5E Lesson Plan Generator
See a finished plan
Grade 3 · Why some objects sink and others float
Sink or Float? A 5E Sequence for 3rd Grade
Standards: NGSS 3-5-ETS1-3 (plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled)
Anchoring phenomenon: A large, heavy-looking pumpkin floats in a tub of water, and a small metal paper clip sinks.
Essential question: Why do some things float and other things sink, even when the floating thing is bigger?
Learning Objectives
- Students will predict whether an object will sink or float and record the prediction with a reason.
- Students will carry out a fair test by changing only one thing about an object and recording what happens.
- Students will explain, in a drawing with labels, how an object's material and shape change whether it floats.
Success Criteria
- I can make a prediction and give a reason for it.
- I can change only one thing at a time in my test.
- I can use the words float, sink, material and shape to explain what I saw.
Prior Knowledge and Common Preconceptions
Students have played with water and know some objects float. Common preconceptions: big things sink and small things float; heavy things always sink; only "light" materials like wood float.
Materials
- 1 clear tub of water per table, towels
- Object kit per table: paper clip, cork, crayon, small rock, plastic spoon, metal spoon, apple slice, two equal balls of clay
- 1 pan balance per table
- Aluminum foil squares (15 cm), pennies, sticky notes
- A pumpkin or large orange for the demonstration
- Prediction sheet and a class "Driving Questions" chart
Test every kit object in water before the lesson: plastic spoons and crayons vary by brand, and an object that behaves unexpectedly should be swapped or kept on purpose.
Safety: Wipe up spills right away to prevent slips. Students do not taste any objects, including the apple.
Engage (1 session, 20 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students meet the pumpkin and paper clip and record their first ideas.
Student tasks: Students watch the teacher lower the pumpkin and the paper clip into water. Each student draws what happened and writes one sentence about why on a sticky note. Pairs add questions to the Driving Questions chart.
Teacher moves: "What surprised you?" "Who has a different idea about why the pumpkin floated?"
Formative check: Sort the sticky-note explanations into groups (size, weight, material) to see which preconceptions are present.
UDL and differentiation: Sentence frame "I think it ___ because ___." Students can draw instead of write.
Explore (1 session, 45 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students test whether size, weight or material decides what floats.
Student tasks: Tables predict sink or float for each object, then test one at a time and record results. They use the pan balance to compare a floating object with a sinking one of about the same weight. Then every table takes one clay ball and changes only its shape, trying to make it float, while the second ball stays as it is for comparison.
Teacher moves: "How will you make it a fair test?" "What will you keep the same?" "Is the floating object always the lighter one?"
Formative check: Each table shares one result that did not match its prediction.
UDL and differentiation: Picture cards for each object. An extension card asks students to find two objects of the same weight where one floats and one sinks.
Explain (1 session, 30 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students revise their first drawing of the pumpkin with new evidence.
Student tasks: Tables share their models first. The class compares each table's clay ball with its clay boat. Only then does the teacher introduce material and shape as the two ideas that explain the results.
Teacher moves: "Your two clay pieces weighed the same. Why did one float?"
Formative check: Students add one labeled change to their Engage drawing.
UDL and differentiation: A word wall with pictures for float, sink, material, shape. Partners can explain their drawing aloud before labeling it.
Elaborate (1 session, 35 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students apply shape and material to a new problem.
Student tasks: Design challenge: build a foil boat that holds the most pennies. Criteria: one foil square, floats for 10 seconds. Teams test, count pennies and improve once.
Teacher moves: "What did you change in your second boat, and why?"
Formative check: Each team explains one design change using the word shape.
UDL and differentiation: Pre-shaped foil trays for students who need support with fine motor tasks. Advanced teams predict their penny count before each test.
Evaluate (1 session, 30 minutes)
Summative task: Students predict, with a reason, whether a new object (a metal key or a hollow plastic egg) will float, and test it. Then they write how they would test whether shape matters, changing only one thing. Finally they draw and label why the pumpkin floats and the paper clip sinks.
Proficient exemplar: "I predict the key will sink because it is solid metal. To test shape, I would use two clay balls that weigh the same and only change the shape of one. The pumpkin floats because it is hollow and full of air, like our clay boat. The paper clip sinks because it is solid metal. When we shaped clay into a boat, it floated, so shape matters too."
UDL and differentiation: Students can say their prediction and test plan to the teacher instead of writing them. Provide the word wall and a labeled diagram template.
Grade 7 · Conduction, convection and radiation
Why Does the Spoon Get Hot? A 5E Sequence on Heat Transfer for 7th Grade
Standards: NGSS MS-PS3-3 (apply scientific principles to design, construct and test a device that minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer)
Anchoring phenomenon: A metal spoon left in a cup of hot cocoa becomes too hot to hold, and a wooden spoon in the same cup stays cool.
