A well-designed Explanation "focuses students’ attention on a particular aspect of their engagement and exploration experiences and provides opportunities to demonstrate their conceptual understanding, process skills, or behaviors. This phase also provides opportunities for teachers to directly introduce a concept, process, or skill. Learners explain their understanding of the concept. An explanation from the teacher or the curriculum may guide them toward a deeper understanding, which is a critical part of this phase” (Bybee et a. 2006, p. 2).
Perspectives from history can help math and science students make sense of their obeservations and the material they encountered during the exploration activity. History can also provide a context in which students can construct and justify their explanations.