Attention-focusing questions
Have you seen?
Do you notice?
Engage
Measuring & Counting and
Comparison Questions
How many?
How long?
Evaluate
Explore
Action &
ProblemSolving
Questions
Elaborate
What happens if…
Can you find a way to…
Explain
In how
many ways?
The 5 E's
The 5 E's is an instructional model based on the
constructivist approach to learning, which says that
learners build or construct new ideas on top of their
old ideas. The 5 E's can be used with students of all
ages, including adults.
Each of the 5 E's describes a phase of learning, and
each phase begins with the letter "E": Engage,
Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. The 5 E's
allows students and teachers to experience common
activities, to use and build on prior knowledge and
experience, to construct meaning, and to continually
assess their understanding of a concept.
Constructivism is a learning strategy that draws on
students' existing knowledge, beliefs, and skills. With a
constructivist approach, students synthesize new
understanding from prior learning and new information.
The constructivist teacher sets up problems and monitors
student exploration, guides student inquiry, and promotes
new patterns of thinking. Working mostly with raw data,
primary sources, and interactive material, constructivist
teaching asks students to work with their own data and
learn to direct their own explorations. Ultimately, students
begin to think of learning as accumulated, evolving
knowledge.
Constructivism
The philosophy about learning, that proposes
learners need to build their own understanding of
new ideas, has been labeled constructivism. Much
has been researched and written by many eminent
leaders in the fields of learning theory and cognition.
Scholars such as Jean Piaget, Eleanor Duckworth,
George Hein, and Howard Gardener have explored
these ideas in-depth. The Biological Science
Curriculum Study (BSCS), a team whose Principal
Investigator is Roger Bybee developed an
instructional model for constructivism, called the
"Five Es“.
The 5 E Learning Cycle Model
Engagement
*Object, event or question used to engage students.
*Connections facilitated between what students know and can do.
Exploration
*Objects and phenomena are explored.
*Hands-on activities, with guidance.
Explanation
*Students explain their understanding of concepts and processes.
*New concepts and skills are introduced as conceptual clarity and cohesion are
sought.
Elaboration
*Activities allow students to apply concepts in contexts, and build on or extend
understanding and skill.
Evaluation
*Students assess their knowledge, skills and abilities. Activities permit evaluation of
student development and lesson effectiveness.
Adapted from Bybee, R.W. et al. (1989).
Questions for Consideration for Each Phase
1. Engagement
• The engagement phase of the 5-E model is intended to provide a focus for the
lesson and to allow the teacher to probe students’ initial conceptions.
• What do students already know about the concept?
• What do they want to know?
• What will they explore?
2. Exploration
• What is the precise concept that students will explore?
• What activities must the children do to become familiar with the concept?
• What kinds of observations and records should the children keep?
• What kinds of instructions will the children need? How can you give the instructions
without telling the concept?
3. Explanation
• What kinds of information or findings should the children talk about?
• How can you help students summarize their findings?
• How can you guide the students and refrain from telling them what they should have
found, even if their understanding is incomplete?
• What concept “labels” should the children discover?
• Why is the concept important?
4. Expansion
• How can you connect with children's prior experiences?
• How does the concept relate to the science program goals?
• What questions can be used to encourage discovery of the concept's importance?
• What new experiences will help to apply or expand the concept?
• What is the next concept related to the present one?
5. Evaluation
• What are the appropriate learning outcomes you should expect?
• What types of hands-on evaluation techniques can the children do to demonstrate the
basic process skills?
• What techniques are appropriate for children to demonstrate the integrated process
skills?
• How can pictures help children to demonstrate how well they can think through
problems?
• What types of questions will help children to reflect on what they have discovered?
Engage
In the stage Engage, the students first encounter and identify
the instructional task. Here they make connections between
past and present learning experiences, lay the organizational
ground work for the activities ahead and stimulate their
involvement in the anticipation of these activities. Asking a
question, defining a problem, showing a surprising event and
acting out a problematic situation are all ways to engage the
students and focus them on the instructional tasks. If we were
to make an analogy to the world of marketing a product, at first
we need to grab the customer's attention. We won't have their
attention unless they have a need to buy the product. They
may be unaware of a need, and in this case we are motivated
to create a need.
