The 5 E's Strategy

Using the 5 E's in Lesson Planning.
This week I planned a STEM lesson on Adaptations. My lesson required the studenst to have a background knowledge of adaptations and evolution. The students were put into teacher assigned groups. Each group was a different flock of birds (duck, warbler, hawk, hummingbird, finch, and a heron). They were given different tools that represented their beaks. Example hummingbird's beak was represented by an eye dropper.  At the beginning they had to predict which habitat was best fro their bird. Each flock had to visit the 6 different feeding habitats and see if they could use their beak to gather food. They had to write down their observations. At the end they had to answer questions with their group members and pick one of the other habitats would work if their habitat were destroyed.
I implemented this lesson last week. My students loved the activity. I am fortunate enough that at my school we have a science lab that we share. If i had not had this then I would have had to work in a smaller space which might not have made this experience as great for the students because they would have been bumping into each other as they "flew" from habitat to habitat.
I have to admit that this was a completely different way from my normal lesson planning. Since this was my first time to create a lesson plan using this format it did take quite a bit longer. I do like this way of planning and I am sure that if it was used on a regular basis then it would soon not be as time consuming. This year I have been trying to steer away from teacher led discussion to more students centered discussion and hand on activities. My kids love hand on activities and demonstrations. These are the lessons that seem to stick with them more. I believe that by using the 5 E's approach it would help to move away from from lecture to a more students friendly and fun classroom.