How to Teach Science

The 5 E Model

The 5 E Model is a great way to teach students in your science classroom. The components can serve as a checklist for good lesson plan development AND using the 5 E Model can be a springboard to enrich your lessons.

Here are the five parts of the 5 E Model:

• Engage- What prior knowledge can you use to hook your students to the information you will be teaching? For example, in a lesson on energy, ask students to do jumping jacks or run in place to show students how they use energy to produce activity.

• Explore- This is the part of the lesson where you will deliver new concepts and ideas to your students. Students will make observations and be able to articulate basic ideas of new learning. In this phase of learning, students will ask questions and investigate.

• Explain- Here, you will begin to unpack the new concepts, providing students with terms, formulas, and data. Questions will be answered and teachers can guide learning and redirect student learning.

• Extend- A great way to extend lessons is to show students what else the concept you are teaching is like. For example, if you are a middle school teacher instructing students on the cost benefit analysis of choosing various energy sources, follow up by having students research energy density or discuss real life trade offs of making decisions about which energy sources to use.

• Evaluate- In this last step, you will check for understanding to see how well students learned the concepts of the lesson. Ticket Out the Door, Think Pair Share, and other ideas, like the ones found here are quick, yet meaningful ways to gauge your students understanding.

Using the 5 E model will ensure that your lesson plans are challenging and engaging.