Sitting, Standing or Walking: What Your Pulse Says
Students learn to take their pulse and measure it in four situations: sitting, standing, walking and climbing stairs. Using the class data, they make a simple chart and see that just breaking up sitting time gets the body going.
How to play
- Teach students to take their radial or carotid pulse for 15 seconds and multiply by four; they practice twice (3 min).
- Measurement 1: after 3 minutes sitting quietly, each student writes down their pulse on the card (3 min).
- Measurement 2: after 2 minutes standing and working at a table or shelf, like a standing desk (3 min).
- Measurement 3: after 3 minutes walking down the hallway at a normal pace; measurement 4: after 2 minutes calmly going up and down a flight of stairs (7 min).
- Calculate the class average for each situation, draw a bar chart on the board and discuss what getting up regularly does for muscles and circulation (4 min).
Rules
- On the stairs, go up and down on the right, without running, using the handrail if needed.
- Data are personal; the chart only shows the average.
- No one's pulse is compared with anyone else's.
- Students on medication that affects heart rate may record only how they feel.
Variations
Easier
Only three situations: sitting, standing and walking.
Standard
Four situations with pulse checks and a chart of the average.
Harder
Add the Borg scale in each situation and analyze the link between pulse and perceived effort.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: compares sitting, pushing the wheelchair down the hallway and moving the arms in place.
- Visual impairment: uses a heart rate monitor or a phone with voice readout instead of counting.
- Dyscalculia: a partner helps with the multiplication, or a phone calculator is used.
Learning goals
- Take a pulse correctly and reliably.
- Test with their own data the effect of breaking up sitting time.
- Represent and interpret data in a simple chart.
Equipment for a class of 25
- stopwatch: 1
- cards: 30
Teacher tip
Coordinate with the school on using the hallway and stairs so you do not disturb other classes. If some students wear fitness trackers, their data can be compared with the manual count.
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