LearniT-TeachiT Lesson Plans and the 6ES Model of Instruction

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Teacher Instructions: This section is designed to provide you, the teacher, with an overview of the lesson and some of the preparation and prerequisite requirements.  It is our intention to ensure that you have a complete and accurate picture of the lesson before you take the time to download the plan. The following six sections (the 6ES Model) should be distributed to your students for them to follow the project instructions.

Engage:  This is the section where the topic is introduced in an interesting way.  It is an opportunity to provide some information but to encourage the students to seek out new information.  Often this section will arouse a student's curiosity, violate their current notions of the way things ought to be or incite them to pursue answers to their own questions.  It is important not to provide them with everything they need to know, but more the motivation to find out.  Each lesson plan has an 'essential question' that is the basis for their inquiry. Normally the section will include a few key questions to help direct some of the research in the Explore section.

Explore:  This is the section where the student investigates the topic more thoroughly.  In these lessons the investigation takes the form of Internet research but it could equally include original research and the use of a variety of problem solving techniques.  What is important is that the students are given the opportunity to "free wheel" their way through the materials and not be over directed.  We all know however, that they will need some direction and the teacher can circulate, asking important questions, listening to their interactions and ensuring that they remain on task. 

Explain:  As teachers, we will all have to resist the urge to be the ones that do the explaining at this point.  This section provides the student with the opportunity to "explain" or in some way demonstrate their grasp of the concepts after completing their research.  Normally this section will contain key questions and/or instruction for requiring the student to provide a summary of what they have learned in the Explore section.  This can and should, where possible, take the form of class or group discussion as well.   

​Elaborate: In this section of the lesson plan the students are expected to work directly on the given assignment.  It is their opportunity to demonstrate their application of new information and to present their findings or conclusions to others.  It is a good time for submitting materials for evaluation, doing presentations and completing the project or assignment.

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Evaluate:  While it is expected that evaluation will continue throughout the process, this is the section where the teacher evaluates the learning that has occurred.  We have provided some tools and suggestions for evaluation but anticipate that teachers will want to adapt these tools for their own use.  Students normally submit their work or assignments at this point.  It is very important at this stage that the students be encouraged to engage in self-evaluation, group evaluation and develop their own tools to do so.  

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Extend:  This section contains some suggestions for taking the students beyond the lesson.  The purpose is to examine ways in which they can bring their findings to others or apply their understanding to new and unfamiliar circumstances.  Normally, this type of activity will grow out of their excitement for what they have accomplished.   This section is highly student driven, though teachers may want to gently suggest that the students enter their work in a competition or take their displays to other locations outside of their own school. 

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Standards:  Standards are currently in the process of being integrated, lesson plan by lesson plan.  In this section, the lessons are matched with State, Provincial and/or national standards.  It is primarily for the information of the teacher and should provide the information necessary to incorporate the lesson into the local board, district or school curriculum.