ICT in PE
Throughout this term a number of pupils, in various year groups, have been involved in a trial using IPad and Bluetooth Heart rate Monitors to measure their performance in PE lessons.
The pupils have been using Polar H7 Bluetooth Heart rate monitors that they wear around their chest. These comprise of an elasticated strap with two pads on them and a sensor that picks up their heart rate and then transmits the readings to the IPAD.
Each lesson the pupils have been allocated a zone that they must work in and then the total time they have been in the zone is recorded. The information that this provides to the teacher is:
Time in zone
Calories burnt
Average heart rate
Total exercise time.
The pupils worked towards their target zone and were rewarded by the system with medals based on the time and the intensity that they had put into the lessons. Many pupils have commented on how the Heart rate monitoring has helped them to improve their fitness and it has helped to develop their knowledge of both the short term and long term effects of exercise on the body.
Comments included:
“The heart rate monitors have helped me by giving me a target to reach in the lesson and quite often I have worked hard enough to go beyond that target.”
“I liked seeing my target on the board as it helped me to work harder”
“The unit of work has helped me to lose weight and become fitter. I have liked seeing the amount of effort I have put into each lesson”
Because the Polar Go fit app works on Bluetooth rather than a wireless network the trial will continue after Easter when we move on to Athletics and Maximal performance.
For parents and students who are interested the app we used is a school specific app called Polar Go Fit but there are alternatives: Polar Team and Polar Beat – these will link to a Polar H7 Heart Rate monitor and the information can be recorded on most Ipad, Iphone and Ipod touch devices. There are also android apps available that do the same.
Other Apps that we are using are: Coaches Eye, Badminton Scoring, Fitness Meter and IMovie.