Put two fingers gently on the side of your wrist. Can you feel a tiny beat under your skin?
That beat is your heart at work. Do you think it always beats at the same speed, or can something make it speed up?
Look at the body diagram on the board. Drag each label onto the organ you think it names.
Heart — the pump that pushes blood around the body. Pulse — the beat you feel when that blood is pushed through.
Where does the heart sit? Which two organs sit either side of it?
Where does the heart sit?
We know the heart is a pump. Now we will find out what makes it work harder.
In your group, choose two activities to compare with resting. Will you try walking on the spot, dancing, or running on the spot? Predict: which activity will make the pulse highest, and why?
Later we will share on a class chart with three labels: resting, gentler activity, and livelier activity. Your quieter choice (for example a walk) will sit under gentler activity. Your stronger choice (for example a dance or run on the spot) will sit under livelier activity.
Five cards appear on the board: the activity, how fast the heart beats, the counting time, who we measure, and how long we exercise (one minute).
Call out where each card belongs. We change one thing, measure one thing, and keep the rest the same. Then fill in your Investigation Journal page for the test your group designed.
Plan our pulse investigation
In each group you need three jobs:
- Person measured — does the activity and finds their pulse
- Timekeeper — starts and stops the 15-second count
- Recorder — writes the numbers
Only the person measured finds the pulse (two fingers on the wrist). Use this same way every time.
Resting
- Sit still for one minute.
- Count beats for exactly 15 seconds.
- Do that sitting count three separate times.
Each activity
- Do the activity on the spot for one minute.
- Sit straight away and count beats for exactly 15 seconds.
- Do that full go three times: activity, then count; activity, then count; activity, then count.
Finish resting first, then your quieter activity, then your stronger one. Stay in your space. If you feel dizzy or unwell, stop and tell the teacher.
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