The 5Es Instructional Model

The 5Es are an instructional model encompassing the phases Engage, Explore,
Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate, steps which educators have traditionally taught
students to move through in phases.
First, instructors open a lesson with an activity or question meant to engage students,
snag their interest, and offer the opportunity for them to share what they already know
on the subject. This phase might include helping them make connections between their
preexisting knowledge base and the new ideas that will come down the pipeline in the
lesson or unit. Many educators use traditional KWL charts, in which students list what
they already know and what they want to learn during this step. At the end of the lesson,
students go back to this chart to list what they learned.
After engage comes explore, in which students carry out hands-on activities. Through
their experiments or other interactions with the material, they deepen their
understanding of the content.

Additional input: Reading is appropriately taken up in Explore.

Once they’ve explored, students attempt to explain what they have learned and
experienced with help from the teacher – who only then explains concepts or terms
encountered during exploration.
Additional input: The students’ Task here need not mean doing more activities to
introduce the topic. This sub-step is meant to address the principle of student-to-student
interaction where the students should share their answers to the guide questions you
have provided in Explore.

Additional inputs:
1. Sentence was improved for a smoother flow of the activities from the students’
sharing of the answers to the questions before this to the group task to be performed.

2. Students’ Task need not mean or need not be equated with any task yet or group
activity.
What is needed is sharing of ideas so that the students learn from each other based on
the material that they have explored. The opportunity to have a voice is extended to the
students; consequently, learner agency principle is addressed.
What will be important here is the use of cooperative learning or MI strategies to help
students share and express what they know about the material that they explored.
Research on these strategies and use them here. I think I gave everybody several
strategies last year. Show them here.

From there, students elaborate on their understanding, applying what they’ve learned

to new situations to deepen their skills. In the final phase, students evaluate, reflecting
on and providing evidence of their new understanding of the material.
Additional input: Evaluate in 5E need not mean quiz or graded or formative assessment.
This is where you get feedback about the lesson and the students’ performance so that
you as teacher can do the needed intervention.

5Es

Teachers use the 5E Model of Instruction to sequence lessons and activities which
provide best first instruction for all students. Through this process they emphasize
opportunities to personalize learning.

In each phase of the 5E Model of Instruction, teachers carefully consider how the
evidence collected or information obtained builds student understanding of a
phenomenon or a solution to a design problem.

The optimal use of the 5E Model is a learning sequence of two to three weeks where
each phase is used as the basis for one or more lessons.

Using the 5E Model as the basis for a single lesson reduces the effectiveness of
individual phases due to the shortening of the time and opportunities for meaningful and
deep learning across a learning sequence.

According to research, there is the greatest impact on learning when phases are not
omitted or their position shifted (e.g., Explain before Explore).

Phases can be repeated or looped as needed to create time or experiences to learn a

concept or develop an ability (e.g., Engage, Explore, Explain, Explore, Explain,
Elaborate, Evaluate).

Activities in a 5E learning sequence should be designed to integrate the Science and

Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas.

“The 5E Model of Instruction promotes active learning. Students are involved in more
than listening and reading. They learn to ask questions, observe, model, analyze,
explain, draw conclusions, argue from evidence, and talk about their own
understanding. Students work collaboratively with peers to construct explanations,
solve problems, and plan and carry out investigations.” –Rodger Bybee

ENGAGE

The first phase of the 5E Model engages students by having them mentally focus on a
phenomenon, object, problem, situation, or event. The activities in the Engage phase
are designed to help students make connections between past and present learning
experiences, expose prior conceptions, and organize thinking toward the essential
questions and learning outcomes of the learning sequence.

The role of the teacher in the Engage phase is to present a situation, identify the
instructional task, and set the rules and procedures for the activities. The teacher also
structures initial discussions to reveal the range of ideas, experiences, and language
that students use which become resources for upcoming lessons.

● Describe how the teacher will capture students’ interest.

● What kind of questions should the students ask themselves after the
engagement?

Student Behaviors

● Asks questions such as, “Why did this happen?” “What do I already know about
this?” “What can I find out about this?” “How can this problem be solved?”
● Shows interest in the topic through curiosity and expression of wonderings

● Demonstrates engagement by expressing ideas, sharing observations, and

creating initial models
● Expresses current understanding of a concept or idea

Teaching Strategies

● Raises questions or poses problems

● Elicits responses that uncover students’ current knowledge

● Helps students make connections to previous work

● Posts learning outcomes and explicitly references them in the lesson

● Invites students to express what they think

● Invites students to raise their own questions

EXPLORE

Once students have engaged in activities, they need time to explore ideas. Explore
activities are designed so all students have common, concrete experiences which can
be used later when formally introducing and discussing scientific and technological
concepts and explanations. Students have time to investigate objects, events, or
situations. As a result of their mental and physical involvement in these activities,
students question events, observe patterns, identify and test variables, and establish
causal relationships.

