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Add a dozen of objects to a small suitcase. Let students resolve the mystery, what are these objects? Are the objects related and do they talk about a person or story?

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Lesson 1: History Mystery class activity
Lesson 2: Migration : consequences chart about First Fleet Colonisation and moving towards Reconciliation (hope/positive spin)
Lesson 3: Migration Timeline (physical line through the classroom, students stand with their card)

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Challenges and Strategies - Sophie, Marley, Madi and Finn

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Challenges and Strategies - Sophie, Marley, Madi and Finn

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Hooray, I found my custom Dreaming timeline card...

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Hooray, I found my custom Dreaming timeline card...

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I think they need to be edited. I can't remember if these are my revised versions or not.

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More cards

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I also noticed some of the dates on the cards were incorrect and had typos... editing FUN (not).

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I had to create my own card for the Dreaming coz the Americans didn't acknowledge the world's oldest living culture.

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Year 7 | Maintaining Culture | Student Handout

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Year 7 | Maintaining Culture | Teacher Guide

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Year 7 | Interpretations of Australia's Past | Student Handout

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Year 8 | Indigenous Trade | Teacher Guide

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Year 8 | Indigenous Trade | Student Handout

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Year 7 | Interpretations of Australia's Past | Teacher Guide

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Although this is most often used for Science teaching, this model of engaging students prior knowledge, allowing them to explore the topic through examining and working through resources with guided questions themselves, before having an explanation used to clarify the lesson is a good way to pique student interest while encouraging learner-led activities.

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In the 5 E model of instruction, students construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. This model was developed as part of a BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study) to improve the science and health curriculum for elementary schools. The 5 E method is an example of inquiry-based learning, in which students ask questions, decide what information enhances their understanding, and then self-assess.

Fast Facts: 5 E Instructional Model

The research showed positive results when the 5 E model was adopted by schools. Standardized tests scores showed that those students in classrooms using the BSCS science program for two years were four months ahead of students in other classrooms. According to the published report, "the sustained use of an effective, research-based instructional model can help students learn fundamental concepts in science and other domains."

In this constructivist model of learning, there are five stages in learning, and each stage begins with the letter E: engage, explore, explain, extend, and evaluate.

Engage Stage

To engage students, teachers should connect the topic or concept at hand with prior understanding. Students are encouraged to ask questions or draw on experiences. The teacher does not correct any misconceptions about the topic or concept but does make notes about revisiting these misconceptions. The purpose of the engagement stage is to get students excited and ready to explore the topic or concept.

Explore Stage

Once students are interested, they can begin to investigate the problems associated with the topic or concept. Students pose real questions and develop hypotheses. The key concepts in the topic are identified while teachers provide hands-on activities. Students develop the skills that are needed to test their ideas. The teacher does not provide direct instruction at this time. Instead, the teacher leads students through inquiry-based questions as students work cooperatively in groups. During this stage, time is given to students to refine their hypotheses as they begin to reflect on the results of their investigations.

Explain Stage

Students develop explanations for what they have already observed. They define the necessary vocabulary and connect their findings to prior knowledge. The teacher should support student discussion and answer student questions. While this stage is a direct instruction phase, the discussions mean that this new information is shared collaboratively.

During this stage, students understand this information through a single example. For example, they may understand the life cycle of one species or a particular form of government. They will need the time, which is provided in the next stage, to internalize their understanding before comparing and contrasting.

Extend Stage

Research shows that students need to solidify their understanding by connecting what they have learned to something real. They need to move from a single example in the Explain stage to a generalization that can be applied in other examples. In applying this information, students may formulate new hypotheses. The new hypotheses can be tested in new investigations. In practicing new skills, students may take data and make new conclusions. In the investigations during the extend phase, students use the vocabulary and concepts in their discussions and their writing.

Evaluate Stage

In the final stage, students return to the engage phase to compare their earlier understanding of what they know now. They address any misconceptions they held, and the teacher makes sure these misconceptions are corrected. They reflect on what they know, and how they are now able to prove what they know in writing, discussion, and demonstration.