Explore
In the Exploration stage the students have the
opportunity to get directly involved with
phenomena and materials. Involving themselves in
these activities they develop a grounding of
experience with the phenomenon. As they work
together in teams, students build a base of
common experience which assists them in the
process of sharing and communicating. The teacher
acts as a facilitator, providing materials and guiding
the students' focus. The students' inquiry process
drives the instruction during an exploration.
Explain
The third stage, Explain, is the point at which the learner begins to put the abstract
experience through which she/he has gone /into a communicable form. Language
provides motivation for sequencing events into a logical format. Communication occurs
between peers, the facilitator, or within the learner himself. Working in groups, learners
support each other's understanding as they articulate their observations, ideas,
questions and hypotheses. Language provides a tool of communicable labels. These
labels, applied to elements of abstract exploration, give the learner a means of sharing
these explorations. Explanations from the facilitator can provide names that correspond
to historical and standard language, for student findings and events. For example a child,
through her exploration, may state they have noticed that a magnet has a tendency to
"stick" to a certain metallic object. The facilitator, in her discussion with the child, might
at this stage introduce terminology referring to "an attracting force". Introducing labels,
after the child has had a direct experience, is far more meaningful than before that
experience. The experiential base she has built offers the student an attachment place
for the label. Common language enhances the sharing and communication between
facilitator and students. The facilitator can determine levels of understanding and
possible misconceptions. Created works such as writing, drawing, video, or tape
recordings are communications that provide recorded evidence of the learner's
development, progress and growth.
Explain
Elaborate
In stage four, Elaborate, the students expand on the concepts they
have learned, make connections to other related concepts, and apply
their understandings to the world around them. For example, while
exploring light phenomena, a learner constructs an understanding of
the path light travels through space. Examining a lamp post, she may
notice that the shadow of the post changes its location as the day
grows later. This observation can lead to further inquiry as to possible
connections between the shadow's changing location and the
changes in direction of the light source, the Sun. Applications to real
world events, such as where to plant flowers so that they receive
sunlight most of the day, or how to prop up a beach umbrella for
shade from the Sun, are both extensions and applications of the
concept that light travels in a straight path. These connections often
lead to further inquiry and new understandings.
Evaluate
Evaluate, the fifth "E", is an on-going diagnostic process that allows the teacher to
determine if the learner has attained understanding of concepts and knowledge.
Evaluation and assessment can occur at all points along the continuum of the
instructional process. Some of the tools that assist in this diagnostic process are:
rubrics (quantified and prioritized outcome expectations) determined hand-inhand with the lesson design, teacher observation structured by checklists, student
interviews, portfolios designed with specific purposes, project and problem-based
learning products, and embedded assessments. Concrete evidence of the learning
proceed is most valuable in communications between students, teachers, parents
and administrators. Displays of attainment and progress enhance understanding
for all parties involved in the educational process, and can become jumping off
points for further enrichment of the students' education. These evidences of
learning serve to guide the teacher in further lesson planning and may signal the
need for modification and change of direction. For example, if a teacher perceives
clear evidence of misconception, then he/she can revisit the concept to enhance
clearer understanding. If the students show profound interest in a branching
direction of inquiry, the teacher can consider refocusing the investigation to take
advantage of this high level of interest.
BLOOMS Levels of
Thinking
Students
Teachers
Creating
The learner creates new ideas and information
using what has been previously learned.
The teacher plans and implements new
approaches and improvements based on previous
experience or new information.
Evaluating
The learner makes decisions based on in-depth
reflection, criticism and assessment.
The teacher reflects upon data. Interprets
strengths/weaknesses and plans improvements.
Analyzing
The learner breaks learned information into its
parts to best understand that information.
The teacher seeks feedback on their own and their
student’s performance. Collects data.
Applying
The learner makes use of information in a
context different from the one in which it was
learned.
The teacher develops and applies effective
programs and strategies to ‘Teach’ the discipline.
Understanding
The learner grasps the meaning of information
by interpreting and translating what has been
learned.
