Practical Work for Learning - Nuffield Foundation



This lesson is designed to exemplify an argumentation approach to practical work, using an ‘analysing and interpreting data’ framework. Students decide whether or not the data available is sufficient to draw particular conclusions, and justify their decisions through argumentation.Overview of contentUsing primary data about heart rates and breathing rates of students, alongside secondary data from children and adults, students assess and argue for or against the validity of claims about physical fitness. Students match the evidence collected and presented to the claims. They also consider whether the evidence is sufficient in itself to support the claims, particularly when the sample size is small, or whether more data is needed.The key features of the lesson are:discussing how a claim (or idea) is supported by evidence (data)evaluating the claim by considering the reliability of the data, its relevance to the claim and the degree of confidence that is possible as a result of analysing the dataproposing or arguing alternate claims.Age range and Timing14–162 x 50 minutes Curriculum links:Heart function, lung function, measures of fitnessPrior knowledgeStudents will already know the following:How to interpret line graphs and tables of data. The heart pumps blood around the body, and blood provides tissues with oxygen and glucose needed for cellular respiration. Respiration provides energy to the tissues for activity such as muscle contraction. The lungs allow gas exchange between the blood and the atmosphere, providing a source of oxygen for respiration. Learning outcomesSkills-basedStudents will be able to:collect and analyse data about heart rate, breathing rate, and self assessed fitness leveldecide whether evidence supports or does not support claims about physical fitnessstate what further evidence would be needed to support a claim.Content-basedStudents will be able to: describe the effect of exercise on heart rate and breathing rate.Background informationBreathing rate increases to provide the body (exercising muscles) with oxygen at a higher rate. Heart rate increases to deliver the oxygen (and glucose) to the respiring muscles more efficiently.The fitter you are the lower your resting heart rate. Fitness relates to how efficiently your body can release useful energy (ATP) from your food and oxygen. If you exercise regularly then your body is more efficient. Fitness results in your body needing less oxygen to produce the same amount of ATP. A lower heart rate will provide a sufficient blood flow. The stroke volume of your heart also increases with exercise. This larger volume of blood pumped per heartbeat also increases efficiency.Even thinking about exercise – anticipating the activity – increases our heart rate by a few beats per minute. This allows the muscles to increase production of ATP before it is needed.When student data is part of the investigation it is good practice to:give individuals an opportunity to opt out of the physical activity, or opt out of having their data included in the final collationkeep individual data anonymised in the collation.TerminologyThe terms which students needed to understand and use in this lesson are:argument - the way people articulate and justify claims or conclusionsclaim - a conclusion, idea, proposition or assertionevidence/ data - the evidence and observations used to support the claimcorrelation – a link between two factors e.g. if a factor increases (or decreases) as another factor increases there is a correlationLesson outlineLesson 1StepTimingDetailsResourcesSet the context 8 minDisplay slide 2 as the students arrive. This shows how to take a pulse and asks students to try taking their own.Once they have all managed to find their pulse, explain that pulse rate (number of pulse counts per minute) is a measure of heart rate. Explain that you can find your breathing rate by counting breaths per minute.You can make a count for 15 seconds and multiply the answer by 4 (to get the count for 60 sec / 1 min).Ask students (Slide 3):What happens to your heart rate and breathing rate when you do exercise?Why does this happen?Students could get up and do a few star jumps / hop on the spot for 30 sec. to give them physical experience of slight exercise and help bring out their ideas.Give students 2 min. to ‘think, pair, share’ their answers to the questions. They could write their responses on mini-whiteboards and swap these with another pair who then discuss the answers presented to them. Finish with a short class discussion on their ideas. If misconceptions (e.g. breathing more puts your heart rate up, or faster heart rate makes you breathe faster) arise then address these through questioning. For example, if you are not exercising but breathe in and out very quickly does your heart rate go up?Slides 2-3Share learning outcomes2 minShow students the learning outcomes on Slide 4 and explain that over the next two lessons, they will be investigating claims about fitness.describe the effect of exercise on heart rate and breathing ratecollect and analyse data about heart rate, breathing rate, and self assessed fitness leveldecide whether evidence supports or does not support claims about physical fitnessstate what further evidence would be needed to support a claimSlide 4Present the claims5 minPresent the claims on Slide 5.Assign each pair one of the three claims (Slide 5) to evaluate. They write this at the top of page 2 of their student sheet. Claim C is more complex to analyse and could be given to a pair that is stronger at mathematical manipulation. To assess recovery, students could calculate the ‘4 min after exercise’ value as a percentage of resting rate and compare the percentage with the measure of fitness.Explain that students are going to collect information about their heart rate and breathing rate before, during and after some exercise. All pairs collect all the data then share it as a class. They will use the class data to evaluate the claims.Slide 5Student sheet page 1 and 2Carry out practical activity15 minOne student in each pair takes the role of exerciser and the other, recorder. The recorder takes all measurements and records these on student sheet page 1.Before exercising the exerciser self assesses how frequently they exercise, and a heart rate (pulse) and breathing rate at rest (sitting down) are taken. The exerciser undertakes 4 minutes of exercise (see Practical guidance health and safety notes). If a pulse meter is available it is possible to record the pulse during exercise. Immediately after exercise, and 2 minutes and then 4 minutes later a heart rate (pulse) and breathing rate are taken. Coordinate data collection using a communal spreadsheet (e.g. on whiteboard or computer terminal). The spreadsheet provided will automatically calculate the mean values. Sheet 2 of the spreadsheet displays line graphs of the mean values; make these available to the class (e.g. by displaying on whiteboard).If some pairs have completed the practical work and are waiting for others to finish, ask them to think about