Findings of qualitative studies on Understanding by Design: A meta-synthesis

Abstract

Designed by the meta-synthesis method, the researchers examined the studies designed on the Understanding by Design (UbD) and implemented and their findings were qualitatively evaluated. It tried to obtain a comprehensive and holistic perspective on the effects and reflections of the model. 48 UbD studies were accessed from 6 databases, and 12 research findings were included after three criteria in this meta-synthesis. The findings were reached through a six-stage data analysis process; they were analyzed inductively with content analysis. The validity and credibility of this analysis process have been brought under control with the coding reliability processes and the audit technique. According to the conclusions, in the development of units based on UbD, teachers generally did not create goals/standards by collecting evaluation evidence of UbD; it was concluded that the inadequacy of this was mostly due to model inexperience, the school's facilities/conditions, teacher stagnation and emotional state, and inadequate pedagogy knowledge. Findings showed that teaching based on UbD improves students' cognitive development and participatory insights. This meta-synthesis study guides researchers who want to reference UbD as a design framework in a unit study in the overall assessment of UbD.

Investigation of the Effects of Understanding by Design Model on Problem-Solving, Collaboration, and Academic Achievement in Social Studies Course

“…There are studies to support this result. There are many research results similar to this study in the categories of increasing student motivation after UbD implementation (Boozer, 2014;Chaisa & Chinokul, 2021;Gül et al, 2021;Özdemir, 2021), developing positive attitudes towards the course (Geylan, 2023), and active participation (Som et al, 2016;Uluçınar, 2021).…”

İngilizce’nin Yabancı Dil Olarak Öğretiminde Ünite Tasarım Şablonu Olarak UbD’nin Kullanımı: Yararları ve Zorlukları

“…The teachers' and department heads' responses revealed findings that concurred with some of the findings of the previously conducted studies. Most of the participants believed that implementing UbD had a positive impact on students' general academic achievement (Brown, 2004, Gloria et al, 2019Noble, 2011;Özyurt et al, 2021;Uluçınar, 2021;Yurtseven et al, 2013), because they developed deeper understanding of the content (Gloria et al, 2019;Johnson et al, 2017;Uluçınar, 2021), better transferred the knowledge into real life situations (Burson, 2011;Florian & Zimmerman, 2015) and had elevated levels of motivation (Burson, 2011;Uluçınar, 2021;Yurtseven et al, 2013). Most participants also expressed that UbD contributed to students' English language achievement by improving their speaking and writing skills (Bolivar & Rodriguez, 2017;Hosseini, 2019), boosting motivation for language learning and allowing their active participation (Yurtseven & Altun, 2017).…”

“…On the other hand, teachers' and department heads' experiences with UbD affirmed multiple institutional challenges which were also encountered in other contexts. These challenges include constraints related to time (Anwaruddin, 2013;Uluçınar, 2021;Yurtseven & Altun, 2017), a lack of training (Yurtseven et al, 2013) administrative expectations (McTighe, 2016), the absence of school policy (Uluçınar, 2021;Yurtseven et al, 2013) and heavy workloads (Yurtseven & Altun, 2017;Uluçınar, 2021). Besides, the participants experienced some instructional challenges akin to those observed in Uluçınar's study (2021) regarding the design of authentic assessments, and in Johnson et al's study (2017) regarding the management of purposeful teaching and concerns about timely content coverage.…”

“…However, teachers reported that UbD helped them to see the purpose of their teaching and that students showed a better and deeper understanding of the content. Uluçınar (2021) analyzed 12 studies on teachers' and students' experiences with UbD through a qualitative meta-synthesis process and found that teachers did not have enough experiences with UbD and sufficient pedagogical knowledge. The study also revealed some teachers' challenges such as the intensity of their workload and limited time.…”