Infectious Respiratory Disease

Teaching strategies

5E Model

My lessons for this unit will follow the 5E model of science lessons. The 5E model includes the following steps:

1. Engage: Garner an understanding of students’ prior knowledge on the subject and identify any gaps
2. Explore: Through activities and learning experience students indulge in concrete learning experience
3. Explain: The teacher uses questioning and multimedia to aid students in synthesization of new information.
4. Elaborate: Teachers give students the space to share what they have learned and apply it.
5. Evaluate: Teachers may choose an appropriate form of evaluation; in my unit’s case it will be informal assessment of student understanding through their participation in lessons and in making the PSA video.⁴¹

Experiential Learning

The primary form of teaching and learning for my unit will be experiential. Experiential learning practices four levels of a learning cycle- experiencing, reflecting, acting, and thinking. This way of teaching gives students the space to answer questions and experience situations on their own without being fed information. Relatable experiences make learning natural and organic, solidifying deeply deliberate learning.⁴²

Discussion Based Learning

In order to both grasp students’ prior knowledge and reflect meaningfully on learning, discussion-based teaching will offer my young students dynamic and generative spaces to build confidence and concrete knowledge. Through structured prompts and planned conversation, I will encourage students to verbalize what they are thinking and help them infer with their peers. Discussion based learning in the classroom has been linked to greater student motivation, and improved communication skills.⁴³

Questions for teachers to ask themselves before leading should be-

• What is the goal of the discussion?
• How will it support student learning?
• What are your expectations of student participation and contributions to the discussion? (Do you expect all students to speak? (Use equity sticks)
• How will you communicate the goals and expectations to students?

Responses to students should be explicit and substantive, to motivate future discussions. These responses should be formulated as-

• Compliment: I like that you said __ because __
• Comment: I agree/disagree with ___ because
• Connect: I also thought…
• Question: I wonder why….⁴⁴

These responses can also be taught to students so that they may respond to each other in this fashion.