According to the core curriculum standards, by the end of 8th grade students should be able to generate a spreadsheet to calculate, graph, and present information. A requirement in my physical education will be to have the students participate in an out of school miles activity. For a full semester my students will keep track of how many miles they run outside of school, the amount of time it took for them to run the mile/miles, as well as their heart rate after the run. With this information, the students will generate a spreadsheet with their data. By using a spreadsheet, it will provide the students with a visual of how their miles improved throughout the semester. Things I will want them to focus on is how their heartrate changes depending on the amount of time it took to run the miles. This learning activity is going to incorporate technology and allow the students to stay active as well allow them to use their knowledge of creating a spreadsheet.
I see what you will try to do. Be careful - make sure you keep objectives in mind. Activities that are cool do not always accomplish learning objectives.
ReplyDeleteHey Elyse! I think this can be a great idea. One thing that most student are unaware of is the importance of heart rate monitoring and tracking. Running a mile, or as many miles as they can, will challenge students to perform better on a run-to-run basis.
ReplyDeleteAn emphasis on maybe taking a measure of heart rate ten minutes before, immediately after the run, and ten minutes after the run will be beneficial. This will give students an idea of their resting heart rate (which will not necessarily be accurate but it is still a good practice), target heart rate, and their recovery heart rate. If students stay the course, they will hopefully see improvements in all three categories.