Essential question: How does thermal energy move from one place to another?
Learning Objectives
- Students will compare conduction, convection and radiation by classifying everyday examples and justifying each choice with evidence.
- Students will design a test that measures how fast different materials conduct heat and identify the variable they changed and the variables they kept the same.
- Students will construct a model that traces the path of thermal energy from the cocoa to a hand.
Success Criteria
- I can name the type of heat transfer in a situation and explain my reasoning.
- I can plan a fair test with one independent variable.
- I can draw a model that shows where energy moves and in which direction.
Prior Knowledge and Common Preconceptions
Students know that hot things cool down and can read a thermometer. Common preconceptions: cold flows into warm objects; metal is "naturally colder" than wood; heat and temperature mean the same thing.
Materials
- Rods of copper, aluminum, steel, wood and plastic of equal length
- Butter (melts at about 32–35 °C) and small beads to stick to the rods with it
- Insulated cups, hot water (no more than 60 °C), thermometers, stopwatches
- Ice cubes made with food coloring, clear containers of room-temperature water
- A desk lamp with an incandescent or halogen bulb, one cup painted black and one wrapped in foil, each with a thermometer
- Model tracker sheet with Day 1, Day 3 and Day 5 columns
Safety: The teacher approves each group's written procedure before handing out hot water or rods. Hot water is poured by the teacher only. Students wear safety goggles and handle hot rods with tongs. The lamp bulb gets hot: no touching, and keep cords and water apart. Keep water away from outlets.
Engage (1 session, 25 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students explain the two spoons with their first model.
Student tasks: Students touch a metal and a wooden spoon that have both sat in warm water. They draw an initial model of how the metal spoon got hot and post questions to the driving question board.
Teacher moves: "Where did the energy in the spoon come from?" "Is anything moving from your hand into the spoon, or the other way?"
Formative check: Day 1 column of the model tracker.
UDL and differentiation: Sentence frames ("Energy moves from ___ to ___ because ___"). A bilingual glossary for thermal energy, conductor, insulator.
Explore (2 sessions, 45 minutes each)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students test whether material decides how fast a spoon heats up, and look for other ways energy moves.
Student tasks: Groups receive the rods, butter, beads and hot water, and the question "Which material moves heat fastest?" Each group writes its own procedure, chooses what to measure, and records the time until each bead drops. On day 2 groups rotate through two more stations. At the convection station they place a dyed ice cube in room-temperature water and watch where the cold, dyed water goes. At the radiation station they shine the lamp on the black and the foil-wrapped cup and record both temperatures every minute for 10 minutes.
Teacher moves: "Which variable are you changing? Which are you keeping the same?" "Which way did the cold water move, and why?" "Nothing touched the cups. How did they warm up?"
Formative check: Groups state one claim with one piece of data from each station before moving on.
UDL and differentiation: A partly filled data table for students who need structure. An extension asks students to predict the time for a rod they did not test.
Explain (1 session, 45 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students revise their spoon model using the vocabulary of heat transfer.
Student tasks: Groups present their models first. After the class compares results, the teacher introduces conduction, convection and radiation and the idea that energy moves from warmer to cooler matter. Students update the Day 3 column of the tracker.
Teacher moves: "Which part of your model shows conduction?" "What would convection look like inside the cocoa?" "Where in your model is the lamp's kind of transfer?"
Formative check: Exit ticket: classify three new examples and give a reason for each.
UDL and differentiation: Visual anchor chart for the three transfer types. Students may annotate a printed diagram instead of drawing from scratch.
Elaborate (1 session, 45 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students apply the three transfer types to a new design problem.
Student tasks: Design challenge: build a cup sleeve that keeps a hand cool for 5 minutes. Constraints: materials from the kit only, under 10 cm tall. Teams test with thermometers and improve the design once.
Teacher moves: "Which type of transfer is your design blocking?"
Formative check: Each team explains its design choice using one transfer type.
UDL and differentiation: Roles (builder, timer, recorder) so every student contributes. A design-planning sheet with sketch boxes for students who need structure.
Evaluate (1 session, 40 minutes)
Summative task: Students write an explanation of the two spoons and draw a final model (Day 5 column). They classify three new examples with a reason for each, then describe their rod test: the variable they changed, two they kept the same, and what they would improve.
Proficient exemplar: "The metal spoon heats up by conduction because metal is a good conductor. In our test the copper rod dropped its bead in 40 seconds and the wood rod never dropped its bead in 10 minutes. Inside the cocoa, convection moves warm liquid up and cooler liquid down, like the cold dyed water sinking in our ice cube test. Energy moves from the hot cocoa into the spoon and then into my hand. We changed only the rod material and kept the water temperature and rod length the same."
