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Not Just for Science: Using the 5E Instructional Model to Engage and Respond to Students' Thinking in Mathematics and Literacy

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Title: Not Just for Science: Using the 5E Instructional Model to Engage and Respond to Students' Thinking in Mathematics and Literacy
Language: English
Authors: Elizabeth A. Fogarty (ORCID 0000-0003-0159-5600), Janine M. Firmender (ORCID 0009-0006-8488-019X), Catherine A. Little (ORCID 0000-0001-6720-943X)
Source: Gifted Child Today. 2026 49(2):102-109.
Availability: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 8
Publication Date: 2026
Sponsoring Agency: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) (ED), Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program
Contract Number: S206A170030
Intended Audience: Teachers
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Descriptors: Academically Gifted, Gifted Education, Talent Development, Teaching Methods, Inquiry, Cognitive Development, Teaching Models, Mathematics Education, Numeracy, Literacy, Literacy Education
DOI: 10.1177/10762175251409245
ISSN: 1076-2175
2162-951X
Abstract: Using the 5E inquiry model to plan learning experiences in literacy and mathematics provides opportunities for centering students' thinking and reasoning and engaging students in the productive struggle. This shift in pedagogical approach necessitates planning with student inquiry in mind. As the teacher's role shifts from provider of information to facilitator of students' learning experiences, students demonstrate their learning progress through the five phases of this inquiry-based approach, Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Throughout the phases of a 5E inquiry lesson, there are multiple opportunities for students to apply, share, and discuss their thinking. Gauging student progress in each phase allows teachers to plan follow-up experiences that provide additional challenge and continued opportunities for growth.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1502995
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0192874149;gct01apr.26;2026Apr13.01:31;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0192874149-1">Not Just for Science: Using the 5E Instructional Model to Engage and Respond to Students' Thinking in Mathematics and Literacy </title> <p>Using the 5E inquiry model to plan learning experiences in literacy and mathematics provides opportunities for centering students' thinking and reasoning and engaging students in the productive struggle. This shift in pedagogical approach necessitates planning with student inquiry in mind. As the teacher's role shifts from provider of information to facilitator of students' learning experiences, students demonstrate their learning progress through the five phases of this inquiry-based approach, Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Throughout the phases of a 5E inquiry lesson, there are multiple opportunities for students to apply, share, and discuss their thinking. Gauging student progress in each phase allows teachers to plan follow-up experiences that provide additional challenge and continued opportunities for growth.</p> <p>Keywords: math; differentiation; reading; gifted educaiton; problem solving; young gifted; cognitive development; curriculum; instructional strategies; talent development; underserved populations</p> <p>Planning and teaching a lesson with the 5E model is a departure from more traditional, teacher-centered methods of content delivery in literacy and mathematics."</p> <p>During a recent research project, teachers used an inquiry-based lesson plan framework for designing lessons that focused on supporting grades K-3 teachers in recognizing and responding to signs of advanced academic potential. In this project, teachers implemented inquiry-based lessons in literacy and mathematics with all learners and observed how students engaged with the work. As they developed these lessons, teachers anticipated possible responses they might see from students and planned for specific ways to provide additional challenge or support based on student response. Evidence from classroom observations demonstrated increased use of several important discourse practices (e.g., teacher and student linking of ideas in discussion), and teachers reported high levels of student responsiveness and indicators of advanced potential from a diverse range of learners ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref1">9</reflink>]).</p> <p>The 5E Instructional Model ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref2">3</reflink>]) was the inquiry-based framework selected for this project. While originally designed to guide the development of inquiry-based science lessons, this approach can be used across content areas to provide opportunities for students to interact deeply with content as they develop conceptual understandings. Such an approach provides the context for students to demonstrate their learning progress and needs and for teachers to interpret and respond accordingly, including providing additional challenge and scaffolding.</p> <p>Some students demonstrate clear signs of advanced learning and a need for additional challenge early in school, but for other young children advanced academic potential may be more hidden ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref3">16</reflink>]). Therefore, support for all children to have access to learning experiences that will uncover and promote their talent development is necessary ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref4">7</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref5">12</reflink>]). When learning experiences invite behaviors indicative of high potential, teachers can engage in "talent spotting" efforts with all their learners and adjust follow-up instruction to support appropriate levels of challenge ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref6">13</reflink>]).