Research shows that the evaluate stage should not be skipped. A unit test is not a part of this stage since the teacher can complete a formal evaluation after the evaluation stage. Instead, teachers can evaluate the learning that has taken place through a problem scenario where students should apply their new knowledge. Other evidence of understanding can be done through formative, informal performance, or summative assessments.

Planning the 5E Model

Teachers who plan to use the 5 E model should be aware that they should use this design for units of two to three weeks. Each stage should be planned to include one or more lessons.

The co-creator of the 5 E model, Rodger W. Bybee, explained,

"Using the 5Es model as the basis for a single lesson decreases the effectiveness of the individual phases due to shortening the time and opportunities for challenging and restructuring of concepts and abilities-for learning,"

The 5E Model helps students to use inquiry to connect new information with prior knowledge through practice and reflection. The teacher becomes a facilitator or guide who builds inquiry, exploration, and assessment into daily instruction approach.

5E Example: Math

In a 5 E model for math, for example, a unit on rational numbers coming from mathematical and real-world situations could include converting between standard decimal notation and scientific notation.

Engage: Students are given cards with rational numbers and asked:

Where do you think that number should go on a number line?

Do you think it could be placed in more than one place?

Explore: Students use cards to order, match, and compare the rational numbers.

Explain: The teacher provides examples of times people may use Scientific Notation; students practice organizing cards using what they know about Scientific Notation.

Extend: Students try out their new understanding of rational numbers.

Evaluate: Students create a visual representation to organize and display the relationship between sets and subsets of numbers.

Teachers can use the evaluate stage to determine how well students can use scientific notation and convert numbers in scientific notation to standard decimal notation.

5 E Model for Social Studies

In social studies, the 5E method can be used in a unit that addresses forms of representative government.

Engage: Students take a poll that asks what criteria they would like in a representative government

Explore: Students explore different forms of representative governments including direct democracy, representative democracy, presidential democracy, parliamentary democracy, authoritarian democracy, participatory democracy, Islamic democracy, and social democracy.

Explain: Students define terms and determine which representative government best fits the criteria from the poll.

Extend: Students apply what they have learned about representative government to real-world examples.

Evaluate: Students return to the information from the poll, adjust their criteria and then fashion a new form of representative government.

5 E English Example

In ELA, the 5 E model can be used in a unit designed to help students better understand transition words through visual and kinesthetic activities.

Engage: Students are handed transition words cards that they can act out (first, second, after, later).

Explore: Students organize lists of transition words (by time, to compare, to contrast, to contradict) and discuss how transition words change understanding when applied to different passages.

Explain: The teacher corrects any misconceptions while students define terms, determine what would be an excellent visual representation of a transition word and what body action best represents that transition word.

Extend: In groups, students visually represent the transition word through visual or kinesthetic means in new passages provided by the teacher.

Evaluate: Students share their representations and act them out.

Science example

The 5E Model was initially developed for science Instruction. This model is embedded in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as the best way for students to think scientifically. In one 5 E instructional model, using software, students design and then build an amusement park ride.

Engage: Show video clips of different roller coaster rides and the riders' reactions. Students can describe personal experiences riding roller coasters and brainstorm the reasons that roller coaster rides are thrilling.

Explore: Students construct an accelerometer and then test it by having a student sit on a swivel chair and spin while holding the accelerometer. They will use data to calculate the g-force and the independent variable (mass of each student).

Explain: Students access different amusement park websites to review the specifications in workbooks that detail the roller coasters in the park.

Extend: Students use roller coaster software to aid them in a roller coaster design using free software on these sites: No-limits Coaster software, Learner.org, Real Rollercoaster Simulator. Students will consider the question, How do the rules of mathematics and the laws of physics govern the designs of engineers?

Evaluate: Students show their understanding of roller coaster science by calculating the velocity, g-force, and centripetal force. Students also write about them turning their calculations into narrative descriptions (commercials) to explain how their design is calculated for thrills.

