This document provides instructions for several hands-on activities to teach students about the structure and function of the heart. The activities include: using clay and a toothpick to detect pulse; charting heart rates during different physical activities; using a syringe and balloon to demonstrate blood vessel expansion and contraction; comparing adult and child resting heart rates; researching questions about heart function; role-playing blood flow through the circulatory system; discussing how the heart functions as a pump; learning about heart health from guest speakers; and using cardboard tubes to listen to heartbeats and count beats per minute at rest and after exercise.

1. Detecting Your Pulse
Objective: to construct a simple apparatus to visually detect the pulse
Materials:  toothpicks
 modeling clay
Procedures:
Student
Information:
 Provide each student with a toothpick and a piece of clay.
 Stick the toothpick into a "dime sized" lump of clay.
 Have students rest the "counter" on the inside of their wrist just below the
base of the thumb.
 Have students observe the toothpick as it moves. Let students work in
pairs to time the counts in 15 seconds.
 Use this information to determine how many beats per minute.
Assessment:  Use the information from each student to construct a class graph.
 Have students compare and contrast information compiled.
 Using this graph, have each student write a journal entry of the
information obtained. They should include at least three major points in their
summary.
Calculating Beats per Minute
Objective: to describe the relationship between physical activity and heart rate
Materials: chart
Procedures:
Student
Information:
Provide a chart with the headings "activity" and "beats per minute." Have
students identify activities that they perform daily. Each student selects a
minimum of three activities to record in the activity column of their chart. With
the assistance of a partner students calculate and record "beats per minute" for
each activity.
Assessment: Students include the chart in their journal. Using the information in the chart,
students will record observations about the relationship of physical activity and
heart rate.
Blood Vessels
Objective: to demonstrate with a model the expansion and contraction of blood vessels
as blood is pumped through the blood vessels
Materials: For each pair of students:

2.  large container of water
 bulb syringe
 oblong balloons
Procedures:
Student
Information:
 Divide students into pairs.
 One student fills the bulb with water. The other student secures a balloon
over the tip.
 The first student gently squeezes and releases the bulb so that the balloon
repeatedly fills with water.
 The partner holds the balloon between the fingers to feel the expansion
and contraction. This models expansion and contraction of blood vessels as
the heart beats.
 Students should then exchange roles to allow each to feel the movement.
Assessment: Students will check to make sure that the partner in the activity successfully
completes both roles in the experiment.
Heart Rates of Adults vs. Children (Home Connection)
Objective: to compare heart rates of adults and children
Materials: graph of student heart rates from previous lesson
Procedures:
Student
Information:
Home Activity:
Have students record "resting" heart rates of at least one adult in the home
and bring in these results.
Class Activities:
1. Students will compile a graph of "Adult Heart Rates." Begin by making a
comparison of adults. Have students determine the highest, lowest, most
frequently occurring, and develop an "average range."
2. Return to graph from previous lesson which recorded student resting heart
rates. Have students:
 compare their own heart rate to that of the adult in their own home
 compare the student graph to the adult graph in terms of highest,
lowest, most frequently occurring, and average range
 draw conclusions about resting heart rates of adults and children
3. Math Connection
Students will compute the following:
 What is the difference in heart beats per minute of you and the adult in
your home?
 What is the difference in the highest and lowest heart rate of the

3. children on the graph?
 What is the difference in the highest and lowest heart rate of the
adults on the graph?
Assessment: Students will solve problems related to graph comparisons.
Students will record in their journals the conclusions drawn when comparing
adult and child heart rates.
Researching the Heart
Objective: to use research skills to locate answers to relevant questions about the heart
Materials: reference materials
Procedures:
Student
Information:
Students should have a basic understanding of the function of the heart. With
this background, they should now be prepared to formulate related questions
that they wish to investigate.
1. Begin the activity by having students identify information that has already
been obtained in the unit.
2. From this list, have students brainstorm and formulate possible questions
for investigation.
3. Individual students should use this list to select personal questions for
investigation. Have students record these questions in a "Research" section of
their journals. They should be encouraged to add to this list as other questions
arise. This should be an ongoing project.
4. Discuss available resources for exploration and encourage students to use
a variety of these.
Assessment: The completed research project should include questions investigated,
answers to and discussions related to these questions, and resources used in
the investigation.
Dramatization of the Blood's Trip Through the Heart (Science/DramaticsConnection)
Objective: to describe the blood's trip through the body and the function of the heart
Materials:  diagram of circulatory system
 "oxygen" tags
 "carbon dioxide" tags