</p> <p>Inquiry-based lessons can be useful contexts for inviting <emph>all</emph> students to demonstrate behaviors indicating high potential. Such lessons provide multiple opportunities for student response to challenging tasks that might be open-ended or slightly ambiguous, or might include multiple reasonable answers. When designed to engage all students while also including space for students to show different levels of complexity and understanding, inquiry-based lessons offer teachers opportunities to observe and respond to a wide range of learners through differentiation. Such responses occur through application of discourse practices to challenge and support student thinking as well as extension questions and activities tailored to individual needs. This article provides an example of 5E lessons that were created in mathematics and literacy to show how teachers can shift their focus to fostering student-centered learning, encouraging inquiry, and promoting deeper engagement with concepts through hands-on exploration and critical thinking.</p> <hd id="AN0192874149-2">Overview of the 5E Model</hd> <p>The 5E model provides a framework for designing and implementing inquiry-based lessons to offer opportunities for students to develop ideas and questions about a concept based on their experiences and further investigate these ideas. As the name would suggest, there are five phases of a lesson designed with the 5E model: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate (see Figure 1).</p> <p>Graph: Figure 1.Phases of the 5E model.</p> <p>In the first phase, Engage, "[t]he main point is that the students are puzzled and thinking about content related to the learning outcomes of the instructional sequence" ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref7">2</reflink>], p. 11). By presenting a hook related to the focus concept of the lesson, teachers engage students in opportunities to discuss what they already know about it and/or develop questions related to it. These ideas and questions lead to the Explore phase, where students begin to investigate a problem or question related to the concepts. Students work collaboratively on the exploration, which often involves "concrete, hands-on experiences where students express their current conceptions and demonstrate their abilities as they try to clarify puzzling elements of the Engage phase" ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref8">2</reflink>], p. 11).</p> <p>In the Explain phase, "the teacher introduces scientific or technological concepts briefly and explicitly" ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref9">2</reflink>], p. 11) and based on ideas generated by the students through their explorations and investigations. This allows the teacher to provide specific information to help focus and refine students' ideas and for students to make connections between their initial ideas and the information provided. The students have the chance to then deepen their understanding, when in the Elaborate phase "students are engaged in learning experiences that extend, expand, and enrich the concepts and abilities developed in the prior phases" ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref10">2</reflink>], p. 11). One way to provide these experiences is to introduce a task related to the concept that is more complex. This task also can be differentiated to provide more support for or further extend students' thinking about the concept.</p> <p>While some informal assessment takes place throughout the phases of an inquiry-based lesson, the Evaluation phase is when teachers may formatively assess students' learning. This may occur as students share their ideas through written and/or oral means. Teachers then can provide students with feedback and help students to continue to refine their ideas about the concept.</p> <hd id="AN0192874149-3">Shifting Towards Planning for Inquiry in Mathematics and Literacy</hd> <p>While inquiry-based lessons in science are fairly common, mathematics and literacy lessons are more often taught using a direct instruction approach. In most direct instruction lessons, teachers present information at the outset and provide students with opportunities to incorporate the ideas into existing schema through practice. In contrast, in an inquiry-based approach, teachers design learning opportunities to facilitate students' creation of meaning based on their experiences as they move through the lesson—which is an approach that can be applied across content areas. Additionally, it is valuable for students to engage in explorations and investigations of concepts, develop connections, and engage in in-depth thinking to build their own understanding around concepts in both mathematics and literacy ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref11">1</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref12">10</reflink>]).</p> <p>This shift in pedagogical approach, in mathematics and literacy lessons, necessitates planning with inquiry in mind. The teacher's role shifts from the provider of information to facilitator of students' learning experiences. To adjust lesson planning in the areas of mathematics and literacy to this inquiry approach, teachers should start with identifying the intended learning outcome, consider ways to center student thinking, identify areas of the lesson in which students may demonstrate advanced understanding and areas of struggle, and consider ways to further students' thinking and understanding when they do. In addition to these planning efforts, teachers also have to think about the ways in which the format of the lesson is different from what they and students are used to and consider how to respond to that within the context of the lesson.