The 5 E Learning Cycle Model
The 5 E Learning Cycle Model
The 5 E Learning Cycle Model
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First used as an inquiry lesson planning model in the Science Curriculum Improvement Study
(SCIS) program, a K-6 science program in the early 1970s, the early learning cycle model had
3 stages (exploration, invention, discovery). Using the learning cycle approach, the teacher
"invents" the science concept of the lesson in the 2nd stage (rather than defining it at the outset
of the lesson as in the traditional approach). The introduced concept subsequently enables
students to incorporate their exploration in the 3rd stage and apply it to new examples. Many
examples of learning cycles have been described in the literature (Barman, 1989; Ramsey,
1993; also see Osborne and Wittrock,1983). The 5E Learning Cycle ( Bybee) is used in the
new BSCS science programs as well as in other texts and materials.
The chart below is based upon a four step learning cycle model as featured in Bentley, Ebert &
Ebert (2000) , but the examples of learner and teacher behaviors provided here can be adapted
to fit other learning cycle models.
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Engage: Learner has a need to know, therefore, defines questions, issues or problems that
relate to his/her world.
Learner Teacher
calls up prior knowledge poses problems
Learner Teacher
hypothesizes and predicts questions and probes
Learner Teacher
clarifies understandings provides feedback
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shares understandings for feedback asks questions, poses new problems and
issues
Learner Teacher
applies new knowledge asks questions
Source: Needham, R. A., Powell, D. & Bentley, M. L. (1994). Using Big Books in Science and Social Studies. Paper presented at
the Annual Meeting of the International Reading Association, Toronto, Canada, 1994.
Imagine yourself in an inquiry classroom. What would you expect to see? These guidelines from the
Vermont Elementary School/Continuous Assessment Project were created by observing students as
they did "hands-on, minds-on" exploration in the classroom. "The intent is not to use the guide as a
checklist," they said, "but to use it as a statement of what we value in the areas of science process,
science dispositions, and science content development."
When students are doing inquiry-based science, an observer will see that:
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4. They are confident in doing science; they demonstrate a willingness to modify ideas, take risks,
Students Accept an "Invitation to Learn" and Readily Engage in the Exploration Process
2. They take the opportunity and time to try out and persevere with their own ideas.
1. They design a fair test as a way to try out their ideas, not expecting to be told what to do.
3. They carry out investigations by handling materials with care, observing, measuring, and
recording data.
Imagine yourself in an inquiry classroom. What would you expect to see? These guidelines from the
Vermont Elementary School/Continuous Assessment Project were created by observing students as they
did "hands-on, minds-on" exploration in the classroom. "The intent is not to use the guide as a checklist,"
they said, "but to use it as a statement of what we value in the areas of science process, science
dispositions, and science content development."
When students are doing inquiry-based science, an observer will see that:
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Students Accept an "Invitation to Learn" and Readily Engage in the Exploration Process
2. They take the opportunity and time to try out and persevere with their own ideas.
1. They design a fair test as a way to try out their ideas, not expecting to be told what to do.
3. They carry out investigations by handling materials with care, observing, measuring, and recording
data.
1. They express ideas in a variety of ways: journals, reporting drawing, graphing, charting, etc.
2. They listen, speak, and write about science with parents, teachers, and peers.
4. They communicate their level of understanding of concepts that t hey have developed to date.
1. They offer explanations both from a "store" of previous experience and from knowledge
3. They sort out information and decide what is important (what does and doesn't work).
4. They are willing to revise explanations and consider new ideas as they gain knowledge
(build understanding).
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2. They see details, seek patterns, detect sequences and events; they notice changes, similarities, and
differences.
1. They create and use quality indicators to assess their own work.
2. They report and celebrate their strengths and identify what they'd like to improve upon.
In the inquiry classroom, the teacher's role becomes less involved with direct teaching and more involved
with modeling, guiding, facilitating, and continually assessing student work. Teachers in inquiry
classrooms must constantly adjust levels of instruction to the information gathered by that assessment.
The teacher's role is more complex, including greater responsibility for creating and maintaining
conditions in which children can build understanding. In this capacity, the teacher is responsible for
developing student ideas and maintaining the learning environment.
Besides the process skills that the student must hone in the inquiry classroom, there are also skills a
teacher must develop in order to support student learning of scientific ideas. When you enter an inquiry
classroom, you may see that the:
3. They help students design and carry out skills of recording, documenting, and drawing
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conclusions.
1. They help students form tentative explanations while moving toward content understanding.
2. They introduce tools and materials and scientific ideas appropriate to content learning.
3. They use appropriate content terminology, as well as scientific and mathematical language.
1. They are sensitive to what children are thinking and learning, and identify areas in which
2. They talk to children, ask questions, make suggestions, share, and interact.
4. They help children go to the next stage of learning with appropriate clues and prompts.
1. They use open-ended questions that encourage investigation, observation, and thinking.
2. They carefully listen to students' ideas, comments, and questions, In order to help them
3. They suggest new things to look at and try, and encourage further experimentation and
thinking.
Above excerpted from: Doris Ash and Barry Kluger-Bell. (2000). Identifying inquiry in the K-5 classroom. Inquiry : Thoughts, views,
and strategies for the K-5 classroom. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation (Chapter 10). Available: http://www.nsf.gov
/pubs/2000/nsf99148/ch_10.htm (Sept. 3, 2000).
