Dr. Santhanakrishnan developed a lesson plan and activity "We can work it out!" for 6th grade students in César Chávez Elementary School, Oklahoma City Public Schools, during intersession in December 2013. The main purpose of this activity was to illustrate use of the scientific method. Students in the 6th grade classroom were asked to rank (hypothesize) which of the following 6 sets of aerobic & anaerobic exercises increased heart rate from most to least: running in place, squats, situps, sitting on a chair, jumping jacks, and pushups. To see the handout developed for the activity, please click HERE.

Student groups performing exercise activities - slightly chaotic!

The students were divided into multiple groups, each group member performed 1 activity above for a fixed amount of time. After all the work out, students compared the measured heart rate variation in their group to individual hypothesized rankings and discussed why particular forms of exercise would be more suitable for muscle mass increase but not weight loss.

Pulse measurement was a real challenge in this age group :)