</p> <hd id="AN0192874149-4">Starting with the Learning Outcome</hd> <p>Although there is not one right sequence of steps to design a lesson with the 5E model, identifying the intended learning outcome, often a grade level standard, should be the starting place. This learning outcome provides direction for the overall lesson as teachers use it to guide their thinking to plan each phase. Teachers can also use it as the basis for developing an open-ended, slightly ambiguous, or appropriately complex task for students to investigate during the lesson. This task may provide a useful opportunity for teachers to observe the different levels of thinking students bring to their work.</p> <hd id="AN0192874149-5">Centering Student Thinking</hd> <p>Throughout the phases of a 5E inquiry lesson, there should be multiple opportunities for students to apply, share, and discuss their thinking. Teachers must purposely develop tasks and questions that have multiple reasonable responses and that require students to engage in higher levels of thinking—thus, the questions should require more than recall, and the tasks should not be possible for students to complete through rote application of a practiced skill. At different stages of the lesson, students have opportunities to generate new ideas in response to a question, prompt or task; make decisions about how to approach a problem or situation; and apply new information, background knowledge, or personal experiences to their learning.</p> <p>Essential to student-centered discourse in an inquiry context is that teachers plan how to help students think about concepts before telling them what to think. This requires developing purposeful, open-ended questions that will engage higher-level thinking skills and allow for a range of student responses related to the lesson's concepts. To plan the facilitation of this student-centered discourse, teachers should intentionally organize the classroom space so students can see and hear one another during discussions and develop classroom routines for prompting students to expand on their thinking and evaluate the reasoning of others, such as the "Say More" and "Agree/Disagree and why" talk moves ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref13">4</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0192874149-6">Identifying Opportunities to Observe Student Understanding</hd> <p>Typically, students are asked to demonstrate their understanding of the topic at the end of a lesson. While this allows them to express what they have learned about the concepts, it may limit teachers' opportunity to capitalize on students' understandings <emph>during</emph> the lesson. An inquiry-based approach encourages ongoing opportunities for students to share understandings and for teachers to respond and differentiate throughout the learning experience. For example, in the lesson design process, teachers should anticipate moments where students may demonstrate higher-level thinking skills and/or high-potential behaviors, as well as moments when misconceptions and potential struggle may arise. Intentionally anticipating these instances provides the teacher the chance to plan ahead for ways to support and provide additional challenge or extension.</p> <p>While engaged in learning experiences, students may demonstrate indicators of a range of high-potential behaviors, such as perceptive, strategic, communicative, resourceful, creative, curious, leadership, and resilient behaviors. These high-potential behaviors are connected to students' ability to learn, apply knowledge, show creativity, and demonstrate motivation ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref14">6</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref15">15</reflink>]) and therefore can indicate a need for challenge or extension. A critical part of this discussion is recognizing that the behaviors may look different across students. Teachers can think about what they might expect from students based on what they know of students' background and recognize when the students are showing behaviors that are exceptional based on that understanding ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref16">7</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0192874149-7">Planning Ways to Respond to Student Understanding</hd> <p>Once opportunities for observing student understanding are identified during the lesson planning process, teachers should plan how they would respond when they notice that students are finding a task too easy or have advanced understanding of the content, in addition to when students are struggling in ways that are unproductive (e.g., showing frustration). The goal here is for teachers to plan to respond to students' understanding in ways that enable all students to engage in productive struggle ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref17">10</reflink>]). Practically, this may look like teachers writing strategies and questions directly into lesson plans that represent these types of responses to students' thinking. This helps with maintaining high expectations and providing appropriate levels of challenge and support.