Year 3 children at Ramsgate Arts Primary have become ‘super scientists’ to plan and execute a series of tests investigating how the heart works.
The aim was to find out which exercise raised their heart rates the most. They chose to measure the effects of star jumping, jogging, dancing, hopping and boxing.
First they counted their resting pulse rate and then took it again afterwards and recorded their findings.
Year 3 teacher Kiki Amin said: “After three minutes exercise they were quite surprised at how puffed out they felt.
“We really enjoyed the process of planning and carrying out this investigation and the boys and girls found it particularly entertaining that they can feel their pulse in different places on their body. They were so captivated by it that many decided they would try and find their adults’ pulses when they got home.”
The experiments are part of the How We Live topic which includes learning how to lead a healthy lifestyle and knowing about the body including the human skeleton and bone structures of various animals, muscles and diet.
They also researched nutrition and kept food diaries as a part of their home learning tasks to encourage them to think about their own balanced diets.
Miss Amin added: “We have exercised and talked about how this can build our strength, speed and stamina and we have even incorporated Design Technology to produce visually aesthetic healthy lifestyle toolkits filled with top tips to support people trying to have healthy diets, bodies and minds.
“This unit has been so much fun for the children and is incredibly important, especially with the health concerns and restrictions during the pandemic.
“We are certainly looking forward to our new science units next term where we get to experiment even more.”
