In my earth science teaching class we talk about how lessons should involve the 5e's:
engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate. This is something that I think could be helpful when it comes to planning math lessons as well. In fact I think that this is something many math teachers already do...
ENGAGE: this what we call the warm up in math, the only difference in science is that it generally leads to discussion where as in math it is generally a review. This is something I think could be improved. Warm ups are often thought of as a way to get the students brains working again and thinking about math. I think that sparking a discussion could be helpful to not only get students in the mind set to do math but to also talk about it.
EXPLORE: This is something that I think needs to become more apparent in math. Having students discover the information is something that is often done in science but rarely done in math. I think that there should be "labs" in math as there is in science. This would allow the students to move and work on real world problems. This way students might be able to understand that this information can be useful in the real world and make the class more fun.
EXPLAIN: Another topic that is generally over looked in Math. We often tell students about equations and formulas without explaining why they are the way they are. I think students could benefit from knowing why they do things and not just how to do them.
ELABORATE: This step is the one that is often pushed on to the students as homework. This means students generally do a few problems in class and then have some to do at home. The problem I always had with this was that the problems we do in class are simply and generally stick to the pattern of whatever we are learning in class. Then when the students get home that is when things get tricky. This is something that I think teachers need to change a little bit, students often struggle with the work they are supposed to be doing outside of class.
Evaluate: This is obviously something that is frequently done in math and all subjects.
And so I think that it is important to think about using the information you learned in other classes and bringing it to the table when it comes to talking about math.
The 5E structure is a good one.
ReplyDeleteThis post could use a bit more to be complete: first, give Evaluate a bit more attention. Maybe pick a math concept and sketch out the 5Es for it, give an example from science, analyze what you like about the structure... lots of options. The last idea might actually make a good summary to strengthen consolidation.
I really enjoyed this post. I haven't heard of the 5 e's being implemented within a mathematics classroom. Well, maybe I have but not explicitly. Overall, I think that these are great guidelines to follow. Would have liked to see a little bit more on evaluation. Do you mean assessments? what kind? Overall, I thought it was a great post though! Well done.
ReplyDeleteIt's always great to see different ways to break down lessons. As with the previous comments, the evaluate section could use a bit of elaboration. There are many ways to go though - like Nick said, you could talk about assessment. Or, you could talk about how it's important for students to evaluate their work and assess whether it makes sense or how well they understand the material (or both). Another interesting addition might be to take a particular math problem or lesson and talk about how you'd break down that lesson into each of these five steps. Good read, though!
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting to see you relating the concept of engaging to a science classroom and how often times science classes do a better job of this than math classes. The focus of discovery rather than review is an excellent one because while having students discover new mathematical ideas, we as teachers can help students connect back to their older learned ideas. The concept of focusing on the why behind concepts is also critical to the classroom! Students often times need to have a reason behind doing their work and teachers have the opportunity to help students find that reason!
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