Week 6 IBL Post

Week 6 IBL Post

This unit focused on applying what we’ve learned in the course up until this point to lesson planning process.  We looked at how we could incorporate aspects from previous units including the abilities and understandings of inquiry, process skills, and essential features of inquiry and how we could apply all of these into the concept of backwards design.  The 5E Instructional Model was presented with the goal being to allow teachers to examine a lesson planning/presentation model that supports both backward design and inquiry skills.  Both of these encourage teachers to embed 21^stcentury skills and technology into the process and require the use formative assessments to monitor student acquisition of knowledge and adjust teaching as necessary.

We learned that backwards design is an instructional design method invented by Wiggins and McTighe and is part of their larger Understanding by Design framework. As the name implies, it begins with the end in mind. As such, this model focuses the teacher on asking what students should know, understand, or be able to do at the end of the lesson or unit of study.  The 5E Instructional Model that was developed by the Biological Science Curriculum Study is a model that uses backward design.  The 5E model focuses on engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate.  When used effectively, this model can be implemented by the teacher to deliver the curriculum at the classroom level.  This concept has possibilities, but the template provided in the course was difficult to navigate and could use some improvement.  The picture above  is a screen shot of the 5E model lesson that I created.  It provides a visual aid on the planning process.  I hope to incorporate a modified version of this into my daily planning/instruction.  I feel that the 5E lesson plan template above was confusing and time consuming but feel that with practice, it will become easier and more natural.