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Chapter 4 from Science For The Next Generation introduces the five E(z) guidelines for designing research-informed science lesson sequences. The five E(z) that are incorporated into structuring lessons and units are: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. All of which are used to design a rich lesson that helps to support learning standards of science. As a future educator I would use this teaching cycle and incorporate it into each lesson within the overall unit. Starting with the engage step to structure my unit, I think that beginning a unit as a whole by asking and developing questions is important to understand a students prior knowledge of the content, along engaging in prior knowledge, I would like for the questions asked and developed to peak the class’s curiosity and interest to learn more about the phenomena. Questions allow for the lesson to open up, and also allow students to start thinking about how to build on their questions, and making meaningful connections that help motivate them to engage and explore the science practices that follow. Incorporating the explore phase within the unit would follow after the engagement phase as suggested in the chapter. In this phase I think it would be important to develop and have one central question to frame the entire investigation. I believe that this serves as a goal for the students to explore. A student's prior knowledge of the subject, unanswered questions, activities and experiences would serve as a guide to students to explore the phenomenon to solve the problem. Exploration in the unit leads to students engaging in minds-on cognitive processing and also to develop their ability to use fundamental science practices , crosscutting concepts and core ideas. Using the exploration phase within the unit would also allow for students to build their own answers and learn from their own experiences rather than have the answers given to them. The third “E” within the cycle is the explain phase. The explain phase in my opinion is one of the most important steps, because it helps to determine how well students understand the phenomena they have explored and experienced. This is an important skill to teach as students will have to describe in their own words their research. During the explain stage It would be beneficial to introduce the scientific concepts, principles and technology, so that the students can make progress in their writing. This phase teaches students to engage in conversation with their peers to explain their research. Explaining their findings would strengthen their understanding and knowledge of the unit. The fourth phase is elaborate. Incorporating the elaborate phase into a unit is important to expand on what the students have learned and developed through their experiences. In this phase new activities and challenges can be brought into the lesson for the students to apply and extend on what they have learned. The fifth and last “E” in the design cycle is Evaluate. To evaluate students' understanding of the unit, teachers can use many forms and for every unit it can be different. Constructing models, displays, graphic organizers, artwork, presentation with peers or to peers , writing reports or letters of their developed knowledge can all be forms of evaluating that is digressing from a practical test and a strict format. Using the five E(z) teaching cycles within a unit of lessons are different ways to help develop students' learning progressions; it is also a way of supporting scientific and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas.
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