Classroom
Compass
Fall 1995
Volume 2 Number 1
Howdy Heart: The Teacher as Facilitator
This activity allows students a peek into their own bodies and gives them a way
to quantify their observations. As an example of "Less is More," it allows a
young child access to the basics of scientific investigation through a simple and
immediate activity. In later lessons, connections could be made to understanding
the human body, ways of presenting data, or information on health and fitness.
Questions will emerge as the students explore with the stethoscopes.
- What sounds did they hear as they examined the room?
- What situations increase heart rate?
- Does anyone have an example from personal experience?
- We see that exercise increases heart rate, what else (what other variables) might affect it?
- How could we test for these other variables?
The comparison of resting and active heart rates provides an opportunity to
introduce the ideas of variable and controlled experiment. Explain that the
experiment started with one condition (the resting heartbeat), that was changed
so we could compare different situations. That change made the activity more than
a simple observation; it became an experiment.
Use the words variable and experiment in the discussion. It is not important that
the children build their vocabulary with these words, but they can begin to think
about comparing and recording observations, controlling variables to enable
comparison, and drawing conclusions from data.
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