The

5 E's
The 5 E's is an instructional model based on the constructivist approach to
learning, which says that learners build or construct new ideas on top of their old ideas.
The 5 E's can be used with students of all ages, including adults.

Each of the 5 E's describes a phase of learning, and each phase begins with the letter
"E": Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. The 5 E's allows students and
teachers to experience common activities, to use and build on prior knowledge and
experience, to construct meaning, and to continually assess their understanding of a
concept.

Engage: This phase of the 5 E's starts the process. An "engage" activity should do the
following:

1. Make connections between past and present learning experiences

2. Anticipate activities and focus students' thinking on the learning outcomes of
current activities. Students should become mentally engaged in the concept,
process, or skill to be learned.

Explore: This phase of the 5 E's provides students with a common base of experiences.
They identify and develop concepts, processes, and skills. During this phase, students
actively explore their environment or manipulate materials.

Explain: This phase of the 5 E's helps students explain the concepts they have been
exploring. They have opportunities to verbalize their conceptual understanding or to
demonstrate new skills or behaviors. This phase also provides opportunities for teachers
to introduce formal terms, definitions, and explanations for concepts, processes, skills,
or behaviors.

Elaborate: This phase of the 5 E's extends students' conceptual understanding and
allows them to practice skills and behaviors. Through new experiences, the learners
develop deeper and broader understanding of major concepts, obtain more information
about areas of interest, and refine their skills.

Evaluate: This phase of the 5 E's encourages learners to assess their understanding and
abilities and lets teachers evaluate students' understanding of key concepts and skill
development.

he 5E+T Model Sample Lesson Plan

The 5Es and a technology connection are shown in the table below, followed
by a brief description of what student success looks like.

5E Technology Connection What Success Looks Like

ENGAGE _ Problem-based Teacher creates a problem
Activities that capture the Learning (PBL) narrative/engagement
students attention, stimulate component or Online scenario, video, or resource
their thinking, and help them Simulation
access prior
knowledge. Students become
engaged in the process of
inquiry. The teacher can ask
questions to find out what
students already know, or think
they know, about the topic and
concepts to be covered. These
questions typically start with _ Create video/audio
how instead of with why. explorations of a topic,
EXPLORE
Enable students to explore
their ideas, singly and in
groups, in classroom or at a
distance. Provides students
time to think, plan,
investigate, and organize
collected information.
EXPLAIN
Students acquire
opportunities to connect their
previous experiences with
current learning and to make
conceptual sense of the main
ideas of the topic being
studied.
ELABORATE
Students apply or extend
previously introduced
concepts and experiences to
new situations. Students
apply their knowledge to real
world applications.
that engages students, then
_ Collaborative Projects helps students develop
with GoogleApps questions and identify what
_ Concept map creation and KWHLT.
_ Create interactive web
sites that others can
connect and interact
with.
responding to questions.
Students conduct advanced
searches using Boolean
operators (and/or) after
having developed effective
questions/search queries,
blog journaling, curate
content and add comments
_ Video (e.g. Flipboard), video,
_ Blog or Google Sites vidcast/podcast, remixing
_ Podcast/Vidcast another product, create a
_ Data collection Google Hangout or Voxer
(Google Form/Sheet) chat.
_ Digital storytelling Create a media product (e.g.
_ Podcasting/Vidcasting video, podcast), digital story
_ Presentation (Google or plan a web site using
Slides) storyboarding and script-
_ Blog or Google Sites writing to share their
_ Collaborative Product learning and help others
Creation understand it.
_ Forum (Google Students develop a solution
Classroom) to a real problem that
_ Product creation incorporates their
_ Virtual field trip knowledge, communicating
_ Ask an Expert video that in a variety of media
chat formats.
EVALUATE
Students, with their teachers,
review and assess what they
have learned and how they
have learned it. Students can _ Video feedback on
be given a summative product Students creations are notated from a
perspective of real life usability rather
assessment to demonstrate _ OneNote notebook than teacher satisfaction with a
what they know and can do. with feedback transitional student product.