</p> <p>To prepare for responding to students who have demonstrated advanced understanding and/or the task is too easy for them, teachers should plan ways to re-engage students with productive struggle by increasing challenge. Differentiation strategies include providing higher-level or more complex questions, problems, or examples for students to explore, investigate, and discuss. In mathematics, for example, if students are exploring ways to create different representations of a number (e.g., ten frames, base-ten blocks), teachers could ask the students to evaluate their representations to develop one that they think none of their classmates would use. This would encourage flexibility and originality in thinking. Similarly, in literacy, students who demonstrate that they are able to make strong text-to-self connections about a text the class has read could be asked to extrapolate beyond themselves to connect the text to other texts the class has read, or to situations happening in the world. These connections allow students to demonstrate perceptiveness by looking for commonalities among themes and plots across multiple texts to better understand how authors use these literary elements to build meaning.</p> <p>To prepare for responding to students who are struggling with tasks or concepts in unproductive ways, teachers should be mindful to be supportive, but not provide too much help and therefore overtaking students' thinking ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref18">8</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref19">14</reflink>]). Instead teachers could plan to use strategies such as asking metacognitive questions to help students reflect on their thinking. They also can help students identify what is causing them to struggle and encourage them to think about the process and not just about determining a correct answer ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref20">17</reflink>]). For example, when exploring a problem students may become frustrated if they do not know where to begin. Instead of telling the student what the first step should be, a teacher can ask questions to determine student understanding of the problem and follow up with a question such as, "If you are trying to figure out ..., what strategy that we've learned might you try?" For students struggling with a reading passage, teachers should encourage the use of metacognition to evaluate which reading strategies they have already tried, and which reading strategy they might try next Table 1.</p> <p>Table 1. Grade 1 Literacy Lesson Example.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="top"><tr><th align="left">Phase of the 5E Model</th><th align="center">Lesson Tasks</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td align="left">Engage</td><td align="left">At the onset of the lesson, students are asked to think about what they think the word "love" means. They are invited to share their ideas with a partner.</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Explore</td><td align="left">Students move into small groups with a copy of the book <italic>Love</italic> and view the pictures as the teacher reads aloud. Throughout the book, the teacher asks students to talk with their group about how the author shows love using the pictures or the phrases. At times, groups are asked to share their thoughts, which the teacher can record on chart paper or the board.</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Explain</td><td align="left">After reading, the teacher asks the students to use the new information from the book to consider again their definition of love. With a partner, students once again discuss and refine their thinking.</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Elaborate</td><td align="left">Using their working definition, each student creates a book page that uses both text and illustration to show their definition of love. Students who show high potential can create their page using words and a picture after viewing pages 29–30 to respond to the question, "If you are looking at yourself in the mirror and see the face staring back, what would that 'love' look like?" Students who need writing support might be given a sentence frame similar to this: "To me love looks like_______, love feels like _________, and love sounds like __________."</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Evaluate</td><td align="left">After completing their book pages, students gather to learn from others' point of view. Students share their page and see how their ideas are similar to and different from those of their peers.</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0192874149-8">Lesson Examples</hd> <p>The following are brief descriptions of grade 1 literacy and mathematics inquiry-based lessons that were developed by teachers as part of a research study using the 5E model. The teachers attended professional learning workshops, worked collaboratively in grade level teams to develop the lessons, implemented the lessons with their students, and revised the lessons based on feedback gathered across multiple classrooms and schools. Throughout the planning and revising of each of the lessons, the teachers in the study also considered moments in the lesson at which students may demonstrate behaviors indicating high-potential. They wrote reflections on each lesson after implementing it, and then shared these reflections with one another to support their lesson revisions. The examples below represent only two examples of the lessons developed by the teachers throughout the study. All of the lessons developed throughout the project are available here: https://lift.uconn.edu/lessons/.