UDL and differentiation: Students may give the spoon explanation orally with the model as a visual. Provide the anchor chart and sentence frames.
Grade 10 · Factors that affect reaction rate
What Makes a Reaction Faster? A 5E Sequence on Reaction Rates for 10th Grade Chemistry
Standards: NGSS HS-PS1-5 (apply scientific principles and evidence to explain the effects of changing temperature or concentration on the rate of a reaction)
Anchoring phenomenon: An antacid tablet fizzes away in under a minute in warm water, but takes several minutes in cold water, and a crushed tablet beats a whole one every time.
Essential question: What controls how fast a chemical reaction happens, and why?
Learning Objectives
- Students will design and carry out an investigation that isolates one factor affecting reaction rate and report results in a graph.
- Students will explain changes in reaction rate using collision theory, including collision frequency and energy.
- Students will evaluate a claim about reaction rate using evidence from their own data.
Success Criteria
- I can identify the independent, dependent and controlled variables in my investigation and graph my results.
- I can use collision theory to explain why temperature, surface area and concentration change the rate.
- I can support or challenge a claim with data.
Prior Knowledge and Common Preconceptions
Students know that matter is made of particles and can balance simple equations. Common preconceptions: higher temperature only makes particles collide more often (missing that more collisions have enough energy); a faster reaction makes more product; heating a reaction gives it more product.
Materials
- Effervescent antacid tablets, beakers, graduated cylinders, thermometers, stopwatches, mortar and pestle, electronic balance
- Hot plate, ice bath, hydrochloric acid (0.5 M and 1.0 M), magnesium ribbon cut into pieces of 2 cm or less
- Sodium bicarbonate for neutralizing spent acid
- Model revision tracker with Day 1, Day 3 and Day 5 columns
Safety: The teacher approves every group's written procedure before materials are issued. Goggles and gloves at all times. Dilute hydrochloric acid is dispensed by the teacher; flush skin contact with water for 15 minutes, and show students where the eyewash is before the lab. Magnesium and acid release flammable hydrogen gas: no open flames in the room, reactions run in open containers only. Neutralize spent acid with sodium bicarbonate before disposal. Hot plates stay on the center bench, and students use tongs.
Engage (1 session, 25 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students record their first explanation of the fizzing tablets.
Student tasks: Students watch the warm and cold water demonstration, then write a first model of what is happening at the particle level. Groups add questions to the driving question board.
Teacher moves: "What do you think the particles are doing differently in the warm beaker?" "What would you need to measure to know which is faster?"
Formative check: Day 1 column of the model tracker.
UDL and differentiation: Particle diagram template. Students can record a voice explanation instead of writing.
Explore (2 sessions, 50 minutes each)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students test which factors change the rate of the reaction.
Student tasks: Each group chooses one factor (temperature, surface area or concentration) and writes its own procedure, including controls and repeated trials. Temperature and surface-area groups time the tablet reaction; surface-area groups also record mass loss on the balance, which measures the gas given off. Concentration groups time magnesium ribbon in the two acid concentrations under teacher supervision. Every group graphs its results.
Teacher moves: "How many trials do you need to trust this result?" "What stayed constant across your trials?" "Are you measuring how fast, or how much?"
Formative check: Each group shows its graph and states one claim before leaving the lab.
UDL and differentiation: Procedure-planning checklist. Extension: predict the rate at a temperature you did not test and check it.
Explain (1 session, 50 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students revise their particle model using collision theory.
Student tasks: Groups present their graphs first. Because the concentration groups used a different reaction, the class compares trends, not times. After the gallery walk, the teacher introduces collision theory: particles must collide with enough energy and the right orientation. Students revise the Day 3 column.
Teacher moves: "Which of your results shows more collisions? Which shows more energetic ones?" "Did anything change how much gas was made, or only how fast?"
Formative check: Students explain one other group's graph using collision theory.
UDL and differentiation: Glossary of activation energy, collision frequency, surface area. A graphic organizer linking each factor to collision frequency and collision energy.
Elaborate (1 session, 50 minutes)
Connection to the phenomenon: Students transfer collision theory to a new context.
Student tasks: Case analysis: a flour mill explosion and a refrigerated food warehouse. Students explain each with collision theory and propose one safety change for the mill, with criteria (cost, practicality, effect on rate).
Teacher moves: "Why is flour dust more dangerous than a bag of flour?"
Formative check: One-paragraph proposal with a reason tied to surface area or temperature.
UDL and differentiation: Annotated case readings at two reading levels. A proposal template with the three criteria as headings.
Evaluate (1 session, 50 minutes)
Summative task: Students write a lab report on their investigation, with a graph, and evaluate the claim "A crushed tablet makes more gas than a whole one," using the class's surface-area data.
