Personal Health...
  : Heart Beat  
Approach: One to one
56k

Resources: Stethoscope, video.

Download the audio component of the videoclip 370k ( requires QuickTime plug-in )

Questions / instructions

Show student the stethoscope.

% responses
y4
y8

1. Do you know what this is called?

If not known, tell student it is a stethoscope.

7

 

32

 

2. Do you know what it is used for?

heart / pulse
lungs
other body sounds

If not known, say "It is used for listening to a person's heart beat".

75
7
15

 

90
12
8

 

I'm going to show you a short video which shows a doctor holding a stethoscope against someone's body and listening to the heart beat.

Play video - Part 1 Fast heartbeat

3. You've heard someone's heart beating. I would like you to try to explain to me what is actually happening in the body that causes the sound of the heart beat you can hear.
Allow time

heart muscle contracting
blood being pumped or circulated

49
49

71
75

Now let's listen to that person's heart beat again.

Play video - Part 2 Normal heartbeat

4. What do you notice about the person's heart beat now?

slower

27
62

5. What might have caused the heart beat to go slower?

6. So why do you think the heart did not need to beat so fast?

Activity patterns: (eg. sleep, rest, relaxation)

full and comprehensive
some good ideas
limited / fuzzy
poor

Body mechanisms: (less oxygen / nutrients needed, less waste to be removed)

both clearly covered
good ideas but incomplete
limited / fuzzy
poor

1
17
20
62

 

0
1
7
92

3
51
19
27

 

2
6
13
79

Now let's listen one more time to that person's heart.

Play video - Part 3 Very fast

7. What do you notice about the heart beat this time?

faster

96
98

8. What might have caused the heart beat to go faster?

9. Why do you think the heart needed to beat faster?

Activity patterns (eg. excercise, stress, illness)

full and comprehensive
some good ideas
limited / fuzzy
poor

Body Mechanisms (more oxygen, nutrients needed, more waste to be removed)

both clearly covered
good ideas but incomplete
limited / fuzzy
poor

1
48
15
36

 

0
4
10
86

6
79
9
6

 

2
12
18
68

10. What is the main job of the heart?

Pumping blood

clear explanation
on right track
other

39
13
48
69
11
20

11. Why do you think we have blood in our bodies?
(Consider oxygen, nutrients, waste, chemical messengers, repair agents)

full and comprehensive
some good ideas
limited / fuzzy
poor

0
3
7
90
4
12
12
72
At the end of today's activities you can try the stethoscope if you like.
Commentary
Many students at both year levels had a reasonable understanding of the function of the heart and how pulse rate is affected by activity patterns. Few students, however, understood the reasons for the link between pulse rate and activity patterns. The results for question 4 suggest that students were not clear about what they were expected to say. They did much better with question 7.

 

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