5E/Hero's Journey Cycle Example: From Density to Dining

Albeit corny, I don't think a blog post goes by where I don't allude to the beautiful connection between the 5E Learning Cycle and Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey.

​Our students are HEROES and our standards are their JOURNEY. Why not!?! It certainly makes lesson planning more fun...meaningful...etc. Click here, here, and here for past writing and literature about this connection. 

Keeping the above in mind, I was planning for parent Back to School Night last week. Teachers at my school are challenged to design a 20 minute lesson, for each section, to model their pedagogical style, content, etc. Not an easy challenge.

A few days before the night I began preparing my typical "Coke vs. Diet Coke" activity where parents engage in an inquiry activity around why a can of Coke sinks in water and a can of Diet Coke floats. See image below:

Normally I begin the activity by showing parents the above demo, then asking: "What questions do you have?". Subsequent discussion leads to definitions of mass, volume, density, and if time, quantitative measures of the mentioned variables. 

This year, I set out to do something else: Model an entire 5E/Hero's Journey Cycle, in just 20 minutes.

At least scratch the surface of each anchor point in the cycle to take the activity beyond the simple density example, to questions surrounding chemical structure, sweetness, biochemistry, etc. (note: this desire was primarily catalyze by the need to begin lesson planning for a Medical Biochemistry advanced elective I will be teaching next semester. More on that later for sure...)

Below is the outline of the lesson that I will be expanding into a full learning cycle using this template in the next month or so. Stay tuned! 

PHASE 1: EXPLORE (Call to Adventure)

1. Watch this (stop after 24 seconds). 
2. Ask question: "What are you curious about?"
3. Facilitate discussion without providing answer. 

PHASE 2: ENGAGE (Threshold Challenge)

1. Challenge students to repeat using their own cans. 
2. Challenge students to gather quantitative data of their choosing. 
3. Challenge students to explain what is happening using "words", "diagrams", and "data". 
4. Students present findings (Tease mass, volume, and density out of their presentations). 

PHASE 3: EXPLAIN (Meeting the Mentor)

1. Facilitate responsive lecture on mass, volume, density as "reveal". 
2. Guided practice on mass, volume, density. 

PHASE 4: EXTEND (Transformation of the Hero)

1. Ask question: "If the mass of one molecule of sweetner is approximately the same as one molecule of sucrose, what accounts for the difference in mass between cans?" 
2. Challenge students to answer questions as a "thought experiment" with no access to a computer, etc. 
3. After 10 minutes of brainstorming, show students this picture of the molecule for the sweetner sucralose next to sucrose molecule. Ask students to compare and contrast molecular structures. 
4. Survey responses and then initiate discussion about receptor binding and affinity of sweetners like sucralose to "taste" receptors, and thus the need for less in the package. More on that topic here. (note: this portion is essential as most lessons on this topic end with "There is NO sugar, so it weights less". This exposes WHY less sweenter is added from a biochemical perspective. 

PHASE 5: EVALUATION (Return Home)

1. Traditional quiz on density problems. Question about "why", in general, less sweetner is needed. 
2. Group research presentation on receptor binding (general as lesson will occur prior to molecular geometry instruction).