Learning Cycle Model

The Alaska Science Consortium recommends the Learning Cycle Model (LCM) as a teaching process that encourages student inquiry, investigation and application.

Gear-Up:
Mentally engages and motivates students. Excellent time to gain information on students' preconceptions. Similar to "anticipatory set" or "engagement".

Explore:
Hands-on, minds-on activities that provide an opportunity for the students to discover a new explanation for an event or concept.

Generalize:
Questioning strategies help students to verbalize their new discoveries and identify questions to be tested.

Experiment:
Students design and conduct an experiment (a fair test).

Interpret:
Students display and interpret the data that they have collected.

Apply:
Students apply the newly learned concept. Activities should help the students to recognize the universal nature of the concept. (i.e. how does this concept operate in a context different than the one we just explored?).

Source: Alaska Science Consortium, http://www.akscience.org/lcm.html