The teacher has an overview of the discipline,
effective learning approaches and links to the
whole curriculum.
Remembering
The learner is able to recall, restate and
remember learned information.
The teacher is aware of the basic content and
teaching methodologies in a discipline.
*Blooms taxonomy is familiar to most teachers and is often used as a
structure to plan learning programs and assessment tasks. The column
here for teachers is based only on armchair thinking but it holds up
reasonably well. As with students the thought processes for teachers
become more sophisticated up the table. Although it could be argued
that many teachers, particularly those new to the game or outside
their “subject” area, find themselves having to jump straight into the
creating level.
*An interesting question is whether teachers actually understand and
believe in a construction like Blooms taxonomy as a framework for
“higher order thinking”. If they do they may also see that there are
parallels with their own learning and hence value the levels of
analysis, evaluation and creating as superior (albeit harder) than the
lower levels.
*Now let’s look at the 5 E’s. This instructional model has been around
for many years and is currently the basis of some project work being
undertaken by DEECD to assist schools with curriculum
implementation.
5 E’s
Evaluate:
Planning for student learning
This phase of the 5 E's encourages learners to assess
their understanding and abilities and lets teachers
evaluate students' understanding of key concepts and
skill development.
Planning for teacher learning
Teachers evaluate the effectiveness of their
programs and their performance through the
lense of student achievement.
Elaborate:
This phase of the 5 E's extends students' conceptual
understanding and allows them to practice skills and
behaviours. Through new experiences, the learners
develop deeper and broader understanding of major
concepts, obtain more information about areas of interest,
and refine their skills.
Teachers reflect upon their practice and hone
their skills. Teachers increase the depth of
their understanding of both their disciplines
and teaching methodologies.
Explain:
This phase of the 5 E's helps students explain the
Teachers implement programs, try things out.
concepts they have been exploring. They have
They explain to students. They demonstrate
opportunities to verbalize their conceptual understanding new skills and behaviours.
or to demonstrate new skills or behaviors. This phase
also provides opportunities for teachers to introduce
formal terms, definitions, and explanations for concepts,
processes, skills, or behaviors.
Explore:
This phase of the 5 E's provides students with a common
base of experiences. They identify and develop concepts,
processes, and skills. During this phase, students actively
explore their environment or manipulate materials.
Teachers explore resources available to
them, text books, curriculum standards,
online resources. They work in teams
learning from each other. They plan
programs and lessons
Engage:
This phase of the 5 E's starts the process. An "engage"
activity should do the following:
1. Make connections between past and present learning
experiences
2. Anticipate activities and focus students' thinking on
the learning outcomes of current activities. Students
should become mentally engaged in the concept,
process, or skill to be learned.
Teacher’s become engaged through personal
interest, planned or accidental learning.
Teachers are often coerced to be engaged
through DEECD and school level
requirements e.g. VELS, assessment, teacher
shortage, school initiatives.
Engage - students encounter the material, define their questions, lay
the groundwork for their tasks, make connections from new to known,
identify relevance
Explore - students directly involved with material, inquiry drives the
process, teamwork is used to share and build knowledge base
Explain - learner explains the discoveries, processes, and concepts,
that have been learned through written, verbal or creative projects.
Instructor supplies resources, feedback, vocabulary, and clarifies
misconceptions
Elaborate - learners expand on their knowledge, connect it to similar
concepts, apply it to other situations - can lead to new inquiry
Evaluate - on-going process by both instructor and learner to check
for understanding. Rubrics, checklists, teacher interviews, portfolios,
problem-based learning outputs, and embedded assessments. Results
are used to evaluate and modify further instructional needs.
5 - E Lesson Plan Template
The lesson title: _________________________________________________________
Subject:
Concepts to be attained: __________________________________________________
Concepts that are important to expansion: ____________________________________
Materials needed:
• For explorations
• For expansions
1. Engagement
What is the focus of the lesson?
2. Exploration
Which skills will be used?
What will students do?
3. Explanation
What is the main idea (concept) ? How will the main idea (concept) be constructed?
4. Expansion
Which process skills will be used?
How will the idea be expanded?
5. Evaluation
How will the students show what they have learned?