4. Procedures:
Student
Information:
 Set up a large room sized diagram of the circulatory system.
 Students assume the roles of "body organs and parts." This should include
heart, lungs, arms, legs, etc.
 Other students act as the "blood." As the "blood" travels from the heart to
the lungs, students simulating the blood should be given several tags labeled
"oxygen."
 The "blood" then travels back to the heart and to the other parts of the
body. As the "blood" travels to each body part, it exchanges "oxygen tags" for
tags labeled "carbon dioxide" and "other wastes."
 When the oxygen is used up, the "blood" then must travel back to the heart
and lungs to exchange the "carbon dioxide and waste" for new "oxygen."
Assessment: Each student should be able to play the roles of a body part and blood.
Students then record journal entries explaining the process and how the
activity demonstrated this.
NOTE: This activity could also be used as a performance assessment
following the material on the circulatory and respiratory systems.
The Heart as a Pump (Science/Social Studies/Technology Connection)
Objective: to describe the heart's function as a pump and relate this to other types of
pumps
Procedures:
Student
Information:
1. Introduce the idea that the heart is a pump and have students offer their
definitions of pump. Clarify and agree on a class definition.
2. Divide students into groups of four or five and ask each group to think of
how pumps are used in everyday activities. For each idea the group should
provide an illustration of the pump as it is used, explain how it is used, and
explain what can be done in case of malfunction.
3. Each group should present their findings and display in a central location.
4. Have students compare and contrast their pumps to the heart.
Assessment: Students will each write in their activity journal ways the heart and other pumps
are the same. They will address the fact that machine parts can be easily
manufactured and replaced and that the heart as a pump is not easily
repaired.
Heart Health (Social Studies/Health Connection)
Objectives:  to recognize the need for maintenance of the body's strongest muscle, the

5. heart
 to identify ways to strengthen and maintain the heart
Procedures:
Student
Information:
1. Review the previously learned materials relating to the heart's function and
have students consider what might occur if the heart does not function
properly.
2. This provides an excellent opportunity to have resource persons come in to
discuss heart disease. Ideas include:
 health care professionals
 adults who suffer from heart disease that are willing to share their
experiences
 representative of the American Heart Association
3. Discuss the heart as a muscle and review previously learned information.
Ask students to tell what they know about muscles in general. Encourage them
to share their knowledge of strengthening activities especially as related to the
school physical education program. Students may name individuals that they
consider to have "strong muscles" and include a discussion of how these
individuals build and maintain these strong muscles. Direct the discussion to a
comparison of strong muscles to weak muscles and the work that can be done
with each. Help students to transfer this discussion to the focus on the heart.
4. (Research) Students will use a variety of resources to answer the following:
 List some activities that contribute to building a stronger heart.
 How would a weak heart effect the movement of blood through the
body?
 Name some ways a "weak heart" might effect a person's daily
activities.
Tell how an exercise program for the elderly needs to be different from
younger adults.
Assessment: Students will name at least two activities that would be difficult if the heart does
not function properly.
Completed research projects will be assessed on the basis of accuracy and the
degree to which the topic is addressed. The project will be included in the
student's portfolio.
Make Your Own Stethoscope
Objective: to use a stethoscope to listen to the heart beat
Materials: 1 cardboard tube from a paper towel roll per every 2 students

6. Procedures:
Student
Information:
Over 170 years ago, a man named Laennec invented the first stethoscope. It
was a wooden tube about 1 inch in diameter and about 10 inches long.
Students will use paper towel roll tubes as stethoscopes.
1. Have the students pair up and listen for their partner's heartbeat by placing
the tube over the partner's heart.
2. Count the number of beats per 30 seconds. Add this number together twice
to find out how many times each minute the person's heart beats.
3. Have one partner run in place for one minute, then listen again. Have the
students write down what they hear and calculate the new beats per minute.
4. Have the partners switch.
Assessment: (Follow-up discussion) The heart beats faster after the exercise in order to
pump more blood (oxygen) to the workingmuscles.
Heart Words (Language Arts Connection)
Objective: to define the meaning of terms using the word heart
Materials:  crayons
 8 ½ x 11 paper folded into four boxes
Procedures:
Student
Information:
1. As a class, brainstorm as many "heart" words as possible (i.e.. heart
throb, heart attack, heart-to-heart, etc.). Post them on the board.
2. Post them on the board, discussing the meanings as you go.
3. Students then work individually drawing the meanings of four of those
words (one per box).
Assessment: the final product of activity