AN INTRODUCTION TO

Writing a 5E Lesson

PATSY HETZ

A Special Thanks

Id like to thank my coworkers at the K20 Center at the University of Oklahoma for their help in creating this book. Especially Brian Sexton who was kind and brave enough to be portrayed in all of the videos.

Chapter 1

Overview of the 5 Es

The 5 Es are an inquiry based lesson template that emerged from Jean Piagets three stages of learning. The stages being disequilibrium, assimilation, and reequilibrium. After some time, this expanded and became the 5 Es which are the 5 steps of an inquiry based lesson. The 5 Es are: engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate.

Jean Piaget. Photo credit: Flikr, mirjoran

Piaget is a constructivist, and believed problems. In math, students will be comparstudents dont learn passively, but by actively ing answers and explaining, in words, why participating and discovering. Active learning and how they did a certain problem. In Engis when people are interacting with materials lish Language Arts, students will be citing and information. It is all too common that stutheir evidence, and providing textual proof exdents are sitting at desks regurgitating inforplaining how they came to a conclusion. This mation that they read in a book, or that a type of knowledge is not passive. teacher told them. In the If students arent long run, these students experiencing matheare not retaining the in- G ALLERY 1.1 Different Stages of Inquiry matical situations, or formation that was arent provided with learned. the opportunity to exA shift in education is plore a math concept, occurring. The Comthey will not excel in mon Core State Stanthese assessments. In dards are now in 45 an English class, if a states, four territories, student isnt comparthe District of Columbia, ing multiple texts on and being use by the Decertain topics, or propartment of Defense Eduviding quotes from a cation Activity. With this text in an essay, they shift, students will be ex- Bringing concrete items can pique interest and engage stu- will not be prepared to pected to explain their an- dents when relevant to a topic pass the assessment. swers and justify their The 5 E lesson plan to reasoning when answerprovide these opportuing questions and solving nities for our students.
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R EVIEW 1.1 Overview of 5 Es

Question 1 of 3 Which is the first of the 5 Es?

A. Explore B. Evaluate C. Explain D. Engage E. Expand

F IGURE 1.1

Listen to this beat while you review

Check Answer

Chapter 2

What are the 5 Es?

Now we know the 5 Es are engage, explore, explain, expand, evaluatebut what does that mean? As a teacher, we are all very good at the explain part. Thats what we do. We explain concepts, ideas, definitions, everything. We often times dont need help when it comes to that E. As teachers, I think we often over explain. We give students all they need to know, and expect them to remember it. Our students need to experience the learning. They need to struggle. Not too much of course, but enough to ask questions, enough to figure something out. Before they do that though, we have to get them interested. We must engage our students.

S ECTION 1

Engage
All of the 5 Es are important in their own ways, and we will get to that. Engage is where it all starts, and often a step teachers disregard. The engage piece gets the students hooked. Its the part that makes kids interested and want to know more. The engage gets students thinking, and asking the right questions. These activities mentally engage students with an event or question. Engagement activities capture students' interest and help them to make connections with what they know and can do. The teacher provides an orientation to the unit and assesses students! prior understanding of the concepts addressed in the unit.
Brian Sexton explains why Engage is important

M OVIE 2.1 Engage

Some popular examples of engage pieces are: Videos Questions Conceptual Connections Real World Applications Fascinating facts Games Simulations Mystery Questions Puzzles Different Scenarios

S ECTION 2

Explore
M OVIE 2.2 Explore

Explore is the part of a lesson that is often overlooked in a classroom. This is where students should encounter hands-on experiences in which they explore the concept further. They receive little explanation and few terms at this point, because they are to define the problem or phenomenon in their own words. The purpose at this stage of the model is for students to acquire a common set of experiences from which they can help one another make sense of the concept. Students must spend significant time during this stage of the model talking about their experiences, both to articulate their own understanding and to understand another's viewpoint. As teachers, we often want to help our students through all of their problems. If a student has a question, we all to often give them the answer. Explore is the part of a lesson where the students are supposed to struggle. We want our students ask questions, and persevere in solving them. We want them to come to conclusions and develop schemas about certain topics. This is where students make connections to their prior knowledge, and discover links and extensions on these topics.
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Brian Sexton describes what it means to explore

S ECTION 3

Explain
M OVIE 2.3 Explain

Only after students have explored the concept does the teacher or student provide the explanation and terms for what they are studying. The teacher may present the concepts through lecture, demonstration, reading, or multimedia (video, computer-based). Students then use the terms to describe what they have experienced, and they begin to examine mentally how this explanation fits with what they already know. Explain is the part of a lesson that teachers are very good at. This is the heart of instruction. This is where not only teachers explain, but the students have an opportunity to explain their understandings. Explain is where misconceptions get corrected. It doesnt have to be an hour-long lecture, it can be a short explanation, a minilesson, or even a whole class discussion.

Brian Sexton describes what explain means

Explain is the part of a lesson when you are able to see if students are grasping a concept. Students are able to explain, too. They can explain what they did during their exploration and what it means. Students can learn from each other.

