An artifact that I have completed that is representative of meeting the ACEI standard is my integrated lesson plan. The lesson plan is part of a unit plan and teaches students about exercise. The lesson focuses on raising student awareness about the benefits of exercise, how exercise affects humans, and why it is a crucial aspect for sustaining a healthy lifestyle. In addition, the lesson enables students to gain an understanding of how their bodies function during and after exercise, as well as gain valuable instruction of how to exercise.

The lesson includes a visit from a guest speaker who is a top fitness guru, a field trip to a gym, instruction and demonstration of exercises, followed by instruction for designing a personal workout routine. In addition, students will complete written explanations of their understanding of specific features of the lesson, as well as combine, modify, and then demonstrate their own workout plan.      

In writing the lesson plan and reflecting upon a hypothetical enactment of the lesson plan, I learned about the many ways in which students can be engage in learning about one topic. I discovered that given no limitations and no time restrictions, teaching can and should expand far beyond the classroom.

My learning applies to the standard in the following ways:

• Candidates know, understand, and use fundamental concepts of physical, life, and earth/space sciences
• Candidates can design and implement age-appropriate inquiry lessons to teach science, to build student understanding for personal and social applications, and to convey the nature of science
   

Please take some time to view my attached Integrated Lesson Plan.