</p> <hd id="AN0192874149-9">Sample Literacy Lesson</hd> <p>In the lesson "What Love is to Me," first graders explore the concept of "Love" based on their own perspective, the perspective of their peers, and also by identifying words and phrases from the text, <emph>Love</emph> ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref21">5</reflink>]), that contribute to their understanding. Students refine their definition of love throughout the lesson, thinking about different points of view and gathering information from various sources to connect to their own ideas. The tasks in this lesson are aligned to the Common Core ELA Literacy Standard RL.1.4—"Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses."</p> <p>Using the 5E Model in this lesson allows students to rethink and refine their definition and helps teachers determine which students are grasping the concept at a more advanced level. During the Explore and Explain phases, for example, a teacher might notice that students are finding relevant details from the words and pictures to describe and elaborate on how the author shows love, and recognizing the ways in which peers' definitions of love are similar to and different from their own. One teacher reflected,</p> <p>The kids enjoyed [sharing] their view point of love. The abstract idea of love is difficult for them to understand but some children were able to say love is kindness or friendship, not just playing with my dog. One student said, "Treat people how you want to be treated." Love means happy. Those children were my deeper thinkers. The students were able to talk about the feelings they saw in the book. (Teacher 48, Lesson Reflection, Nov. 19, 2021)</p> <p>Those students who are able to identify and explain patterns that emerge across those definitions are demonstrating <emph>perceptive thinking</emph> in a way that may indicate readiness for additional challenge. In the Elaborate phase, individual students contribute a book page of their own and may include the different definitions across individuals. Students who show understanding of different perspectives might be invited to think about those connections among many people, or within oneself. Another teacher noted, "When students gathered together to show their perspective of love. I noticed very in depth conversation and discussion describing each person's perspective and view on love. I also was able to hear students make connections or share respectable [<emph>sic</emph>] disagreements" (Teacher 31, Lesson Reflection, June 3, 2022) (Table 2).</p> <p>Table 2. Grade 1 Mathematics Lesson Example.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="top"><tr><th align="left">Phase of the 5E Model</th><th align="center">Lesson Tasks</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td align="left">Engage</td><td align="left">To prepare students to engage with the mathematics content, the teacher displays the number "37" and asks students to describe what they know about the number. All student ideas are welcome, but the teacher emphasizes the ideas students share that are related to place value since this will be the focus of the lesson.</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Explore</td><td align="left">In pairs, students use what they already know to work on representing two-digit numbers using base-ten blocks. To determine the two-digit number to represent, students roll two ten-sided dice—one that has the numbers 1–10 and another that has the numbers 0–90 (in multiples of 10).</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Explain</td><td align="left">The students and teacher discuss the representations students created with the base-ten blocks. Ultimately, in this discussion and through the students' examples, the teacher explains concepts related to place value, such as the value of a digit in the ones and tens place and that the digit in each place represents the number of tens and ones in a number.</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Elaborate</td><td align="left">Students build on their understanding of the place value concepts by playing a strategic game, the goal of which is to reach a target number on a 120-chart without going over it. On each turn, students decide to roll either the 1–10 or the 0-90 die to move towards the target number. If the result of the roll is that students go over the target number, they lose that turn. The complexity of the game can be increased by altering the rules so that students may decide to roll one of the dice multiple times within one turn. However, if students go over the target number after a roll, they lose that turn.</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Evaluate</td><td align="left">To evaluate students' understanding of the place value concepts, teachers first invite discussion of how students made their decisions while playing the game. They then analyze a sample game board for a fictional student to determine which decisions the student had made about rolling the dice and the outcome of each roll. Students explain if they would have made the same or different decisions during the game.</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0192874149-10">Sample Mathematics Lesson</hd> <p>This first-grade lesson engages students in exploring place value and the understanding that the value of each digit is determined by its place in a number. They play a game that requires them to think strategically about place value to reach a target number. The lesson aligns with the Common Core Mathematics Standard 1. NBT.B.2—"Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones" ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref22">11</reflink>]).