Engaging Math Problem Reflection

Engaging Math Problem

The purpose of my math problem is to provide a real life math problem that students can use throughout life to monitor their health and physical activity. My lesson integrated physical education with mathematics. Students had three main goals to achieve while conducting this experiment. First, students would find their resting heart rate and develop hypotheses of how physical activity would alter these pulse rates. Students then engaged in physical activities that included a pedometer as well as without, and then measured their pulses. Students would find the correlation between multiple pulses and then develop a graph of some sort to illustrate this. Although some formulas were provided, it was up to the students' discretion to determine which number to multiply by and to discover how time intervals and change of activity affected their heart rate. Adding on to this lesson, I would involve more mathematics by having students find their pulses while going various distances and at various degrees (slope up or down). Advanced students, primarily middle school students would be able to then create parabolas rather than bar graphs and such. Possible benefits of this process includes having a better understanding of health and pulse rate. Students should be able to later develop a physical fitness routine that they are comfortable with that includes time intervals of activities and should continue to record their pulse rates. Another benefit of this process is having students see the connection of time and effect in mathematics and apply to other medians. Students may become creative and expand on this idea as they work more toward physics and understanding different concepts. 

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