At the turn of the 20th century, the nation's schoolrooms were modeled on the

best practices of factory work. This model focused on standardized times, a

specific set of actions, measurable results, and a reward/punishment system.
However, this version of effective education no longer meets the needs of our
changing world. Prior ideas about knowledge and its purposes are being
challenged. In today's world, facts are available online and the virtue of
knowing an answer is no longer the most valuable trait. Instead, students need
to become skilled in the ability to ask questions, be inventive, and use
knowledge to solve authentic problems.
Inquiry-based teaching aims to increase student engagement in learning by
helping students to develop the hands-on, minds-on skills needed for the 21st
century. This approach honors the complex work of learning. It prioritizes the
knowledge and experience students bring to the classroom and it promotes
active problem solving, communication of results, and the shared construction
of new ideas.
An Introduction the 5E Learning Cycle
The learning cycle is a widely recognized model of inquiry-based teaching. The
origins of the learning cycle date back to the 1960's and the work of Dr. Robert
Karplus. Dr. Karplus was a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley,
who enjoyed sharing his work and who would visit elementary classrooms to
present his ideas. After trips to the classroom, Dr. Karplus felt the desire to
know more about how to teach well. Therefore, he continued to work with the
elementary students as he studied the work of Jean Piaget, a developmental
psychologist renowned for his work in education.
During this time, Dr. Karplus and a colleague, J. Myron Atkin, developed a style
of learning called "guided inquiry" (Atkin & Karplus, 1962). This style of learning
focused attention on student ideas and observations as the basis for learning.
It included the stages of exploration, discovery, and invention. Atkin and
Karplus hoped to support students in drawing on their own experiences and
findings as a way to develop inferences and make sense of phenomena.
It is this notion of guided inquiry that is at the heart of most learning cycle
models, including the 5E model. The 5E model was developed by the Biological
Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) and includes five learning cycle stages, each
beginning with E. These stages are Engagement, Exploration, Explanation,
Elaboration, and Evaluation.

In line with the guided inquiry tradition, student ideas take a central role in
each stage. The BSCS model evolved from the work of other instructional
models and incorporates findings from research on teaching and cognition. It
draws on the work of Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and others, as well as the
findings of a synthesis report on how people learn put forth by the National
Research Council and the National Academies of Science (1999).
UTeach and the 5E Lesson Cycle
The UTeach program housed in the College of Natural Sciences at the
University of Texas at Austin has adopted inquiry teaching and the 5E learning
cycle as the basis of its nationally recognized teacher preparation program.
UTeach uses the 5E lesson cycle as a model lesson structure to help new
teachers develop the skills needed to implement inquiry-based teaching in
their classrooms. The videos you will see in this course show two graduates of
the UTeach program each implementing a 5E lesson in their high school
classrooms. We hope that this course will also offer insight as to how you
might adapt this lesson cycle to fit your own instructional needs.
This course will address each of the 5Es one by one. The first module in this
course will focus on the Engagement stage. Let's get started.
Where to find out more:
Research on teaching and learning:
Bransford, J., A., Brown, and R.Cocking, eds. 1999. How people learn: Brain,
mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
The Learning Cycle:
Atkin, J.M. & Karplus, R. (1962). Discovery or Invention? The Science Teacher,
29(5): 45.

The 5E lesson cycle:

http://bscs.org/bscs-5e-instructional-model
UTeach:
https://uteach.utexas.edu/
OTHER REFERENCES
Freire, P. (1998). Teachers as cultural workers: Letters to those who dare to teach.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press.