Elanna Worthy Dr.

Bettie Hicks Charleston Program 19 February 2014 Weekly Session #1 On our second day traveling to Charleston through CU-LIFE, our first session was instructed by Mrs. McClary, professor in the School of Education at Claflin University. She gave us a brief background on her personal and professional life. Learning about the person teaching you is important because it shows you who they are, which makes you more inclined to learn from them. Mrs. McClary allowed us to introduce ourselves, and she immediately began her presentation. Her objectives for today were to identify the main features and expected outcomes of inquiry instruction and to identify the phases of the 5-E Model of Instruction and describe how they are related to the tasks of scientific inquiry. She explained the importance of inquiry instruction in a science classroom. Learners should be engaged by scientific questions; learners give priority to evidence as they plan and conduct investigations; learners connect evidence and scientific knowledge in generating explanations; learners apply their knowledge to new scientific problems; learners engage in critical discourse with others about procedures, evidence, and explanations. She compared a traditional classroom to an inquiry classroom. An inquiry classroom is visibly different from a traditional classroom in many ways. In a traditional classroom, students often work alone, there is an emphasis on mastery of facts, teachers tend to disseminate information to the students, teachers tend to seek correct answers, and assessment tends to be separate from teaching. In an inquiry classroom, students often work in groups, there is an emphasis on understanding of concepts, students are viewed as thinkers with their own theories about the world, teachers facilitate an interactive learning environment, teachers seek to understand student learning, and assessment is interwoven with teaching. The 5-E Instructional Model consists of five phases: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. During the Engage Stage, teachers are capturing students interests, assessing students prior knowledge, and establishing the topic for investigation. During the Explore Stage, teachers are encouraging discussion, questioning, and investigation with materials to construct tentative understanding of the topic. During the Explain Stage, teachers are asking questions to describe and explain their understandings, and leading discussions to help students refine their constructions. During the Elaborate Stage, teachers are extending students conceptualizations through providing new experiences and opportunities for deeper investigations, and guiding students toward the next topic. During the Evaluate Stage, teachers are asking students to assess their understandings and evaluating students progress. To fully understand the 5-E Lesson Plan, Mrs. McClary led us in a Batteries and Bulbs activity. The materials used for this activity were bulb, bulb holder, battery, wire, and magnifying lens.