Things You'll Need:
- clock
- white board or overhead projector
- student notebooks or journals
- students!
- pencils
- erasers
- straight-edges or rulers
- graph paper
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Step 1
Make an empty data table.
Put it up on the board or on a transparency for your overhead.
Columns should include:
*pulse rate #1 (at rest)
*pulse rate #2 (moderate activity)
*pulse rate #3 (after exercise)
*height (in meters)
*weight (in kg.)
*sex (m or f)
*athlete? (yes or no)
Anything else you would like to include?
Horizontal rows will be numbered so student names are not included. That way a certain amount of privacy can be maintained.
Students should copy this data table in their journals or on a piece of paper given to them for that purpose. -
Step 2
Introduce the activity.
Before you begin taking data, lead a discussion about pulse rate, what it means, what is considered "healthy", how a heart condition might affect pulse rates, what happens to athletes' hearts, and etc.
Ask students to predict how/if your variables will affect heart rate:
Will a student's height/weight affect their pulse?
Will the fact that a student is an athlete (or not) affect their pulse rate?
Will a students' sex affect their pulse rate? (in other words, do men or women generally have higher pulse rates?)
Have them write down their predictions. -
Step 3
Collect your data.
Ask one student to be your time-keeper.
Help your students find their pulse, either on their neck or on their wrist.
Pulse #1 -
When everyone is ready, have them count their heart-rate for 15-seconds. Stop. Multiply by four. That is Pulse #1. Write it down.
Pulse #2 -
When everyone is ready, walk around the room, or up and down the halls, or out in the courtyard for one minute. Walking only. Stop. Count the heart-rate for 15-seconds. Stop. Multiply by four. That is Pulse #2. Write it down.
Pulse #3 -
This is the fun one. Students have one minute to hop, skip, jump, dance, run around - no walking! Stop. Find the pulse. Count the heart-rate for 15-seconds. Stop. Multiply by four. That is Pulse #3. Write it down. -
Step 4
Conversion of measurements.
Conversion of height from feet and inches to meters and centimeters
Conversion of weight from pounds and ounces to grams and kilograms.
We use the metric system in science, so scientists around the world can communicate with the same numbers. It may seem like a pain but it's time students got used to this. When they convert numbers they are familiar with, like height and weight, it becomes easier to visualize the relationship between the two. -
Step 5
Graphing data.
Points will be "scattered" but will show a general trend - this will not be a true "line" graph.
Do the first three groups of numbers together, on the same piece of paper.
With weight on your "X" axis and pulse rate on your "Y" axis graph weight against pulse for all the students, using different colored pens or pencils for each: say, blue for pulse #1, red for pulse #2 and green for pulse #3.
(Students should see an upward trend: as exercise increases so does pulse rate, they are directly proportional.) -
Step 6
Homework assignment.
#1 - students can make a bar graph, calculating the average pulse rate for pulse #1, pulse #2 and pulse #3. This is a good way to remind them of the differences between line graphs and bar graphs. When is a bar graph most useful? When is a line graph best?
#2 - students can choose to make another graph of their own with data of their choice; plotting height v. pulse rate, weight v. pulse rate, sex v. pulse rate, pulses of athletes v. non-athletes... etc.