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Use the 5 E Instructional Model for Student Inquiry-Based Learning

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In the 5 E model of instruction, students construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. This model was developed as part of a BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study) to improve the science and health curriculum for elementary schools. The 5 E method is an example of inquiry-based learning, in which students ask questions, decide what information enhances their understanding, and then self-assess.

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short writing activities to be used in Humanities class

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Creative problem solving requires creative problem solving activities. Even if you know all of the problem solving steps, it's important to know exercises to actually execute each phase. These exercises are techniques on how to improve problem solving skills and the art of problem solving.

Listed below are 20 interactive exercises that will help you through each step of the problem solving process.

Problem Solving Activities
Note: For the sake of demonstration, we use the same example for each exercise, in this case, the difficult problem of opening a jar of peanut butter (to make a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich of course).
Step 1: Define the Problem

Problem solving activities that help you phrase and understand the problem you are trying to solve:

#1. Newspaper Headline - Try writing your problem as if it were a headline in a newspaper. You can write it as if the problem still exists, or as if the problem were already solved. Try Tabloid headlines for even more creative ideas.

Example: "Local man attempts to provide joy to the world by opening a jar of peanut butter."

#2. Future Party - Imagine it's one year from today; what did you solve in the last year? How is the world different based on the solution? What were the steps you took to solve the problem?

Example: "I can't believe it's been a year since we ate all the peanut butter from that crazy tight jar."

#3. 40-20-10-5 - Explain your problem in up to 40 words. Then cut it down to 20 words; then to 10, then finally to only 5 words. These 5 words are the root of your problem (and likely the root of your solution as well).

Example: (Starting at 10 words) "I want to open up this jar of peanut butter." -> "Open this peanut butter jar."

#4. Explain Life I'm Five - Explain your problem as if you were talking to a 5-year old kid. Use basic language and simple metaphors if necessary. Inspired by the subreddit ELI5.

Example: "There's yummy-ness in this jar that I want to get out."

Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas

Problem solving activities that help you generate a list of possible solutions that will solve your problem*:

#5. Ad Game - Have people mill about the room. When someone offers up an idea, everyone emphatically says "Yes!" and then the group continues to generate ideas, often building off the last idea that was just offered.

Example: "We should use a tool to open this jar." "Yes!" "And it should not hurt our hands." "Yes!" "And it'll be nearly effortless." "Yes!"

#6. Dumbest Idea First - Hold a contest to get the dumbest idea out first. Encourage everyone to think of the absolute dumbest possible solutions to the problem. After you have a long list, go back through and see which ones may not be all that dumb.

Example: "Let's open it using C4 explosives."

#7. What Would X Do - Pretend you're someone famous (or someone you admire) and ask yourself how they would solve the problem, what options would they consider?

Example: (as Gandhi) "I will go on a hunger strike until the jar is ready to be open."

#8. 10x10x10 Matrix - Generate a list of 10 ideas for solving the problem. Pick one of those ideas and generate 10 variations of that idea. Pick one idea from the new list and generate 10 more variations.

Example: (with just 5 ideas):
-Round 1 (based on tools)-Dynamite, Power Drill, Vise grip, Scissors, Hammer.
-Round 2 (based on vise grip)-Metal clamp, Pliers, Glue, Cement, Sticky Glove.
-Round 3 (based on sticky glove)-Lots of tapping, Rubbing the seal, Punching, Soft caresses, Really strong hand.
*Note: Some of the exercises may not produce the perfect solution, but they can get you thinking differently.
Step 3: Decide on a Solution

Problem solving activities that help you narrow your list of possible solutions down to the best solution.

#9. Futures Wheel - Pick a possible solution and write it in the center of a piece of paper. List possible direct results/consequences of the solution around the center idea. List possible indirect results/consequences based on the direct results/consequences. Find more info here.

Example: Really strong hand leads to: ability to open other types of jars as well, big forearms, possible blisters, ...