the extension questions on student sheet page 1.See Practical guidance Spreadsheet ‘data analysis’Analyse data10 minStudents work in pairs to discuss the questions listed on student sheet page 2 (part 2) for 5 minutes. Go through the success criteria for a good argument, on Slide 6. Ask students to write down their argument either supporting or rejecting their claim. This must be based on the evidence available from the class practical work.Circulate and challenge students to justify their responses using prompting questions e.g. Did everyone’s data follow the same pattern? Do you think people are good at assessing their own fitness level? Do you think the pulse rate and breathing rate measurements were accurate? Do you think enough people were tested to allow us to draw conclusions from the results?Slide 6Peer review5 minEach pair swaps their argument with another pair. Students peer assess each other’s argument, referring to the success criteria provided. They use the questions on the peer review sheet to provide useful feedback.The peer review sheet includes the question “does the student explain the pattern using scientific knowledge/theory”. This is about the progression between an argument, an argument supported by data and an argument supported by data and theory.The arguments and peer review sheets are returned to the original pairs to read the feedback and if necessary to improve their work.Each pair sets themselves a goal for the next time they are using argumentation skills, and writes this at the bottom of the sheet.Student sheet page 3 Plenary5 minDiscuss what students have learnt from looking at how other people develop arguments. Share some of this thinking as a class.Lesson 2Reflection5 minStudents reflect on their performance last lesson, in particular their development goal for improving argumentation skills. Encourage students to think of ways they could implement this goal in this lesson. Explain to students that they will be working in their pairs (the same as in Lesson 1), and will use secondary data (collected by other people) in addition to their own primary data, to evaluate claims about heart rate, breathing rate and exercise.Present the claims5 min1 Men are more physically fit than women.2 Walking does not affect breathing rate.3 People who do more physical activity have a lower resting heart rate.4 Resting heart rate decreases with age.What do students think about these claims? Do they think they are true? If so, why?Slide 8Examine secondary data10 minProvide students with Student sheet pages 4-5. Ask pairs to choose a claim to evaluate, or assign a claim (or claims) to each pair. Their task is to look at the secondary data and decide whether or not they agree with the claim. They will need to think about what they learnt last lesson about the validity of evidence, and the goal they set themselves. First students look at each set of secondary data and discuss what it shows. They then write down a short summary of what each figure shows. Then they use the secondary data to evaluate the claim(s). Again they discuss first. Students can also refer to primary data collected last lesson.Student sheet pages 4-5Developing arguments10 minAsk some pairs to feedback on their thoughts about the claims. Encourage other students to ask questions and model this yourself. Challenge students to really explain why, to think about whether the data is sufficient (e.g. figure 1 only has a sample size of 2 – is this sufficient to say walking does not affect breathing rate for all people of all ages at all times?) and to think about whether they need to add any qualifiers to the claims (e.g. resting heart rate decreases with age, but only up to the age of 20. It then stays relatively steady through to old age).Ask students to then write down their arguments using the frame on Student sheet page 6.Student sheet page 6Peer review5 minStudents swap their argument with another pair for peer assessment using a second copy of Student sheet page 3. Arguments are returned to the original pairs to read the feedback and if necessary improve their arguments.Students reflect on how their arguments have developed from lesson 1. How have your argumentation skills, in analysing and interpreting data, developed since the start of lesson 1?Each pair sets themselves a goal for the next time they are using argumentation skills and writes this at the bottom of the page. What have they learnt from looking at how other people develop arguments? Student sheet page 3 (2nd copy)Drawing together10 minReturning to the idea of fitness, students should answer the following questions, What does the definition of fitness involve?What are the differences between unfit and fit individuals? What changes occur in someone as they become fitter?Make sure students realise that:‘Fitness’ means different things to different people. If we are discussing ‘fitness’ we need to be sure we have agreed what it means. We might disagree with a claim because we are using a different idea of what fitness is.Data from a sample of people can be used as evidence to support claims about fitness.Data from a small sample does not support general claims about the population, but might provide a starting point for further study.Slide 9Assessing learning5 minAsk students the following questions and discuss the answers as a class:What do you need to argue a claim successfully? We can successfully argue for a claim when we have evidence to support it.How would you argue against someone else’s claim?We would argue against someone else’s claim if we didn’t accept their evidence or didn’t agree that the evidence really does support the claim or have evidence to support a counter claim.Assessing learningHome-workSummary question on student sheet page 6 can be completed for homework.Student sheet page 6Differentiation / optional extra activitiesProcessing the data to argue for or against any of the four extra claims could be a challenge in terms of logic, and using Excel to show correlations. In lesson 2, some students could use only the secondary data, where others could be challenged to use both secondary and primary data. Students could self-assess and compare this with the peer assessment, reflecting on their own skills of self-assessment. Students could be challenged to write questions which can be answered using the secondary data. They can swap these with other students.Some students will be able to make their own claim to test using the data.Taking it furtherEvaluate information from a news report about exercise and health. Decide if there is enough evidence in the report to be confident of the claims made. What more evidence would you want? bbc.co.uk/news/health-18335173 Links to related practical activities on Practical Biology:Lung function: HYPERLINK "" practical-biology/modelling-human-ventilation-system practical-biology/dissecting-lungsOther measures of lung function: practical-biology/using-spirometer-investigate-human-lung-function Heart function: practical-biology/looking-heart[blank page] ................
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