Your Health is Your Wealth!

Can you feel your heartbeat?

Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning …

Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

In groups pupils decide what is the most convenient method to determine the number of heart beats per minute, for example, count the pulse for six seconds and multiply by 10, count for 15 seconds and multiply by four, etc.

• Is the most convenient method necessarily the most accurate?
• Are their measurements consistent? Suggest possible reasons for differences.
• Why is it better to take more than one measurement?
• How should they deal with a number of measurements of the same thing?
• Why is the pulse taken using fingers instead of the thumb?
  Opportunity to assess Using Mathematics

… how to gather, use and analyse statistical information.
Managing Information

Collate the average heart rates for each member of the class. If ICT is available, use a spreadsheet or database for this.

• What information can be gleaned from these statistics?
• What questions do they prompt?
• Could they be used to generate further statistics for the class such as class mean, mode, median and range?
• Are there any very high or low values?
• How should these be dealt with (in statistical terms)?

Opportunity to assess Using Mathematics and/or ICT

(Teacher sensitivity needed for pupils at the extremes. Explain that doctors take measurements much more carefully and there are often good reasons for high and low values.)

… to seek out questions to explore and problems to solve.
Being Creative

Further activities:

Design an investigation to explore further some of the questions prompted by the class statistics, for example, ‘Is there a difference between boys’ and girls’ heart rates?’, ‘Does the amount of sport someone does have an effect on their heart rate?’

... to experiment with different designs.
Being Creative

Group Challenge

Provide pupils with different sized plastic funnels, rubber and plastic tubing and cardboard tubes. Ask them to design and make their own stethoscope. As a class, decide the success criteria before starting.

Pupils learn how to use heart rate monitors and blood pressure measuring machines. Give the class a simple explanation of blood pressure.

What makes your heart beat faster?

Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning …

Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

… to develop a basic understanding of the factors which influence heart rate.

…to make links between cause and effect.
Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making

… about collecting and recording statistical information.
Managing Information

The following activity could be done in collaboration with the PE Department. (Do not, in Science class, do more exertion than would be acceptable in PE)

Investigate the effect of exercise on heart rate and measure recovery times. Measure and record pulse rate at rest. Run in place for two minutes. Measure the pulse every minute until the resting pulse rate returns. The time taken for the pulse to return to its resting value is the recovery time.
Opportunity to assess Using Mathematics

Pupils investigate links between exercise and heart health. The higher the level of fitness, the shorter the recovery time.

How long will my heart beat for?

Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning …

Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

Explain to pupils that their hearts are made from muscle which is about the size of a clenched fist. Pupils open and close their fists for about one minute. How does this feel? What is special about our heart that it doesn’t feel tired and sore despite beating constantly?

Work out the number of heartbeats per hour, day, week, year, and potential lifetime.

Is there a relationship between the average lifetime of an animal, its size and its heart rate? Research the longevity of various animals and compare this to their heart rate.
Opportunity to assess Using Mathematics.

What’s in the news about your heart? (Media Awareness)

Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning …

Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

… to pose questions to explore ideas, problems and issues.
Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making

…to critically analyse a newspaper article.

Give pupils one or two news articles relating to the heart/circulatory system. These should be relatively short and appropriate to their reading ability.

Working either individually or in groups, answer the following questions:

• Who wrote this story? Was the story written by a science (or health) journalist?
• What was the story about? What are the main ideas presented in the article?
• What has this story added to what you already knew about the heart?
• Is this an interesting story? If so, why?
• Is this an important story? If so, why?
• Is this story relevant to you, your family or other members of your community?
• What questions would you or your group like to ask the scientists who were mentioned in the story or the journalist who wrote it?
  Opportunity to assess Communication

Guide the pupils to generate questions that could be used to drive this enquiry-based unit.

…to take responsibility for work with others.
Working with others

… to explain the significance of what has been learned.
Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision Making

Use the facts learned from the news article activity in a Get One, Give One* activity (also known as Each One Teach One*).

A fact or statistic is distributed to every pupil. They read their statement to make sure that they understand its meaning. Pupils move around and share their statement with other pupils. They should aim to explain their fact to as many people as possible.

Pupils brainstorm what they know, and what they want to know about the circulatory system. One purpose of this activity is to uncover any misconceptions pupils might have. Pupils use the chart to record new information as the unit progresses.

The next part of the unit involves learning and teaching activities about the heart and circulatory system. Account should be taken of what the pupils already know and pupil generated questions from the last section. The following suggested activities are examples of what could be done. Choose and adapt as appropriate.

How does my heart work?

Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning …

Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

… about the function of a pump and relate this to the heart.

… to make connections between ideas and information.
Being Creative

… about the function of a valve and relate this to the valves in the heart and veins.

Pupils use different types of pumps such as a turkey baster, balloon pump and bicycle pump. What are they for? How do they work?’

Relate how the functioning of each pump is similar to the heart. Ask pupils for examples of other types of pumps.

Demonstrate a tap, which is an example of a valve. What does this tap do? Explain that the tap is a valve. Valves regulate the flow of a liquid or gas. Demonstrate other valves such as garden hose nozzles and soap dispensers.

… how the structure of the heart is related to its function.

… to identify structures of the heart.

Pupils make a model of a working heart using a wide mouth jar (plastic), balloons, a skewer, two flexible straws and water.

Useful website - Science Museum of Minnesota

Show students a model of the heart and/or an animation of how it functions.