#10. Thiagi's 35 - Use a point system to determine the preferred solution among your team, turning a possibly subjective discussion into an objective group decision. You can find a more detailed explanation on Thiagi's site.

Example: Really strong hand - 7pts. Punching the jar - 3pts. A soft caress - 1pts.

#11. Idea Trial - When you can't get agreement on which solution to choose, have the proponents of each idea represent them in "court." Go through opening arguments, call witnesses and allow closing statements. Have the project board choose the winner.

Example: "Really strong hand, is it true you could also be used for terrible things, such as opening a can of sardines?"

#12. Coin-Flip - When deciding between two equally good solutions, flip a coin. When the coin is in the air, take note of what you secretly hope the result is and go with that (if you really can't decide between the two, then go with the actual result of the coin-flip). Inspired by this poster.

Example: Heads is strong hands, tails is a soft cares. *Toss.* (I really don't want to have to caress this jar of peanut butter...) Strong hands it is!

Step 4: Implement the Solution

Problem solving activities that help you implement the solution you have chosen:

#13. End in Mind - To create your plan, start with the end in mind and work backwards. Establish key milestones and dates in reverse order, starting with the end-of-project celebration and ending with today.

Example: Eat delicious PB&J sandwich (5pm), Make delicious PB&J sandwich (4:58pm), Open Peanut Butter Jar (4:57pm), Build up grip strength (4:47), ...

#14. Idea Mock-ups - Create a mock-up of the solution. You can a create physical mock-up using the various supplies in your office or a virtual mock-up using images from around the web.

Example: Tell me you wouldn't buy this incredible product.

#15. Gamification - Turn the completion of your project into a game. Establish rules for how you earn points, create badges to celebrate milestones and track game progress. Learn more about gamification.

Example: For each squeeze of the PB Gripper, you get 1 point. 100 points earns you the Gripper Badge, 500 points earns you a pudding cup. After 1,000 points you should be able to open the Peanut Butter jar.

#16. Be a Character - Add some fun to your work by executing your plan as if you were a fictional character. Think about how they would operate and get into character.

Example: (as the Incredible Hulk): HULK SMASH!

Step 5: Review the Results

Problem solving activities that help you review the results you achieved and the way you achieved them:

#17. Apply McLuhan - Answer McLuhan's tetrad of questions in context of your solution: 1) What does your solution enhance? 2) What does it make obsolete? 3) What does it bring back that was once obsolete and 4) What does it flip into when taken to the extreme?

Example: Using a strong grip to open the jar: 1) The ability to get peanut butter, 2) Other tools for opening jars, 3) The joy of cooking my own food, 4) Only eating peanut butter and nothing else.

#18. Word on the Street - Conduct "word-on-the-street" type interviews with members of your team, asking them how they felt about the project and the solution.

Example: "Sir, what's your opinion on this new development on the ability to consume delicious peanut butter?"

#19. Stop-Start-Continue - Review the way you completed your project and pick activities you should stop (things you did on this project that you don't think are necessary for future projects), start (things you didn't do on this project but that you should do on future projects) and continue (things you did on the project that you should do on future projects).

Example: STOP doing every single exercise for one solution. START finding snacks to eat while waiting to get to the solution. CONTINUE eating peanut butter.

#20. Find the Funny - Write a monologue or stand-up set that covers some of the funny moments or ideas from the project. Share it with your team.

Example: What's the deal with airline peanut butter?

Creative Problem Solving

The purpose of the above problem solving activities is to get you to think about the problem in a different way and have some fun while solving it-both of which will enhance your creativity in finding and implementing a solution. And as Einstein ( probably) said:"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
Note: The example used may be a bit facetious but these exercises do work for tougher problems. I wanted to include an example to facilitate understanding and it happened to be around snack time.

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20 Problem Solving Activities to Improve Creativity - Humor That Works

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Creative problem solving requires creative problem solving activities. Even if you know all of the problem solving steps, it's important to know exercises to actually execute each phase. These exercises are techniques on how to improve problem solving skills and the art of problem solving.