Constructivism and the 5E's

Constructivism is basically a method where students are in charge of their own learning. However, it is up to teachers to facilitate the constructivistic learning process. Teachers should promote and provide opportunities for students that encourage and support the building of understanding. The 5E model consists of: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Engage is when the students first encounter and identify the instructional task. Here is where they make connections between past and present learning experiences. Explore is when students have the opportunity to get directly involved with the materials. Students build a base of common experiences by working in teams, which assists them in the process of sharing and communicating. Explain is the point at which the learner begins to put the abstract experience through which he/she has gone into a communicable form. Communication occurs between peers, the facilitator, or within the learner himself. Elaborate is when the students expand on the concepts they have learned, make connections to other related concepts, and apply their understandings to the world around them. Evaluate is an on-going diagnostic process that allows the teacher to determine if the learner has attained understanding of concepts and knowledge. It can occur at all points along the continuum of the instructional process.