</p> <p>In this sample mathematics lesson, students may demonstrate indicators of high potential while planning and making decisions. Some students may recognize patterns and key details as they represent numbers in different ways in the Explore phase, thus showing perceptive thinking and potential readiness for additional challenge and complexity. During the Elaborate phase, students may show strategic thinking in how they reason and make decisions before rolling the dice in the game. When students demonstrate these behaviors, the teacher can differentiate the follow-up task by increasing the complexity of the game rules, as described above. This increased complexity of the game responds to the students' needs by further engaging students in thinking strategically about the content because they now have to make multiple decisions on each turn, re-evaluate the situation after each roll, and consider the likelihood of rolling a 0–9 or 10–90 number that will result in losing a turn.</p> <p>Following the development of this lesson, four of the teachers in the study taught the lesson with all of the first-grade students in their classes and reflected on the high-potential behaviors, types of thinking, and the productive struggle that students displayed or engaged in. One teacher mentioned that while playing the game, students</p> <p>were using more decision making skills as they saw the consequences of their decisions. For example, at first most wanted to use the tens dice until they noticed that for a lot of their target numbers they had a greater chance of going over their target number if they rolled using that dice (Teacher 30, Lesson Reflection, June 3, 2022)</p> <p>Multiple teachers commented that having to make a choice about which die to use to reach the target number on each turn caused some "great thinking" and "productive struggle" for students. Teachers reported following up with these students by asking them to further explain their thinking to their partners and to increase the complexity of the game by introducing three-digit numbers and playing the game with a 200-chart.</p> <hd id="AN0192874149-11">Conclusion</hd> <p>The primary goal of the project was for teachers to elicit evidence of and respond to high-potential thinking and behaviors in their students' through teaching the inquiry-based lessons they designed with <emph>all</emph> of their students. Presenting these tasks for <emph>all</emph> students, rather than only those perceived or identified as advanced, allowed high-potential behaviors to emerge from a variety of students. Additionally, the focus of the project was to provide engaging, challenging opportunities for all students to wrestle with ambiguity and complexity and to push their thinking in different directions. Further, these learning experiences presented advanced learners with tasks that encouraged them to struggle in productive ways and to have to think through questions without quick and straightforward answers.</p> <p>Overall, planning and teaching a lesson with the 5E model is a departure from more traditional, teacher-centered methods of content delivery in literacy and mathematics. The model provides opportunities for teachers to focus on many possible pathways of student response and student questions, to invite and accept more examples of student thinking, and to provide instruction in a way that is flexible and responsive to students bringing a wide range of ideas. Thus, teachers must be intentional in planning to center students' thinking and ideas during learning experiences, to "acknowledge that struggle is an important and natural part of learning" ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref23">17</reflink>], p. 392), and to respond in ways that extend or support students' thinking.</p> <hd id="AN0192874149-12">ORCID iDs</hd> <p>Elizabeth A. Fogarty https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0159-5600</p> <p>Janine M. Firmender https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8488-019X</p> <p>Catherine A. Little https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6720-943X</p> <ref id="AN0192874149-13"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref11" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Beach P., Cleovoulou Y. (2014). An inquiry-based approach to critical literacy: Pedagogical nuances of a second grade classroom. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 60(1), 161–181. https://doi.org/10.11575/ajer.v60i1.55819</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref7" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Bybee R. W. (2014). The BSCS 5E instructional model: Personal reflections and contemporary implications. Science and Children, 51(8), 10-13. https://doi.org/10.2505/4/sc14_051_08_10</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib3" idref="ref2" type="bt">3</bibl> <bibtext> Bybee R. W., Taylor J. A., Gardner A., Van Scotter P., Powell J. C., Westbrook A., Landes N. (2006). The BSCS 5E instructional model: Origins and effectiveness. Colorado Springs, CO: BSCS. https://bscs.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bscs_5e_full_report-1.pdf</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib4" idref="ref13" type="bt">4</bibl> <bibtext> Chapin S. H., O'Connor C., Anderson N. C. (2013). 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Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 20(7), 390–393. https://doi.org/10.5951/mathteacmiddscho.20.7.0390</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0192874149-14"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibtext> The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported under the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program [PR/Award Number S206A170030], as administered by the OESE, U.S. Department of Education.