Illuminations: The Beat of Your Heart

The Beat of Your Heart

Every Beat Of Your Heart

This activity involves taking a pulse, collecting and interpreting data, making predictions, and drawing conclusions. Its focus is the collection and analysis of data.

Learning Objectives
 
Students will:
  • collect, organize, and interpret data, including making predictions, involving the heart rate at rest and after exercise

Materials
 
A watch with a second hand
Every Beat of Your Heart Activity Sheet

Instructional Plan

Note: For this activity, students will need enough room to walk and run.

Begin the class with a discussion about heart rates and pulse. Ask students to share what they already know about each. Students might also offer ideas about what kinds of activities affect the heart rate.

Distribute a copy of the Every Beat of Your Heart activity sheet to each student.

Every Beat of Your Heart Activity Sheet

Have the students read the introductory statement, which defines heart rate and explain how it is determined by taking the pulse.

Demonstrate how a pulse it taken. As the students work individually or in small groups, have them take their resting pulse for one minute.

 

 

Before beginning the exercises on the activity sheet, students should predict which activity will result in the greatest pulse:

  • Being at rest
  • Stepping up and down
  • Walking
  • Running in place

Students should explain their predictions.

Next have the students step up and down on a stair, or just march, for one minute.

Have the same students determine their one-minute heart rates after running in place for one minute and after walking for one minute. Students should record their results on question 1 of the activity sheet.

Have the students complete the remaining questions (2‑6) on the activity sheet and discuss the responses.

An answer key is provided for you to check student responses on the activity sheet.

Every Beat of Your Heart Answer Key

Extensions
 
  1. Record one classroom chart the students' heart rates at rest and after the various forms of exercise. Discuss the class's range of heart rates at rest and after exercise.
  2. Students can use any of the following people of this experiment:  yourself, a friend, an older person, a younger person, a parent, a teacher, your principal. They should have three people run in place for one minute and then count their heartbeats for one minute. Have students answer the following:

    a. Which person had the most heartbeats? How many?

    b. What range of heartbeats was recorded?

    c. What conclusion can you draw form your experiment?

NCTM Standards and Expectations
 
Data Analysis & Probability 3-5
  1. Collect data using observations, surveys, and experiments.
  2. Design investigations to address a question and consider how data-collection methods affect the nature of the data set.

References
 
  • Lisa M. Passarello and Francis (Skip) Fennell, "IDEAS: Every Beat of Your Heart." The Arithmetic Teacher, 39, 1 (February 1992) 32-39.
  
1 period   

NCTM Resources

Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

Web Sites
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