BOPPPS lesson planning: six steps and a worked example.
BOPPPS follows six moves: Bridge-in, Outcomes, Pre-assessment, Participatory learning, Post-assessment and Summary. See them in a Grade 6 Water Rocket example, then start your own lesson in CARL.
CARL combines this arc with gradual release and 5E; it does not produce a strict six-box BOPPPS form.
Free to start. No student names, no personal student data.
The whole arc, already drafted
The six steps, with an example of each from the same lesson:
Bridge-in
the everyday hooks that connect the session to something your learners already know.
In the Water Rocket lesson: a clip of someone stepping off a canoe and falling in as the canoe drifts away, beside a quick balloon-rocket demo.
Outcomes
the learning goal, stated plainly up front.
The learning goal, up front: explain action-reaction forces.
Pre-assessment
the opening activation and the early warm-up check that read where learners are before you teach in.
A whiteboard warm-up: students draw arrows on mini-whiteboards showing the direction of a push, before any teaching.
Participatory learning
the active core, where the gradual release and 5E moves do their work.
Pairs on rolling chairs or skateboards push a heavy ball forward and watch what happens to themselves.
Post-assessment
the check that shows what landed.
An exit ticket, Spot the Pair: name the action and the reaction force in a new situation.
Summary
the reflection and close that ties it off.
A closing reflection: explain how a rocket engine pushes a spacecraft forward in the vacuum of space.
These six examples come from CARL’s Water Rocket lesson for Grade 6 Science. Use them to see the planning structure, then review and shape your own lesson draft.
Start with your topic and learners.
The Water Rocket example shows the structure. In CARL, start a new lesson with your topic, grade and class context, then review and edit the draft.
How the approaches fit together
BOPPPS supplies the overall arc. Gradual release and 5E help shape the activities inside it. See how CARL combines the three approaches.
For more background: Instructional Skills Workshop and the 2024 BOPPPS research review.
Who reaches for this
Instructors and PD facilitators
trained through the Instructional Skills Workshop, where BOPPPS is the shared language.
Post-secondary and adult educators
who plan in BOPPPS by default.
Teacher candidates
whose programs teach BOPPPS as the planning frame.
Questions teachers ask first.
Generate one lesson, and the whole BOPPPS arc is already there.
