Explain is the 3rd E in the 5E’s of Science. The first is engage and the second is explore. The explain phase has 2 parts: the student and the teacher. The teacher will ask students to share their models and experiences from engage and exploration phases. The teacher provides resources to support learning and will introduce any scientific concepts to the students.
Student Behaviors
- Listen critically and question explanations
- Explains evidence from scientific investigations
- Uses labels and/or scientific language
- Records their ideas and understanding
- Create models, explanations, answers or solutions to problems
- Students should be giving their explanations
Teaching Strategies
- Have students create concepts
- Create definitions in their own words
- Asks for clarification
- Builds on what students already explained
- Allows students to discuss different ideas or concepts.
Activities
In order for students to show they understand the explain phase, they can complete some activities. These are some of my favorite ways for students to show they understand:
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- Science Choice Boards
- Turn & Talk
- Student Analysis
- Notes by the students
- Foldables
- Explanatory videos created by students
- Vocabulary Organizer
- Group discussion
- Flipgrid
The explain phase of the 5E’s is extremely important. As teachers, we need to make sure students understand what they learned, we can do this by having the students complete an explain strategy.
The Power of Science
If you are looking for lesson plans that have the 5E’s- check out the Power of Science units. These units have detailed lesson plans that have all the 5E components already built into it.