S ECTION 4

Expand
Expand is where students are given opportunities to apply the concept in unique situations, or they are given related ideas to explore and explain using the information and experiences they have accumulated so far. Interaction between the students is essential during the expansion stage. By discussing their ideas with others, students can construct a deeper understanding of the concepts. This is the stage in a lesson when students take their information a step further. This is where transfer would expand a conceptual understanding. For example, if a student is able to determine the slope of an equation based on a graph, this could be expanded by determined the slope of an equation based on a table or word problem. It is taking the concept a step further to ensure conceptual understanding in different situations.

M OVIE 2.4 Expand

Brian Sexton describes the importance of expand

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S ECTION 5

Evaluate
M OVIE 2.5 Elaborate

the instructional model. The evaluate stage, however, is when the teacher determines the extent to which students have developed a meaningful understanding of the concept. Formative evaluation will occur throughout interaction with students. Teachers are very good at this. Formative evaluations dont need to be formal, they can occur when teachers are walking around observing students. Examples of formative assessments are four corners activities, 3-2-1 assessments, KWL charts, gallery walks, or any other assessment that occurs when construction is not completely finished. The reviews at the end of these sections are formative evaluations because they are not being scored, and they are used to see how well you are comprehending this topic. Summative assessments occur at the end of a unit or instructional period. The goal of a summative assessment is to ensure that the learning goals were met. It is at the end, when there is not intent to continue on a topic. This is where a final grade for a project or paper would occur. 11

Brian Sexton describes what it means

The final stage of the model is designed for the students to continue to elaborate on their understanding and to evaluate what they know now and what they have yet to figure out. Evaluation of student understanding should take place throughout all phases of

I NTERACTIVE 2.1 Keynote on a 5 E lesson

A 5 E lesson is not necessarily designed to be done one day. If everything works together in a short one-day lesson, that is great! If your class designed as units or themes, or you plan coherent lessons for a week, that also works. Teachers might need to revisit any of the 5 Es at different times. For example, if after students elaborate on a concept, the teacher might realize that there is a misconception and explanation will need to occur again.
I MAGE 2.1 Classroom

Here is a 5 E English Lesson featuring the Common Core standards Reading Literature Standard 5 and Reading Informational Texts standard 5.

Which of the 5 Es do you think is occurring here?

R EVIEW 2.1 5 Es
Question 1 of 2 A quiz at the end of a section determining a grade for a student is an example of:

A. Elaboration B. Summative Assessment C. Engagement D. Formative Assessment

Check Answer

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Writing a 5 E lesson
All of the content was acquired under fair use laws. Intro video: Teachers are consenting individuals from the K20 Center at the University of Oklahoma workshops. Photo Credits: Cover Photo: Flikr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianswartz/4468809408/lightbox/ Image 1.1 Jean Piaget- Flikr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirjoran/455878802/ Gallery 1.1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/pennstatelive/4946170735/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdecom/6218408328/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/cityyear/5033883406/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonpreneur/6615714533/sizes/m/in/photostream/

2012 Patsy Hetz

All rights Reserved

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Assimilation
Which is using an existing schema, or mental concept map, to deal with a new object or situation

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Chapter 1 - Overview of the 5 Es

Common Core State Standards

The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy. Building on the excellent foundation of standards states have laid, the Common Core State Standards are the first step in providing our young people with a high-quality education. It should be clear to every student, parent, and teacher what the standards of success are in every school. corestandards.org

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Chapter 1 - Overview of the 5 Es

Constructivist
Constructivism is a theory of learning and an approach to education that lays emphasis on the ways that people create meaning of the world through a series of individual constructs. Constructs are the different types of filters we choose to place over our realities to change our reality from chaos to order. Simply stated, it is a learning process which allows a student to experience an environment first-hand, thereby giving the student reliable, trust-worthy knowledge. The student is required to act upon the environment to both acquire and test new knowledge.

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Disequilibrium
An unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas

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Chapter 1 - Overview of the 5 Es

Engage
Gain students attention and interest while making connections to past learning experiences

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Chapter 1 - Overview of the 5 Es Chapter 2 - Engage

Evaluate
Assess the learning that has taken place. This can be student assessment, or teacher assessment. It does not need to be a written test, but can be a presentation or another form of assessment.

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Chapter 1 - Overview of the 5 Es

Expand
Students use their new knowledge to go deeper into a construct, or extend their knowledge of one concept to another similar concept.

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Chapter 1 - Overview of the 5 Es Chapter 2 - What are the 5 Es? Chapter 2 - Expand

Explain
Provide students with the opportunity to explain their new understanding while clearing up misconceptions. Teachers may also explain the concept once the students have shared their understandings.

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Chapter 1 - Overview of the 5 Es Chapter 2 - Explain Chapter 2 - Explain Chapter 2 - Explain

Explore
Provide students with opportunities to explore a concept and begin building an understanding.

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Chapter 1 - Overview of the 5 Es Chapter 2 - Explore

Reequilibrium
When new information gets understood and schemas are reformed

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Chapter 1 - Overview of the 5 Es