Learn about the 5 E's of Inquiry
The five E's are an excellent model to use to design effective learning experiences. Use the tabbed box below to learn about each of the five E's with different tools and strategies for connecting to student interests and engaging them in the learning.
Click the tabs at the top of this box to find tools and strategies to help you create engaging learning experiences with the 5 E's.
5 E's Definitions and Details
Check out this resource from the San Diego County Office of Education on the 5E Model of Instruction:
San Diego County: Office of Education, Science Resource Center: 5E Model of Instruction
Engage
When engaging learners, we want to:
- Hook themwith an introduction that captures their interest
- Tap into prior knowledge
- Reflect on past learning & current understanding of a topic
- Data analysis
- Debate (using Conversations, Flipgrid, Zoom…)
- Pose an interesting question for response
- Poll students
| Engage Questions | Engage Tools | Engage Examples |
| Media: Tables, photos, illustrations, charts, online simulation, video clip, video demo, podcast, text, Flip, YouTube Interactive games - Which One Doesn't Belong?, This or That, review games in Kahoot Jokes, memes, music, movie clips, current events Canvas: Use media and texton the pages in your modules to help students visualize what they are reading and engage with the content (dual coding theory) | Photo of a scene from WW2 that students discuss is a discussion forum Reflect on a quote or analogy & share thoughts/ideas in Flip (formerly Flipgrid) Use a Microsoft Form to gather data about topics of interest for students related to the concept they are learning and then analyze the data. PHET Online Science Simulations Use media literacy skills to engage with a form of media: NYT: What’s Going on in this Picture? Review games to practice retrieving information from memory and improve recall so basic concepts and vocabulary can be applied in activities requiring higher-order thinking skills. |
Explore
When inviting students to EXPLORE, they should do something:
- Hands-on activities
- Problem-solving
- Research and analyze a problem
- Compare and contrast information
- Communicate about an issue to examine it with others - discussion posts, conversations
- Make and test a hypothesis
- Read about the concept or topic
- Graph or chart data
- Observe, question, predict, interpret
- Share experiences related to the learning
| Explore Questions | Explore Tools | Explore Examples |
| Microsoft PowerPoint Videos Podcasts about a topic (student-selected or assigned) Flipgrid Collaborative documents (Microsoft) Canvas: Use thediscussion board to encourage exploration of ideas based on the readings and materials you offer to students. Encourage students to share resources andask questions to seek clarification about themin their discussions that encourage further exploration. (social constructivism) | Explore & Explain: Video demo to play /replay the problem Make a PowerPoint with clickable icons on a diagram, map, or another image (similar to Thinglink) for exploration of the topic before diving into an explanation Work together in a collaborative MS Word document to gather information to evaluate and use in the unit (crowdsourcing) Use Flip to make predictions or hypotheses. Return at the end and discuss how the results differ from reality. Can students use Microsoft Sway, Flip, or another tool to explore information connected to the concept or topic of study |
Explain
When moving to the EXPLAIN stage, offer students opportunities to:
- Identify and define vocabulary related to the topic or concept in the discipline
- Read about the topic/concept using a variety of materials, such as articles, presentations, lectures, textbooks...
- Observe and identify patterns
- Listen to information about concepts they are learning
- Discuss what they are learning
| Explain Questions | Tools | Examples |
Related Questions:
| Flip for quick explanations Video or presentation of instruction in PowerPoint, Sway, or Slides (made by teacher &/OR video from a reputable source online) Microsoft Forms for formative check of skills Shared Microsoft Word or PowerPoint for collaborative notes Canvas: Make a wiki page where the instructor and students can collaboratively build materials to demonstrate an understanding of the content, concepts, and skills students are learning using how-to videos, presentations, infographics, text, and other media as instructors scaffold them through the learning process (Vygotsky - Zone of Proximal Development; Bruner - Scaffolding) | Zoom room where students observe a scientific process during a specific time frame. Track & draw observations in a journal with descriptions. Share via Flip periodically or on the Canvas discussion board. Flip for asynchronous class discussions (post at students' convenience throughout the week) Video tutorials and lectures (brief and chunked) - students can take collaborative notes to process what they learn together Students create and present their own slides about what they are learning and post them to Flip or in the Canvas discussion board. Photo Essays (Microsoft Sway, PowerPoint…) Wiki pages in Canvas to collaboratively build a knowledge-base related to their learning. |
Elaborate / Extend
When continuing to the ELABORATE / EXTEND step of the 5 E's, students will:
- Build on and apply learning
- Connect prior knowledge to new learning (build schema)
- Look at a concept from new and different perspectives
- Transfer learning to new problems or situations
- Be adaptable and more willing to entertain ideas that challenge previously held beliefs about the topic or concept by using information from authoritative sources
| Elaborate/ Extend Questions | Elaborate/ ExtendTools | Elaborate/ Extend Examples |
| Create a collaborative project in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Forms, Sway Zoom discussion Socratic seminar Microsoft Form of questions to apply a skill PHET Online Science Simulations Information literacy and media literacy skills - search strategies, using library databases, locating and evaluating high-quality resources... Have a debate on a discussion board in Canvas or Flip | Assign a link to a shared document or presentation (Word, Docs, PowerPoint, Slides) to small groups of students so the instructor can check-in and support their work with feedback throughout the process. Students create a brief multiple-choice lesson check-in Microsoft Forms for a classmate to take that shows results automatically. Students share questions & answers with the teacher first to verify accuracy. (Elaborate/Extend, Evaluate) Debates |
Evaluate
The EVALUATE step in the 5 E's could include:
Performance tasks and performance-based assessments
Problem-based learning and problem-solving
Project-based learning
Assessments by peers, the instructor, and self-assessment
| Evaluate Questions | Tools | Examples |
| Collaborative document or a Microsoft Form to collect assessment question ideas from students in one spot Form Quizzes to pose questions for students to answer Flip to explain learning or for listening and response assessment activities. Comment on peer work using comment and tracking tools in Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Sway for collaborative work Rubric tools in Canvas | Canvas Quizzes Microsoft Form Quizzes Digital journal in Microsoft Word, Flip about their learning. Project created in the technology of choice (video, photo essay, Sway, presentation, student choice) Choice boards (examples) – make sure choices are doable given time/device constraints! Students create and submit test items based on levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, select high-quality questions to use in a Microsoft Form,and make it the end of lesson assessment (and offer bonus points for each question used for each student). Collaborate on group projects (make it an option to work independently or as a group of up to 3 or 4) in a collaborative tool of choice. |
