| Abstract: | The purpose of the research project presented here is to describe how the wireless heart rate monitor was introduced in the Training School of the Department of Teacher Education at Oulu university, and how the data given by the monitor was utilised in many other subjects as well. The project had its origins in the co-operation between a firm which manufactures heart rate monitors (Polar Electro) and the Department of Teacher Education. A group of experts was selected as a co-operative team, with representatives of the above-mentioned firm, university researchers, primary and secondary school teachers, and students of pedagogy. The goal was to get acquainted with the literature on the topic and to study the possibilities to use the heart rate monitor at school. The working group designed a program with the purpose of experimenting with the monitor in physical education.However, they wanted to integrate the experiences to other school subjects. The lessons were planned on the basis of these guidelines.
Both the students of pedagogy and the primary and secondary school teachers are in charge of implementing the project. At the moment, field studies are being carried out. The use of the results given by the heart rate monitor is not restricted only to lessons of physical education. Those results are also analysed in the lessons of mathematics and biology. Compositions related to its use in the lessons of Finnish are written. In the higher grades (from tenth to twelfth school years), the functioning of the heart rate monitor is studied from the viewpoints of physics and information technology (wireless data transmission). The results that have been obtained so far speak in favour of introducing the monitor not only in physical education but also in the teaching of other school subjects. The heart rate monitor can radically change the measurement and development of the
students’ physical fitness by making it easier for the teacher to take into account their different skill levels.
Descriptors: Technology Education with the Heart Rate Monitor, Integration with other subjects, Co-operation between a company and the Department of Teacher Education.
Working Group:
Polar Electro: Heli Kähkölä and Raimo Karukka
Teacher Training Department: Mika Kenttämaa, Olavi Karjalainen, Pasi Mäenpää and Mika Parkkisenniemi
Teacher Training School: Eero Ijäs, Matti Kanniainen, Anu Kinnunen, Aune Linna, Eva Maria Raudasoja, Risto Sankala and Vesa Virta. |
Ph.D., Lic. Theses