Problem-solving strategies
According to Hyerle (1996), "The central problem that constructivist educators face is not a
[lack of] guiding theory, but concrete strategies and tools for institutionalizing these theoretical
and practical understandings into more inclusive classrooms." (p. 15).
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Development (ASCD) provides logistical support for the consortium. The Compass Quest
schools teach four question-based problem-solving strategies, one for each of four different
situations. The strategy names were derived from the problem-solving steps involved: SCAN,
FIND, SELECT, and PLAN. Many corporations (e.g. Honda, Uniroyal, and Hewlett-Packard)
and government agencies, such as NASA, have used these strategies for over 40 years.
Situation Appraisal - how to evaluate "the whole picture" by breaking issues down into
chunks, establishing priorities and determining appropriate steps to resolve the issues.
Decision Analysis - a process for making a decision when the choice between
alternatives is unclear. Involves systematically examining the elements of and decision-
objectives, choices and risks.
Problem Analysis - how to find the root cause of problems so that corrective actions can
be taken.
Potential Problem Analysis - tools for thinking about potential problems and planning
preventive and contingent actions.
Consider risks
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Priming the Pump: Peter Elbow's prompts to help students explore topics, objects, places,
issues
Questions to help a student write about someone s/he has studied or read about:
Imagine _ were the opposite sex: describe the life s/he would have lived.
What if _ had lived in a different era, such as _ : describe the life s/he
would have lived.
Imagine you believe people are truly free and that they somehow choose
or cause what happens to them. Describe _'s life.
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Imagine you believe people are not free, but are determined by events
they can't control. Describe _'s life.
Teacher: "Imagine a place and go there in your imagination. Pick a particular time of the year
and of the day. Imagine it - feel the weather, hear the sounds. Connect with it for a moment."
Imagine the history of the place from the beginning of the world. Write
about this history.
What story, song, or movie does your place remind you of?
What is the first thing that comes to mind which your place would never
remind you of?
What other place does your place make you think of?
What rhythms do you discern in your place - things that happen there at
regular intervals?
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If you had never seen this object before, what would you notice when
you first looked at it?
Tell a way you might take it apart to get down to its basic ingredients.
Tell how this particular object came to exist - how it came to be put
together.
What three things does the object remind you of (or represent)?
Pretend you made it and are very dissatisfied. Why are you dissatisfied
with it?
Imagine you made it as a gift for someone you know - a real person in
your life. Who? How did s/he feel about your gift?
Imagine that everyone owned this object. What would be the effects?
What is someone most likely to notice the first time s/he sees it?
What would you notice about this if you had never seen anything like it
before?
If this ends up as the only human artifact transported to Mars and found
in the next millennium by an alien scouting party, what guesses or
conclusions would they reach about us?
Defective materials.
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It's a Gordian knot - quit trying to untie it and cut through it with a
sword.
It looks like a problem but really everything is okay if you take the right
point of view.
It's sabotage.
Its just something wrong with digestion - eating the wrong thing, getting
diarrhea, constipation, vomiting.
Outdated design.
It's a matter of being sick - needs a drug, a long recuperation, helping the
patient cope with the impossibility of cure.
It's mental illness - needs shock therapy, talking therapy, group therapy,
conditioning therapy, help and support, recognition that society is crazy
and the patient sane.
Adapted from
Peter Elbow. (1981). Writing with Power. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 83-92.
Fostering Inquiry:
Questions for Quality Thinking Strategies to Extend Student Thinking
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Prioritize____?
Source: Frank Lyman, Maryland Department of Education workshop handout, Baltimore, MD, 1980.
Books
Bybee, R.W. et al. (1989). Science and technology education for the elementary years:
Frameworks for curriculum and instruction. Washington, D.C.: The National Center for
Improving Instruction.
Doris, E. (1991). Doing what scientists do: Children learn to investigate their world.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Driver, R. (1983). The pupil as scientist? Buckingham, England: Open University Press.
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Driver, R., Guesne, E., and Tiberghien, A. (eds.) (1985). Children's ideas in science.
Buckingham, England: Open University Press.
Duckworth, E. (1987). The having of wonderful ideas" and other essays on teaching and
learning. New York: Teachers College Press.
Gallas, K. (1995). Talking their way into science: Hearing children's questions and theories,
responding with curricula. New York: Teachers College Press.
Hein, G. E., and Price, S. (1994). Active assessment for active science: A guide for elementary
school teachers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Karplus, R. (1975). The learning cycle. In F. Collea, et al., Workshop on physics teaching and
the development of reasoning. Stonybrook, NY: American Association of Physics.
Layman, J. W., Ochoa, G., and Heikkinen, H. (1996). Inquiry and learning: Realizing science
standards in the classroom. New York: College Entrance Examination Board.
National Research Council. (1999). Inquiry and the national science education standards: A
guide for teaching and learning. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Osborne, R., and Freyberg, P. (1985). Learning in science: The implications of children's
science. Auckland, NZ: Heinemann.
Ramsey, J. (1993). Developing conceptual storylines with the learning cycle. Journal of
Elementary Science Education, 5(2), 1-20.
Saul, W., and Reardon, J. (eds.) (1996). Beyond the science kit: Inquiry in action. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Short, K. G., et al. (1996). Learning together through inquiry: From Columbus to integrated
curriculum. York, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Thier, H., Karplus, R., Lawson, C., Knoll, R., & Montgomery, M. (1970). Science curriculum
improvement study. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.
Whitin, P., and Whitin, D. J. (1997). Inquiry at the window. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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Web Sites
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