Heart Rate Monitors Enhance PE Program at CCS
by Rowan Beck,
September 22, 2011, page 6.....

This year at the Charlotte Central School (CCS), students in the 7th and 8th grade will be wearing Polar Heart Rate Monitors (HRMs) during their physical education classes. Thanks to physical education (PE) teacher Robyn Davis and her grant writing ability, the school was able to purchase 20 HRMs. They were able to eke out two more from the PE budget, for a total of 22 now owned by the school.
Each HRM comes with a watch and a band that goes around the student’s chest. The watch monitors the heart rate. Then the data from the class can be downloaded into the computer. The goal is to get students to understand what it feels like to have moderate to vigorous activity for at least 35 minutes. The computer also generates charts and graphs so students can see their progress throughout the year. Students are already familiar with monitoring their progress because in previous years they monitored their exercise with a pedometer. Now they’re measuring their heart rate.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Obesity now affects 17% of all children and adolescents in the United States – triple the amount of one generation ago.” The two CCS PE teachers are challenged by this with the short amount of time they have to work with students. When they try to incorporate the guidelines recommended for children and adolescents’ weekly activity level, it becomes even more complicated. It is recommended that children and adolescents should have at least 60 minutes of vigorous activity every day. Three times a week they should exercise at a high intensity. The problem for the PE teachers is that they only see their students twice a week for, at most, 50 minutes. Robyn Davis said, “The middle school kids have 50 minute classes with me, but they change clothes so it goes down to 40 minutes. Justin (Bissonette) gets his students for less time.” Justin teaches grades K-4; 3rd and 4th graders have 40 minutes. Kindergarteners through the 2nd grade only get 35 minutes of PE. This is only twice a week. Even when this time is combined with the recess that is allowed daily for 20 minutes, students only have at most, an hour of physical activity two times a week while at school.
The HRM is a useful tool to show each student what it feels like to exercise at high intensity and moderate levels. They can also time themselves for how long they can stay at a high intensity. If the intensity starts to decrease they know to work harder to push their heart rate back up. This way when they’re not in class they know just how hard they can work and how long they can maintain it for. “It gives them interest (in exercise), here’s the connection, and why it’s important, and it teaches them that everyone can succeed,” Robyn added.
It has been proven that students who practice vigorous physical activity for 20 minutes at least three times a week perform better in school. Now with the HRM, Robyn can demonstrate to the students through charts, graphs and time what that actually means. She is attempting to make exercise a lifestyle, and the HRM appears to be a good tool to aid the process.
Robyn was one of three teachers in the state who were awarded grants by the Vermont Department of Education in 2010. She secured $6,000 to purchase the Polar E-600 series watches. It is a little more time consuming for class to have students put them on and sanitize them when they are finished, but in her eyes the benefit outweighs the loss of time. Using them takes more time for her as well. She needs to soak and clean the straps once a week and calculate the data. Otherwise maintenance is pretty low, and the batteries will only need to be changed every two years. “The students really like them. The watches beep if they fall below their target zone so they know they need to start moving a little faster. It’s fun to see,” she said with a laugh.
It is impressive that CCS students are using equipment that athletes who are in training for an event are using. They are learning what it really means to have strenuous physical activity while learning a healthy lifestyle. The knowledge gained can easily be taken from the classroom and applied on any field and throughout their lives, helping them remain physically fit. Also, they are learning the correlation between level of activity and grades. When they are tired and they exercise, they tend to feel better and more awake. A well-known Latin saying comes to mind, “mens sana in corpore sano;” loosely translated: a healthy body brings a healthy mind.