The impact of the 5E Instructional Model on reasoning skills in equations and inequalities

The importance of education that provides a contemporary, real-life, and critical thinking skills has increased with the changing educational activities in our day. In addition, learning environments that enhance individual's critical thinking, questioning, and analytical skills have developed. One of the application models of the constructivist approach, the 5E Learning Model, presents these environments to individuals through five different stages. The study investigates whether the 5E Learning Model, which is one of the constructivist learning approaches, has an effect on students' reasoning skills when used in the 7th-grade "Equality and Equations" topic. The research group consists of 13 students (6 girls, 7 boys) studying in the 7th grade of a public middle school in Samsun province in the 2021-2022 academic year. In the study, special case method from qualitative research design was used. Four lesson plans created with the 5E Learning Model, reasoning questions, and an interview form were used as data collection tools. After each lesson plan, reasoning questions related to the learning outcomes were directed to the students. Thus, the effect of processing the sub-learning domain of equality and equations with the 5E Instructional Model on students' reasoning skills was intended to be measured. In the study, the data were collected with video, photos, and student papers with parental permission. The collected data were analyzed by the researcher and recorded in writing. Based on the data obtained at the end of the research, it was observed that the 5E Learning Model significantly contributed to students' understanding of the subject and a more successful process in terms of permanent learning compared to traditional instruction. Also, it was observed that students achieved meaningful success by learning through doing and experiencing, and meaningful achievement emerged in reasoning questions directed at the end of the lesson plans. At the end of the process, the interview form used was analyzed by the researcher according to the two sub-problems used in the study. According to the opinions of the 5 students participating in the interview form, it was concluded that they enjoyed and had fun with the 5E Instructional Model, thus achieving better and easier learning.