Standard 7, Indicator 1—This indicator was met because the teacher used the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and science curriculum to design an instructional lesson about soil for a third grade class.

Standard 7, Indicator 2—This indicator was met because the teacher integrated the science lesson with language arts through the use of story telling as an introduction and letter writing as a summative assessment.

Standard 7, Indicator 3—This indicator was met because the teacher utilized the students’ prior knowledge about soil, both in a pre-assessment, and in the inquiries the teacher used to guide students in constructing understanding about soil. The teacher also used student comments and connections about building sand castles to further aid understanding.

Standard 7, Indicator 4—This indicator was met because the teacher used a variety of techniques to communicate and instruct the students including storytelling, questioning, group discussion, direct instruction, and student exploration of the materials.

Standard 7, Indicator 5—This indicator was met because multiple learning strategies were employed to help students develop their critical thinking skills as well as construct understanding about soil. These included independent student exploration of soil samples, small and large group discussion, and especially the heavy use of an inquiry technique with the use of questioning to help students construct their own understanding of the material.

Standard 7, Indicator 6—This indicator was met because the lesson plan was modified to be both geared up and geared down to address the needs of individual students. To help students at a lower learning level, the teacher acted as a scribe and allowed the students to orally describe the soil and make inferences while the teacher wrote down what they said. To gear up, students at a higher learning level were required to describe their findings in more detail and give a more in depth explanation of their reasoning. They were also asked to explain the lesson to other students who were not present for the entire lesson.

Standard 7, Indicator 7—This indicator was met because the teacher used a variety of assessment strategies to both instruct and assess the learning of the students. The students were assessed informally through observation throughout the lesson. They were assessed formally through the data sheets they completed and turned in, as well as through the alternative summative assessment that required students to explain the concepts learned through writing a letter to grasshoppers.

Standard 10—This standard was met because the entire 5 E lesson focused on the use of inquiry experience through the use of various questioning techniques in order to aid students in constructing their own knowledge and understanding of the material presented. Also, in the lesson, students were required to make predictions and inferences.

Standard 15, Indicator 1—This indicator was met because underrepresented groups, such as girls, minorities, students with physical handicaps and students at a variety of learning levels, were included and encouraged to engage in this lesson when it was taught in a third grade classroom in Ashe county. All students involved in the lesson were able to participate in the lesson and gained both enjoyment and constructed new knowledge from it.