Proficient exemplar: "Crushing the tablet cut the reaction time from 70 seconds to 25 seconds, but the mass lost was 0.6 g both times, so the same amount of gas was made. Crushing exposes more surface, so more particles collide each second and the reaction is faster. The number of particles that can react stays the same, so it does not make more gas. The claim is wrong: crushing changes the rate, not the amount."
UDL and differentiation: A lab report template with section prompts. Students may present the claim evaluation orally with their graph.
How to use it in class
Plan the sequence before the lesson
Type the topic the way you would say it to a colleague: "heat transfer," "why the moon has phases," "how ecosystems recover after a fire." Pick the grade. If the generator asks what students should be able to do by the end, choose one of the three objectives it suggests or write your own. The more specific the objective, the tighter the Explore and Evaluate phases will be.
The plan arrives as a sequence, not a single lesson: an anchoring phenomenon, an essential question, objectives and success criteria, then each of the five phases with pacing, student tasks, teacher moves, materials and safety, a formative check and differentiation supports. Read the anchoring phenomenon first. If it doesn't fit your students, change it before anything else, because every phase refers back to it.
Run each phase with the plan open
Engage. Use the phenomenon to get students' first ideas on paper before you teach anything. The plan includes prompts to elicit preconceptions; record what you hear, because the Explain phase asks students to revise those ideas.
Explore. Give students the question and the materials, and let them plan the procedure. Check each group's plan before materials go out, especially for heat or chemicals. The plan lists what to keep constant and what to ask when a group is stuck. Resist the urge to demonstrate first.
Explain. Students share their models before you introduce vocabulary. The plan places formal terms after student sense-making on purpose: the terms stick when they name something students have already seen.
Elaborate. Each plan includes a transfer task with criteria and constraints, so students apply the idea to a new situation rather than repeating the lab.
Evaluate. Formative checks run through every phase. The summative task comes with a rubric tied to the objectives and a proficient exemplar. Use the exemplar to calibrate your scoring; to show students what proficient looks like, share one written about a different phenomenon so you don't hand them the answer.
Fit it to your schedule
On a 45-minute schedule, most 5E sequences take four to six class periods. On a 90-minute block, plan on two to four blocks: Explore usually needs most of a block on its own, so it often starts on day 1 and finishes on day 2. Shorten Explore by preparing the materials in kits; never shorten it by skipping student planning.
Adapt it for your class
Each phase includes differentiation supports, such as sentence frames, a glossary or an extension prompt. In your account you can edit any section and export the plan to Google Docs, Microsoft Word or PDF to share with your team.
How the five phases fit your schedule
| Phase | What students do | 45-minute periods | 90-minute blocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engage | Meet the phenomenon and write down first ideas and questions. | First 20 minutes of day 1 | First 25 minutes of day 1 |
| Explore | Plan and run an investigation; record what they observe. | Rest of day 1 and day 2 | Rest of day 1 and start of day 2 |
| Explain | Share models, then name the idea with formal vocabulary. | Day 3 | Rest of day 2 |
| Elaborate | Apply the idea to a new problem or design challenge. | Day 4 | Day 3 |
| Evaluate | Show what they learned on a task scored with a rubric. | Day 5, plus checks in every phase | First half of day 4, then revise or reteach; checks run in every phase |
Need another model?
This page makes 5E plans only. The lesson plan generator writes the others:
What teachers ask before they try it
Is it free?
Yes. You can make up to 3 previews a day without an account, though previews aren't available in every region. A free account opens the whole plan, saves it and lets you edit and export it. The free plan covers up to 8 lesson plans a month, and no credit card is needed.
Do I need an account?
Not to try it, where previews are available. Without an account you see the first part of the plan, and the rest of it is listed by heading. To see the whole plan, edit it or export it, create a free account with Google or your email, and the plan you made moves into your workspace.
What is the 5E model?
The 5E instructional model is an inquiry sequence developed by BSCS: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate. Students investigate a phenomenon before the teacher introduces formal vocabulary, then apply the idea to a new situation and show what they learned.
How long does a 5E lesson take?
Most 5E sequences run four to six 45-minute class periods, or two to four 90-minute blocks. The generated plan gives pacing for each phase so you can see where the time goes and adjust it to your schedule.
Can I change the plan after it's generated?
Yes. In your account the plan opens in an editor, where you can rewrite any phase and export it to Google Docs, Microsoft Word or PDF. If you create your account right after making a plan here, saving that plan is free; after that, each lesson plan uses 3 of your monthly credits.
What shouldn't I type in the box?
Student names or any other student information. The plan only needs a topic and a grade.
Where Good Ideas Become Great Lessons
Start with an objective, a topic, or a source. Leave with classroom-ready materials you can teach from.