Breaking Down the Pieces

Big Ideas

Big ideas are the concepts, themes, or processes at the heart of a subject. For example, a big idea in economics is, “Thinking like a free-market economist.”

They can sometimes take the form of a question: “How does an economist think about the free-market?”

Download Big Ideas Worksheet [PDF]

Student Understandings

Student understandings are the knowledge, skills, or attitudes that are associated with learning the "big idea" and may not always be visible or measurable.  

These questions can help you identify the student understandings related to each big idea:

  • What knowledge and concepts are essential for understanding the big idea?
  • What skills and ways of thinking will students need to develop?
  • Which attitudes and values will help students appreciate how the big idea fits within the subject?

Understandings usually follow the format: 

  "At the end of the course, students should understand that ___________."

For example, "Students should understand that in a free-market economy, price is a function of demand versus supply."

Download Student Understanding Worksheet [PDF]

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes are statements that provide measurable evidence of the understanding you want students to have. Learning outcomes give you evidence to see the quality of students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes they have learned in your course, and can reflect different levels of thinking or mastery. Some may be geared at getting students to show they comprehend a concept, and others at getting them to create something new from that knowledge.

Outcomes usually follow the format: “At the end of the course, students will be able to insert verb here + insert knowledge, skills, or attitudes the student is expected to develop here.”

For example, “At the end of the course, students will be able to summarize the key forces affecting the rise of China as an economic power in the global market.”

Download Learning Outcomes Worksheet [PDF]

Download Bloom's Simplified Handout [PDF]

Course Map Examples

Summative Assessments

What evidence will indicate how well students have achieved the outcomes for this learning experience? Summative assessments

  • are typically high stakes, and
  • measure student performance on tasks that require higher levels of thinking (e.g., analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, etc.).

Learning Activities

Learning activities are typically lower stakes, formative assessments. They can include opportunities to:

  • check for understanding,
  • create dialog and reflection, and/or
  • provide guided and independent practice

Content

Lastly, content is the targeted presentation of information. Starting from big ideas and going through the backward design process helps to ensure that your course is not bloated with unnecessary content. Instead, the information you present is aligned with the learning activities and summative assessments. Content can consist of:

  • text
  • visuals, and
  • various other media such as video and audio