Essential Question

In looking over my responses to the unit that we are designing, I found the big picture or the essential question very easy to answer. Being a PE teacher that put alot of emphasis on personal fitness, I constantly encorporate various levels of fitness into most of my lessons. This is done through various body and equipment exercises. My unit that I will be designing is based on circuit training. With that in mind, the big picture when we introduce this unit is to allow students to lead a healthy lifestyle through exercise that will give them the best opporunity to live longer. The essential question is how can this knowledge help you to lead an optimal lifestyle? Another essential question is how does your health effect other people in your environment?
Specific questions relating to the topic are best on how a technique can be used to help you and how wrong techniques can harm you. I am continiuously reinforcing the need for correct technique so they understand what helps and what harms. What specific body parts are being trained through various exercises and how can these exercises help you to become better in areas of sports and performance. Also knowledge of the four areas of physical fitness.
What the students can do from this information is formulate a fitness plan that can be used to better their own fitnness level. What exercises can I do to help me become more physically fit. They will also determine a fitness plan that can help them become a better athlete by determining what areas they need to focus on. i.e a gymnast might need to work on strength and flexibility. Other objectives are an understanding of caloric expeditures as well as proper nutrition. These concepts are introduced in health and reinforced during this unit. Ablity to properly rehydrate is also an objective.