The reverse planning method, often referred to as backward design is a powerful instructional strategy that begins with the end goals in mind and then works backward to structure teaching activities. Instead of starting with content delivery, teachers first identify the desired learning outcomes, then determine appropriate assessment methods, and finally design the lesson activities that will lead students toward achieving those objectives. We decide the end goal first and then work our way back to them.
Steps in Reverse Planning
– The first step is to identify the end: The standards define what the students are expected to know by the end of the course.
– The second step in reverse planning is to determine the methods of assessment: The focus while deciding assessments is less on content and more on practical application and higher level thinking skills
– The last-step is planning lessons and learning experiences. This step helps teachers help student’s learn the ‘what’ and master the ‘how’
Key Importance
- Focus is on the learning and not just the product
- Shifts thinking from content-focused design to a result or learning-focused approach
- It helps to integrate subject matter, technology and critical thinking activities in the classroom
- It helps to make decisions like selecting the appropriate teaching method, material required, more comfortable when the end destination is in mind.
Examples: Economics Concepts from Secondary classes
1. Inflation
– Objective: Students should be able to explain causes and effects of inflation.
– Assessment: Students analyze CPI data and write a short reflection on policy measures.
– Lesson Activities: Begin with real-life examples of rising prices, explain demand-pull and cost-push inflation, then use group work to interpret graphs.
2. Utility
– Objective: Students should understand the concept of diminishing marginal utility.
– Assessment: Students solve numerical problems showing how utility decreases with consumption.
– Lesson Activities: Teacher demonstrates with a simple example (eating biscuits), followed by practice exercises.
3. Law of Demand
– Objective: Students should be able to state and illustrate the law of demand with a demand curve.
– Assessment: Students draw a demand curve based on given data and explain the inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded.
– Lesson Activities: Begin with a classroom discussion on how price changes affect their own purchases, then move to plotting demand schedules.
Reference: https://learn.suraasa.com/learning/course/lesson-planning?plannerId=50&itemId=5384322
Garg, S. (2024). Introductory Micro Economics: Class XII. New Delhi: Dhanpat Rai Publications.
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