Our middle school science department has started using the BSCS 5E instructional model. We like this framework, but we’re having a hard time fitting in all the components every day. It doesn’t seem possible, given that the class periods are 45 minutes long. Are we missing something? What has been your experience with this model?
—Mary, West Palm Beach, Florida
The 5E Model suggests stages or phases to be included when designing inquiry-based instruction: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate (Extend), and Evaluate. According to BSCS (the developers of the model) this teaching sequence can be used for entire programs, specific units, and individual lessons.
I must admit I’ve not had the opportunity to use 5E in the classroom. But I have used other models and frameworks such as Understanding by Design (by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins) and—I’ll show my age here—the Madeline Hunter model. I’m also familiar with the Art and Science of Teaching (by Robert Marzano). Some teachers suggest models or frameworks are too prescriptive, discourage teacher creativity, and result in cookie-cutter lessons. But, depending on the model, I found quite the opposite could be true. Having some guidelines helped me create purposeful lessons within cohesive units of instruction, rather than collections of activities and laundry lists of content topics to “cover.”
It may be helpful to differentiate among units, lessons, activities, and class periods. A unit of instruction (e.g., stoichiometry, forces, air quality, microorganisms) consists of connected lessons. A lesson incorporates individual or group learning activities (lab investigations, assessments, lecture, demonstrations, reading, writing, discussion, etc.) focused on related objectives or learning goals. Depending on the length of a class period, there may be time for a complete lesson. There might be time for only a few of the activities, or a single activity may take several periods. My big “aha” moment occurred when I realized that a lesson could extend over several class periods, depending on the number and types of learning activities I used to help students achieve the learning goals.

What constrained my thinking was the spiral-bound lesson plan book with a 2×3 inch box in which to describe each class period. The box wasn’t large enough to write much more than a list or agenda, such as Discuss Photosynthesis, Read Chapter 6, or Do the Lab on p. 144. If I taught multiple class periods of the same subject, I could just write “ditto” in the box. There was little room for annotations or reflections, so in the following year, these boxes weren’t helpful to me in terms of improving the lesson.
So I decided to think outside the lesson plan box and file the spiral book. I switched to an electronic template for lesson planning and a 3-ring binder (for ready reference during class). Each lesson was a separate document where I described the learning activities in detail. Lesson plans also included space to record the date(s) of the lesson, how far each section progressed, and other notes for reviewing and refining the lesson. This was a lot of work the first year, but after that I could revise the electronic documents easily.
In the NSTA journals, there have been many articles describing lessons and units of instruction designed with the 5E model, many of which appear to extend over several class periods. So perhaps you’re a little ambitious in trying to use all 5 Es in every class period as a daily checklist rather than as a framework for an entire lesson or unit. Does your current lesson plan format facilitate the 5E model? If not, perhaps a revised template may help.
If a lesson does last for more than one class period, it’s important to recap or summarize the activities at the end of the period and show how they will carry over to the next day. Reviewing the previous activities could be the bell-ringer at the beginning of the next period.
Using the NSTA Learning Center, I created a resource library of articles from NSTA journals (Science Scope and The Science Teacher) and the URLs of a few websites related to the 5E model. Feel free to browse through these to see how other secondary teachers are using this model.