The Heart Rate Monitor at School

The objective of the project still going on is to study the use of the heart rate monitor in teaching. The device has originally been designed for sports training and fitness training, from where its use is spreading to physical education at school. The device provides a many-sided learning environment. By means of this device we obtain information on the heart rate but, in addition, this information can be dealt with in a wider reference frame. In the project described here the pupils familiarize themselves besides with the actual device, the heart rate monitor, also with the functioning of the circulatory system and the respiratory organs and with how physical activities affect the fitness and functioning of these organs. When seen from this wider reference frame, the project can include several different school subjects. In mathematics we can analyze the data given by the heart rate monitor, tabulate them manually and present them graphically. In biology we can study the functioning of the heart, the circulatory system and the respiratory organs. In physics we can study the fluctuations in the electromagnetic voltage of the heart and the wireless transmission of this fluctuation to a receiver which show