Explore first
Learners make a guess first, then get the explanation — curiosity does the rest.
Based on: the 5E inquiry model — Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate. Learners think about a question before they get the answer. A guess, even a wrong one, makes the explanation stick (researchers call it the pretesting effect).
When to use it
- The facts surprise, or people's intuition is often wrong.
- You want to raise curiosity before you explain.
- Topics like statistics, customer behaviour, how a product really works.
How the lesson flows
| # | Phase | Card | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engage | Poll — What do you think? | A provocative question; learners see how others voted. |
| 2 | Explore | Quiz — Make a guess | Learners guess. The comment says kindly that a wrong guess is fine. |
| 3 | Explain | Card — Here's how it works | The explanation, linked to the guess. |
| 4 | Elaborate | Card — In a different situation | The same idea somewhere else. |
| 5 | Elaborate | Ordering or Matching | Practice. |
| 6 | Evaluate | Quiz — Check your understanding | Checks the idea. |
Example
Why customers leave: the poll asks "What's the most common reason customers cancel?" Most vote "price". The quiz asks for a guess; the comment reveals it's poor onboarding. The explanation shows the data, then the same pattern in internal tools nobody uses.
Tips
- The opening question should have no obvious answer.
- Don't make the guess feel like a test. Say in the comment that most people guess wrong.
- Keep the explanation short — the guess has already done half the work.
Where it comes from
The 5E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) was developed in the late 1980s by a team led by Rodger Bybee at BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study) in the United States, a non-profit that writes science curricula for schools. It's still one of the most widely used lesson models in science teaching.
It builds on the learning cycle that Robert Karplus and J. Myron Atkin introduced in the early 1960s. Behind both is Jean Piaget's idea that understanding grows when people run into something that doesn't fit what they already think, and have to adjust their thinking.
Did you know?
- The order matters: the explanation comes only after learners have explored and guessed. Research on productive failure (Manu Kapur and others) suggests that trying to solve a problem before being taught can help people understand it more deeply, even when the attempt fails.
- A guess also makes people curious. Once you've committed to an answer, you want to know if you were right, and the explanation that follows gets much more attention.
- Some versions of the model add more phases, for example 7E with Elicit (find out what learners already think) and Extend (apply it further).