I just wanted to add to the topic that Angela Delucia-Davis had talked about in her blog from last week. Angela, welcomed my idea of putting heart-rate monitors on students during a stressful situation i.e. a test. We put this offer to task last Thursday.Ten of her students showed up in my office at 7 am to put on their heart-rate monitors. They were excited to start their day, and their heart-rates' demonstrated this. I gave the students a sheet to record their heart-rates during their English test and to record throughout the day. I had them record two times during each period. Jim Jarrell, Angela and I are going to compile the data, and Jim's AP calculus class is going to analyze the data and give us some feedback on the the heart-rate information collected.
The really cool part about this experiment is throughout the day other students' got "wind" of what we were doing and wanted to be a part of it. So, Miss. April Wisniewski's, third period Intermediate Algebra class gladly volunteered to wear the monitors for their test they were taking on Friday. After their test they wanted to then wear them the rest of the day also. The students were equally as excited to be a part of the experiment. As the students turned in their monitors at the end of the day, they each told me how it made their day more interesting and they were really into monitoring their heart-rates. Some of the students' recorded their beats per minute many more times than I had requested, and really liked to see the recovery of their heart-rate after walking from class to class, or how it dropped or raised during an exciting moment in class.
For me as a Health and PE teacher, it was really fun to do a cross-curriculum lesson with Angela, and April. It added a really exciting part to my day and to our students' days. It was very motivating to watch the students throughout the day as they wore their monitors, and see their interest level perk-up when it came to the beats of their heart.
14 comments:
Thanks for sharing this - I'll be sharing it with the PE teachers in my building. Be sure to post the results of the analysis of the data.
Any connections we can make between "real" life and learning are beneficial. Cool project!
Cath,
This project has really gone from random idea to fruition, and quickly. I am glad to see that it did, as it has such merit.
What is the next step? Once Jarrell's classes analyze the data, where do you take it from there? Not to be a nudge, but I like this idea, and I don't want to see it stop at the "hey that was cool," stage. What pushes it to the next level? I think you and all of us should look at it from the perspective of how we can use this to spring ahead of ourselves and ask questions that we don't know the answers to. Yet.
It's so fun to see you doing this lesson. When we were exploring cross curricular connections on our campus, our health teacher suggested some similar ideas. I've already sent her a link to what you all are doing, and she thought it was excellent!
Thanks for sharing--makes both health class and math more real for students, I'm sure!
Karl,
Thanks for the comment. I will be sure to put the results we get on my blog. Thanks for following.
Diane,
I agree regarding "connections". Are you in Health and PE?
Cath,
LOL!
I'm the vigorous and mentally fit School Library Media Specialist (librarian).
Since I'm K-12, I have my finger in every pot in our district...
diane
Diane,
LOL back!! That is great! I am glad that you have your hand in all disciplines and are interested in all disciplines.
cath
Patrick,
Thanks and yes it has taken off. I agree, after Jim works with the data I should do more...but what next? I am in a quandry as to what next? Would love to explore what your thoughts are on this, and suggestions. I saw that Mike suggested having teachers wear them during their work day. I thought would be interesting. Thoughts???
Cath,
I recently helped our middle school Health teacher find some sites relating to calculating body fat, reading labels, planning menus, etc.
If you'd like me to dig up the links for you, I'd be happy to pass them along.
diane
Cath,
What if you have both students and teachers compare weekweek stress with weekends? Or school time vs. home time?
Do they understand that pleasure activities - attending a sporting event and cheering, shopping with friends, playing a video game - are also stressful?
You could build your whole year around this activity!
diane
HI Cath, I decided to take a min in the crazy day to say cool with the project and I am looking forward to seeing the results.
We should do something with 4th period using the monitor in each of our remaining units then do a written assignment with the data at the end of the marking period. It will be easy to do with both of us on and you can use the data the way you want and I can use mine with the adapted population. I might even try to use it to try for a grant if the data shows significant differences in the two populations.
Carolyn,
Thanks for your support! I am glad to see that people are interested in these type projects. We hope to do more of them with other disciplines, and really implement it into my field.
If you have any suggestions on this topic or others, please let me know.
Cath
Janet,
Thanks!! I love that you take time out of your VERY busy day to check out my blog!! It means a lot!
I LOVE your idea, and let's implement it this week. Maybe Friday??
Cath
Post a Comment