5E Models of Science Instruction

 

    

    This week during the lab I learned more about the 5E model of instruction and the five steps that go along with it. The five steps and their definitions were new to me, and the five steps are- engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Engage is when students make connections to their prior experience and understand how their learning is connected. Explore engages students in hands-on activities/investigations and explore how common experiences are related to the topic of study. Explain involves students in direct instruction or communicative activities where they learn the information about the topic. Elaborate is when students engage in activities that apply the topic to their everyday life, generalize their new learning and draw conclusions. Evaluate concludes students’ learning through assessment, either traditionally or non-traditionally to show their understanding.

    I am able to relate what I learned with what I already knew about lesson plans. I have made lesson plans of my own in the past, but this lab opened my eyes to the importance of steps and how you create your lesson plans. Teachers play a major part in creating curiosity and engagement in the students' learning and being able to help them learn and check for understanding along the way. I feel as though this new knowledge with the information I had prior will take my lesson plans to the next level in the future. What I have learned can also relate to how I will teach in the future. Following the five steps and using them within my future lesson plans can make it so the lesson plan has meaning and intention when going into the classroom with my future students.

    The parts that were known to me and that I didn't quite realize at first was the difference and key parts of the five steps is that there are roles for the teachers, but also for the students as well. The responsibility lies both on the teacher and the student, and that is important when it comes to creating lessons and deciding how to engage, explain, explore, elaborate, and evaluate your students along the way. The teachers need to make the plan and teach the students, but overall, the students need to be motivated to take charge of their own learning also, which is what the 5E model of instruction does for lesson plans in the classroom among many other things. Pictured above is the presentation my group created to share with our class about the 5E model of instruction. Pictured to the top right are caterpillars that we observed in the beginning of class. Pictured to the bottom right is the fast plants we planted last week during lab that have begun to grow.