How I Used Technology In A ‘Healthy Bodies’ Science Lesson

This term, my class’s science topic is ‘healthy bodies’.  Last week we went live on Facebook whilst doing a heart dissection.  This week, we looked at what happens to the heart during exercise.

I started off by showing the students this excellent video as a reminder of last week’s learning:

A group discussion followed about what happens to the heart when we exercise.  I then challenged the class to find ways to investigate this.  It was decided that the best way was to do different exercises, record the heart rate and then compare it to when resting.  The students went out to the playground and did 5 different exercises.  They used a measuring wheel to mark out distances.

Technology in a science lesson

Technology in a science lesson

The pupils took their iPads with them and used them as a stopwatch.  Results were recorded in a table in their exercise books.

To measure heart rates, we downloaded these apps (find them for free on the App Store – with my group, I used my Samsung S7 which has a built in heart rate monitor):

The Apps use the camera to find a heartbeat and measure it.  You simply press record and put your finger over the rear camera:

When finished, the students went back to the classroom and made bar charts of their results using the App ‘MyGraph’.  Click here to find out how to use it.

Here is an example of a chart a student made:

Have a go!  Let me know how you get on by commenting below.