5 E Model in Science Teaching

The model is a five-phase approach to teaching science concepts. Here are the
following phases:

1. Engagement – in this first phase, the teacher will have to arouse the student's
interest and enliven their curiosity about the new lesson. If the teacher caught the
students' interest and let them be curious, it will help them be focused and
mindful of what will be the next lesson. The teacher may check the students' prior
knowledge by giving an activity connected to their experiences or things that they
already know. Some students may be curious and asked question, but in the end
be motivated to answer it by focusing on the lesson.

2. Exploration – the next phase is the exploration part, wherein the teacher allows
the students to do an investigation, experiment or meaningful activities that will
strengthen engagement and boost their curiosity. In this part, the teacher may
begin to give activities such as laboratory activity, inquiry-based activity, or
problem-based activity that students can do collaboratively to investigate and
explore the concepts. Collaboration is encouraged in this part to hone the
student's teamwork skills, critical thinking skills, and communication skills. What
should the students observe during this phase? The students should note
patterns, establish causal or correlative relationships, identify differences, and
evaluate their investigation or experiment results.

3. Explanation – in this part, the students will discuss the activity's findings in the
exploration stage. Here, the students can also share the experience while doing
the exercise and cite their analysis. In this phase, both oral and written
communication skills are developed through graphical or tabular presentation
and their explanation. Moreover, after the learner's explanation, the teacher will
have to give inputs about their explanation and give them a way to frame their
experiences within this formal explanation. In short, the teacher's part is to
validate the student's answer.

4. Elaboration – this phase will allow the learners to expand the concepts or ideas
they have learned through various activities such as simulation, role-playing,
hands-on activities, and other games. Here the concepts are put into context as
applied to the daily experiences of the students. Contextualization of the concept
learned is emphasized in this part. Moreover, the teacher can also integrate other
disciplines to have a broader context on applying the concepts or ideas learned.

5. Evaluation – in this stage, both the teachers and the learners can measure the
learned conceptual and procedural understanding. A formative evaluation can be
done at any time of this model to check the students' knowledge and give feedback
promptly regularly. The summative assessment is provided at the end of the lesson
and can be informal assessments such as quizzes, exams, or assignments.
However, activities can also serve as evaluation activities; these are performance
 assessment, product development, journal entry, and portfolio. It is good to note
that using a rubric to assess performance and products is essential.

Teaching Methods in Science

Here are suggested innovative teaching methods in science that will make your students
be more active learners than just being consumers of knowledge. These methods will
also hone the basic and integrated science process skills that will encourage the students
not just to learn science but also to do science in a more enjoyable and fun way.

1. Story Telling – One of the best ways to catch the attention most especially of
young learners, is by telling stories. Stories can convey the description of facts and
even can open up curiosity about the new concept to be learned in science.
Moreover, listening to stories will entail imagination from students; thus it will hone
the critical, analytical, and creative thinking skills of students. This is far better than
delivering the lesson with the traditional, direct lecturing to them. You can use
names that are familiar to students as the characters or even names of scientists
that they know, so that it may arouse their interest to listen. For example, you want
to teach your pupils how to prevent getting infected by the Coronavirus, you can
create a story of a boy doing all preventive measures, and at the end, you may ask
your pupils if they can suggest other measures of prevention.

2. Role-Playing – Role-playing in teaching science will enhance a deeper

understanding of the concept to students and as well as honing their
communication and collaborative skills. This method allows the students to act out
a certain character. This method can be employed in playing a scientist that uses
the scientific method to solve a problem. Another activity is you ask students to act
as a weather forecaster that discusses the elements of the weather or the different
weather condition. Role-playing will contextualize the concepts that are taught and
learned by the students because it will deliver the concepts in the context that they
are used or applied by people (usually portrayed in the role play) in their daily lives.

3. Visual Clues – This method involves the use of drawings, diagrams, and pictures
to aid instructions of a certain concept or theory. This will help the teachers to
visually convey the facts and the concepts to be learned by students and to
distinctly give examples or applications of these concepts. Visual clues aid
retention, and according to Dale’s cone of experience, that learner generally
remembers 30% of what they see.

4. Science Text Cards – this is a method that will develop the science vocabulary of
the pupils. This method uses cards that have words written on it that has something
to do with science concepts and the students will have to put meaning to it. The
procedure in using this instructional material can be done collaboratively by
classifying, agreeing, or disagreeing or arranging it according to patterns. This is
a fun way of developing the critical thinking skills of students as well as their
 communication skills. More than that this is a good strategy to encourage students
put meaning on words or concepts that are presented.

5. Advance Organizers – This method is often used as a starter in presenting a new

lesson. Moreover, one purpose of this method is to organizer the prior knowledge
of students that is necessary to connect to the new knowledge to be taught or
learned. In this way, connecting prior to new knowledge makes the lesson more
retentive. Examples of advance organizers are text organizers, graphic organizers,
and narrative organizers. This method is important to emphasize the essential or
key concepts. This is as well critical in establishing relationships among facts,
ideas or concepts.

6. Word Parts – This method is used to reinforcing the structure of scientific terms
to pupils. In other words, this is all about the etymology of the words. This method
can help student’s associate common prefixes, suffixes, and base words and relate
the meaning to the scientific words. For example, the term Biology came from the
words “bios,” which means life, and “logia,” which means a branch of study.

7. Simulation – this refers to activities or instructional materials that involve imitation

of a situation or a process. There are also virtual simulations that will allow students
to visualize and interact with concepts that are outside the realm of a conventional
laboratory. Using simulations in class will allow for more laboratory experiences.
Moreover, in simulations, students will be encouraged to involve themselves in the
activity and hone their scientific skills. Because simulation is interactive, retention
of the concept is high. Furthermore, it can provide prompt feedback. There are a
lot of mobile applications and computer software or websites that feature
simulation that is readily available and downloadable.

8. Science Fairs – during science fairs, students may expose the output of their
research or product development. This activity can be a culmination of the exit
outcomes of students. During science fairs, students present their researches and
products; thus it will develop their communication skills. Creativity is also one skill
that the students are to master during a science fair because they should present
their outputs in a more creative and persuasive way. Critical analysis can also be
honed during on the spot question and answer part if there are viewers of their
station in the fair.

9. Learning Stations – this is a method that involves physical locations in your

classroom where groups of learners work as a team on varied tasks
simultaneously to learn a concept and practice skills related to the topic. Given a
certain period of time, the groups will transfer to another station until all groups
have hopped all the learning stations. Teachers should consider the following tips
in order to have an effective execution of learning stations; (1) each station should
have a problem for the students to solve; (2) activities should be fairly
straightforward; and (3) important concepts should be explicitly stated by students.
The learning stations may provide benefits to both the teacher and the students.
 To the teachers, they can provide differentiated or varied activities that decrease
the amount of material and the time required for the setup. For the students, this
will help them to become focused and be challenged because of the time constrain
on each task per station.

10. Mobile Technology – mobile phones are common devices a Filipino student has
in this modern era. Thus, this gadget can also be used as a tool for learning. There
is a myriad of mobile applications that teachers can use to innovate their
instructions. Several studies supported that the use of mobile applications in
teaching helped enhance students’ achievement and learning. An example of a
mobile application that can be used in teaching the constellation is Star Chart that
learners will have an experience of a planetarium in their mobile phones.