The teacher’s role in the Explore phase is to facilitate learning. They initiate activities
and allow time and opportunity for students to investigate objects, materials, and
situations. The teacher coaches and guides students as they record and analyze
observations or data and begin constructing models or initial explanations.

● Describe what hands-on/minds-on activities students will be doing.

● List “big idea” conceptual questions the teacher will use to encourage and/or
focus students’ exploration

Student Behaviors

● Tests predictions and hypotheses; Forms new predictions and hypotheses

● Discusses problems with others

● Plans and conducts investigations in which they observe, describe, and record
data
● Tries different ways to solve a problem or answer a question

● Creates initial models

● Compares ideas with those of others

Teaching Strategies

● Provides or clarifies questions or problems

● Provides common experiences

● Observes and listens to students as they interact

● Acts as a consultant for students

● Encourages student-to-student interaction

● Asks probing questions to help students make sense of their experiences and
redirect them when necessary
● Provides time for students to puzzle through problems
EXPLAIN

The Explain phase consists of two parts. First, the teacher asks students to share their
initial models and explanations from experiences in the Engage and Explore phases.
Second, the teacher provides resources and information to support student learning and
introduces scientific or technological concepts. Students use these resources and
information, as well as ideas of other students, to construct or revise their evidence-
based models and explanations. In engineering, students design solutions to problems
based on established criteria.

● Student explanations should precede introduction of terms or explanations by the

teacher. What questions or techniques will the teacher use to help students
connect their exploration to the concept under examination?
● List higher order thinking questions which teachers will use to solicit student
explanations and help them to justify their explanations.

Student Behaviors

● Shows models, explanations, answers, or possible solutions, to other students

● Listens critically to and questions explanations offered by others

● Explains using evidence from investigations

● Uses labels, terminology, and formal scientific language

● Compares current thinking with former thinking

● Records ideas and current understanding

● Adjusts ideas, models, and explanations as new evidence or reasoning is

presented

Teaching Strategies

● Encourages students to explain concepts and definitions in their own words

● Asks for justification (evidence) and clarification from students

● Formally provides definitions, explanations, and information through mini-lecture,

text, internet, or other resources
● Builds on student explanations
 ● Provides time for students to compare their ideas with others and if desired
revise their ideas

ELABORATE

Once students have constructed explanations of a phenomenon or design solutions for

a problem, it is important to involve them in further experiences that apply, extend, or
elaborate the concepts, processes, or skills they are learning. Some students may still
have misconceptions, or they may only understand a concept in terms of the exploratory
experience. Elaborate activities provide time for students to apply their understanding of
concepts and skills. They might apply their understanding to similar phenomena or
problems.

● Describe how students will develop a more sophisticated understanding of the

concept.
● What vocabulary will be introduced and how will it connect to students’
observations?
● How is this knowledge applied in our daily lives?

Student Behaviors

● Applies new labels, definitions, explanations, and skills in new, but similar,
situations
● Uses previous information to ask questions, propose solutions, make decisions,
design experiments, or complete a challenge
● Draws reasonable conclusions from evidence

● Critiques the models, explanations, or arguments made by others using evidence

and reasoning
● Makes conceptual connections between new and previous experiences

● Communicates understanding to others

Teaching Strategies

● Expects students to use vocabulary, definitions, and explanations provided

previously in new contexts
● Encourages students to apply the concepts and skills in new situations
 ● Provides additional evidence, explanations, or reasoning

● Reinforces students’ use of scientific terms and descriptions previously

introduced
● Asks questions that help students draw reasonable conclusions from evidence
and data

EVALUATE

It is important that students receive feedback on the quality of their explanations.

Informally, this may happen throughout the learning sequence. Formally, the teacher
can also administer a summative evaluation at the end of the learning sequence. The
Evaluate phase encourages students to assess their understanding and abilities and
allows teachers to evaluate individual student progress toward achieving learning goals
and outcomes.

● How will students demonstrate that they have achieved the lesson objective?

● This should be embedded throughout the lesson as well as at the end of the
lesson

Student Behaviors

● Gives feedback to other students

● Evaluates progress or knowledge

● Checks work with a rubric or against established criteria

● Assesses progress by comparing current understanding with prior knowledge

● Asks additional questions that go deeper into a concept or leads to additional

learning
● Demonstrates understanding of Disciplinary Core Ideas, Crosscutting Concepts,
and Science and Engineering Practices
● Answers open-ended questions by using observations, evidence, and previously
accepted explanations

Teaching Strategies

● Asks open-ended questions such as, “Why do you think…?” “What evidence do
you have?” “How would you answer the question?”
 ● Observes and records notes as students demonstrate individual understanding of
concepts learned and performance of skills
● Uses a variety of assessments to gather evidence of student understanding

● Provides opportunities for students to assess their own progress

Further reading: San Diego County Office of Education. (2020). 5E Model of

Instruction. Sdcoe.net. https://ngss.sdcoe.net/Evidence-Based-Practices/5E-
Model-of-Instruction