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Elizabeth A. Fogarty; Janine M. Firmender and Catherine A. Little</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>Dr. Elizabeth Fogarty is an associate professor of literacy in the Teacher Education Department at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota where she utilizes practice-based teacher education with both pre-service and experienced teachers of literacy. In addition to helping teachers challenge gifted readers and differentiate to challenge all students, Liz is also focused on the use of co-teaching to increase equitable instructional practices in K-12 and college classrooms. Liz currently is a Past President of the Minnesota Educators of the Gifted and Talented.</p> <p>Janine M. Firmender, Ph.D., is a professor in the Teacher Education Department at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is also pursuing research interests in the areas of engaging students in mathematical writing and meeting the needs of mathematically talented students. In 2015 she co-led the Elementary Mathematical Writing Task Force, supported through a National Science Foundation conference grant. Dr. Firmender has been an active member of the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, the National Association for Gifted Children, and NAGC STEM network. She also has served on the NAGC Advisory Board for Teaching of High Potential.</p> <p>Catherine A. Little, Ph.D., is a professor in Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include professional learning, differentiation of curriculum and instruction for advanced learners, and questioning practices. Catherine completed her graduate work at William and Mary, where she also served as Curriculum Coordinator for the Center for Gifted Education. Recently, she has been Project Director for Project SPARK, Project LIFT, and Project Focus, which are Javits-funded initiatives focused on working with schools and teachers to recognize and respond to advanced academic potential in the elementary grades, particularly in students from underserved populations.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref5"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref22"></nolink>
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  Data: Not Just for Science: Using the 5E Instructional Model to Engage and Respond to Students' Thinking in Mathematics and Literacy
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Elizabeth+A%2E+Fogarty%22">Elizabeth A. Fogarty</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0159-5600">0000-0003-0159-5600</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Janine+M%2E+Firmender%22">Janine M. Firmender</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8488-019X">0009-0006-8488-019X</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Catherine+A%2E+Little%22">Catherine A. Little</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6720-943X">0000-0001-6720-943X</externalLink>)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Gifted+Child+Today%22"><i>Gifted Child Today</i></searchLink>. 2026 49(2):102-109.
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  Data: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
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  Data: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) (ED), Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program
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  Data: Teachers
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Descriptive
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academically+Gifted%22">Academically Gifted</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gifted+Education%22">Gifted Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Talent+Development%22">Talent Development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Methods%22">Teaching Methods</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Inquiry%22">Inquiry</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognitive+Development%22">Cognitive Development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Models%22">Teaching Models</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mathematics+Education%22">Mathematics Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Numeracy%22">Numeracy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Literacy%22">Literacy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Literacy+Education%22">Literacy Education</searchLink>
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  Data: 10.1177/10762175251409245
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  Data: Using the 5E inquiry model to plan learning experiences in literacy and mathematics provides opportunities for centering students' thinking and reasoning and engaging students in the productive struggle. This shift in pedagogical approach necessitates planning with student inquiry in mind. As the teacher's role shifts from provider of information to facilitator of students' learning experiences, students demonstrate their learning progress through the five phases of this inquiry-based approach, Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Throughout the phases of a 5E inquiry lesson, there are multiple opportunities for students to apply, share, and discuss their thinking. Gauging student progress in each phase allows teachers to plan follow-up experiences that provide additional challenge and continued opportunities for growth.
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