Useful website - Science Museum of Minnesota

Pupils make a schematic diagram of the heart and draw arrows to show the flow of blood through the heart. Students will trace the pathway of blood through the heart and lung by adding arrows to the diagram. Use red pencils for the oxygen-rich blood and blue pencils for the less oxygen-rich blood. Discuss the structure and function of each part of the heart.

What are the different parts of the circulatory system?

Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning …

Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

… about different components of the blood.

…to make sense of new information and ideas.
Thinking, Problem-Solving, Decision Making

Pupils examine slides of blood smears under the microscope.

(Safety: Use purchased pre-prepared slides)

Pupils are given cards with pictures of different components of blood and cards describing the function of each. In groups pupils discuss which cards they think should match up, giving reasons for their choice.

… about the three types of blood vessel.

… to describe how their structure is related to their function.

… to make and justify decisions.
Thinking, problem solving and Decision Making

… about the role the heart plays in the circulatory system.

… to cooperate in group activities.
Working with others

Pupils are given three different types of tubing, to represent an artery, a vein and a capillary. Get pupils to describe their features, for example, thick or thin wall etc.

Ask pupils to relate their structure to where they may be found in the circulatory system giving reasons for their choice, for example thick wall-close to heart so vessel won’t burst due to force of blood pumping out etc.

Pupils perform a role-play of the blood flowing around the circulatory system. One student will act as the lungs, holding cards labelled ‘Oxygen’. Another student will act as the cells, holding cards labelled ‘Carbon Dioxide’. Two students will act as the right side of the heart putting their hands together to form two arches that will represent the valves. Similarly two students will act as the left side of the heart. The remaining students represent the blood and will move around the circulatory system picking up oxygen and carbon dioxide while explaining what they are doing.

At this stage of the unit, pupils review what they have learned about the heart and circulatory system. They could fill in what they have learned in the ‘L’ section of their KWL* grid if they created one earlier in the unit.

OR

Carousel Activity*

Set the following questions for the activity:

• What do you know about your heart?
• What are the different types of blood vessels? Describe them.
• How does blood help to keep you alive?
• Explain how oxygen and nutrients get delivered to the body’s cells.

After carrying out some of the above activities the next section of the unit focuses on making choices for a healthy heart

Why is heart disease one of the main causes of death in Northern Ireland?

Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning …

Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

… about different ways to obtain information.
… to determine which information is most useful.

… to choose formats to show information to best effect.

Managing Information

Pupils pick a disease of the heart or circulatory system and research its cause, symptoms, treatment/cure etc. Present the information to the class either individually or as small groups. Possible presentation methods include role-play, video or radio documentary, posters etc.

Make a list of risk factors for heart disease. Design a pamphlet with ten things pupils could do to lower their risk of developing heart disease. Would different pamphlets need to be designed for different age sectors? Discuss.

Choose from the following activities:

…about lifestyle choices that will encourage good cardiovascular and general health.

… to justify opinions about information.
Managing Information

Many studies have shown a clear correlation between such activities as smoking, overeating, and lack of exercise with heart disease. Debate whether health insurance companies should be allowed to charge more for or even deny coverage to people whose lifestyles put them at a greater risk of developing heart disease.
Opportunity to assess Communication

Hot Seat* activity
In this scenario, the characters could be a person at high risk due to lifestyle, a person at low risk due to lifestyle, a health insurance representative or a doctor.

… to generate possible solutions.
… to organise and structure information and ideas.

Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making

Every day nearly 3,000 teenagers start smoking. About half of these first-time smokers will become regular smokers. What attracts young people to this unhealthy habit?

Analyse some of the current anti-smoking messages. Which ones are effective and which are not?

Discuss some strategies parents, schools, and the media could use to discourage young people from beginning smoking.

Pupil activity
Imagine yourself in 10 to 20 years from a health perspective. What do you look like? What activities do you do? Do you have a healthy or unhealthy lifestyle?
Now examine your life today from a health perspective. Discuss and then list what activities and lifestyle choices you currently engage in that may continue into your adulthood. For those unhealthy activities, do you plan to change them or continue living as you do now?

How could you help someone having a heart attack?

Learning Intentions
Pupils are learning …

Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

... how to perform basic first aid.

(In collaboration with Personal Development)

What steps would you take if you saw someone lying on the ground clutching his or her chest and left arm? As a class, list the actions that would be most effective in saving the person.

What have I learned?

Learning Intentions Pupils are learning …

Possible Learning, Teaching and Assessment Activities

… to become aware of new learning of knowledge and skills.

… to manage their own learning.
Self-Management

Refer back to the KWL* chart put together earlier. Each pupil fills in the ‘L’ section by recording what they have learned.

Each pupil reflects if there was any area in the unit that they were particularly interested in. This is shared in pairs and then in small groups. A goal is set for how this interest could be followed up.

Development of Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate a range of practical skills in undertaking experiments, including the safe use of scientific equipment and appropriate mathematical calculations.
• Use investigative skills to explore scientific issues, solve problems and make informed decisions.
• Research and manage information effectively, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate.
• Show deeper scientific understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate.
• Demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through.
• Work effectively with others.
• Demonstrate self-management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance.
• Communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, mathematical and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

Links with Key Elements:

Links with Learning for Life and Work:

Personal Health

Media Awareness

Mutual Understanding

Moral Character

Citizenship.

Personal Development
Key concept - Personal Health:

Home Economics
Key concept – Healthy Eating