Heart Rates Lab
When you go for a fast run, you notice that you start to breathe hard and sweat. Have you ever thought about what happens to your heart? In this activity you will investigate what happens to your heart rate as you increase your activity level.
Problem/Question:
What happens to a person’s heart rate as that person increases his or her activity level?
Information:
Take a few minutes to formulate a hypothesis as to how/why a person’s heart rate fluctuates as a person’s activity level changes. You should list the information below. (Be as specific as you can with the information you have)
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Hypothesis:
Use the information you gathered in the previous space to sensibly complete the statement below.
IF a person increases his or her activity level, THEN __________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ BECAUSE____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________
Experiment:
Use the materials and follow the procedures below to test your hypothesis. Your observations/data should be recorded and you should create an appropriately labeled bar or line graph to provide an additional illustration of your data.
Materials: Phone/Timer, method to record data.
Procedures:
1. Find your heart beat by placing two fingers on your
wrist or neck. Ask for assistance if you experience any difficulty with this
task.
2. Count each thump as one beat. The first beat is
counted as “zero”.
3. Sit in your chair. Record your heart beat for six
seconds as you count the number of beats.
4. Add a zero to your number. This is how much your heart
beats in a minute (roughly) while you are resting (your resting heart rate).
5. Record the number of beats.
6. When Mr. Turnbull tells you, walk for a minute
(probably to the street between Pacific Crest and Summit). At the end of a
minute count the number of beats for six seconds. Add a zero to determine the
number of heart beats in a minute while walking (your walking heart rate). Record the data.
7. Jog to Miller Elementary. When you get to the corner on Skyliner, check
your heart rate. Record your data.
8. Jog the rest of the loop. When you hit the tennis courts, increase your
running speed to go as fast as you can. As soon as you get back to Summit, check your
pulse and record it again.
9. Record all of your data, cool down and come back to
class.
Analysis: Reconsider the experiment and refer to your data to answer the following questions.
1. What was your resting heart rate (in class)? Walking
heart rate (after one minute walking)? What
was your steady state jogging heart rate (the reading at Miller), and your
maximum Heart Rate (reading back at Summit after your sprint)?
2. What did you notice?
3. What considerations should you take into account for
the data? Did you “take it easy”? Did you go harder than normal? Was the weather a factor?
4. What was the response to any of the above factors you noted
in the experiment? Consider this the “effect” in a cause and effect relationship.
5. What factor in the experiment allowed you to determine
if there was an actual change
in heart rate as the activity level changed?
6. What characteristics or components of the experiment
were (or should have been) consistently the same or unchanged throughout?
7. What patterns or trends did you notice when looking at
your data?
8. Did you encounter any issues/problems during your
experimentation that may have affected the accuracy of your data? Explain your
reasoning.
9. Does your data/results support your hypothesis?
Explain your reasoning.
Conclusion:
Formulate a conclusion to the original problem/question that is based on the analysis of your data. In your conclusion be sure to re-state the problem/question, summarize what you did, describe whether your data/results support your hypothesis, and highlight any factors that could have impacted the accuracy of your data/results.
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