diverse user groups, you might plan your surfing or biking sessions differently to equip them with the necessary insights and experiences for the project.
2. Engagement through varied assessment: By mapping assessment tasks (especially those used for learning) from the outset, you can enhance student engagement through a variety of smaller tasks that allow them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in different ways, catering to diverse learning styles.
3. Supporting skill development: By establishing formative assessment tasks throughout the unit, you can monitor student progress on particular skills, ensuring they are adequately prepared for a summative (assessment of learning) task at the end of the unit. This ongoing assessment provides valuable opportunities for feedback and skill development, fostering greater success in the final assessment.

4.3.5 Integrating Outdoor Experiences and Environments into Unit Planners

The use of outdoor experiences is pivotal to teaching outdoor education in the middle years. Chapter 5 will provide a detailed overview of the types of experiences you might incorporate. As direct experiences in outdoor environments are an integral part of the curriculum, it is important to plan these within your unit planner. Doing so ensures that these experiences contribute to a holistic approach to teaching, both inside and outside the classroom.