The following activity is great for students to learn how to measure heart rates, figure out which activities get your heart rate going faster and for students to measure how long it takes theirs and their peers heart rates back down. Knowing all these factors helps when it comes to losing weight, burning calories, and overall working out.

In this activity students will do a variety of exercises and see which gets their heart rate up the quickest. Then some activities to see which helps calm their heart rate. Students will be measuring their heart rate using graphing calculators, Easy Link systems, and handgrip heart rate monitors. Students will be split up into groups, preferably 3 – 4 students in each group. Each student will take turns holding the hand-grip heart monitor, do an activity, then graph each of their own heart rates for each activity on a piece of graph paper and compare them to other members in their group. There will be 2 activities to get students hearts rates up, jogging in place and jumping jacks, and 2 activities for students to calm their heart rate down, walking and sitting in a chair. For each heart rate increase activity, a heart rate decrease activity will follow so the graphs can be more accurate on student’s heart rates decrease. The trials will be 4 minutes each, so that each students has enough time to get through each activity, 2 minutes on an increase heart rate activity and 2 minutes on a decrease activity.

After each group is done with their activities bring the class back together for a classroom discussion about what each group noticed about the overall activity and things they could do differently for future activities like this one.

This activity lines up with the Common Core State Standards by meeting standard CCSS.Math.Content.HSF.IF.B.6. Students will be interpreting the rate of change of the function of their heart rate. They will be interpreting the rate of change symbolically.