Teaching the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium: A 5E Lesson Plan

Abstract

This review centers on the BSCS 5E Instructional Model. That model consists of the following phases: engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation. Table 1 summarizes the instructional emphasis for the different phases. Table 1. Summary of the BSCS 5E Instructional ModelPhase Summary Engagement The teacher or a curriculum task accesses the learners' prior knowledge and helps them become engaged in a new concept through the use of short activities that promote curiosity and elicit prior knowledge. The activity should make connections between past and present learning experiences, expose prior conceptions, and organize students' thinking toward the learning outcomes of current activities. Exploration Exploration experiences provide students with a common base of activities within which current concepts (i.e., misconceptions), processes, and skills are identified and conceptual change is facilitated. Learners may complete lab activities that help them use prior knowledge to generate new ideas, explore questions and possibilities, and design and conduct a preliminary investigation. Explanation The explanation phase focuses students' attention on a particular aspect of their engagement and exploration experiences and provides opportunities to demonstrate their conceptual understanding, process skills, or behaviors. This phase also provides opportunities for teachers to directly introduce a concept, process, or skill. Learners explain their understanding of the concept. An explanation from the teacher or the curriculum may guide them toward a deeper understanding, which is a critical part of this phase. Elaboration Teachers challenge and extend students' conceptual understanding and skills.Through new experiences, the students develop deeper and broader understanding, more information, and adequate skills. Students apply their understanding of the concept by conducting additional activities. EvaluationThe evaluation phase encourages students to assess their understanding and abilities and provides opportunities for teachers to evaluate student progress toward achieving the educational objectives.Since the late 1980s this instructional model has been used in the design of BSCS curriculum materials. The model describes a teaching sequence that can be used for entire programs, specific units, and individual lessons. The BSCS 5E Instructional Model plays a significant role in the curriculum development process as well as the enactment of curricular materials in science classrooms.

Using the Integrated Genome Viewer to reveal amplicon‐derived polymorphism enriched at the phenylthiocarbamide locus in the teaching lab

“…Smith goes on to propose the "5E Lesson Plan," consisting of the tasks: engage thinking (i.e., identify a problem), explore, explain, extend, and evaluate learning. 30 The method we propose here fits nicely into this model by bringing Hardy-Weinberg into a precisely observable context. The population is defined by the class members; personalizing the data for the students in a forward-thinking molecular and genomic approach.…”

“…According to Smith, traditional Hardy–Weinberg exercises fail to focus on understanding, are unclear about population characteristics, ask for calculations that are meaningless with no context, and other faults. Smith goes on to propose the “5E Lesson Plan,” consisting of the tasks: engage thinking (i.e., identify a problem), explore, explain, extend, and evaluate learning 30 . The method we propose here fits nicely into this model by bringing Hardy–Weinberg into a precisely observable context.…”