Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes

Introduction

35 minutes

Part A: Increasing Lung Capacity

10 minutes

Part B: Measuring Cardiovascular Health

35 minutes

Part C: The Circulatory System

5 minutes

Reflection

Introduction

Step 1

Explain to students that this lesson is focused on Body Knowledge. If your students are collecting Volkswagen Footy Fit Challenge Tokens, inform them that they can collect Body Knowledge tokens by completing the activities in this lesson. Refer to the Volkswagen Footy Fit Challenge Scoring Framework for details. There will also be some extension activities they can complete for extra tokens. They can refer to the Volkswagen Footy Fit Challenge Game Plan for more information.

Step 2

Play this video:

Health Benefits Of Cardiovascular Exercise Training - How Cardio Affects The Body
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sAWJdQtGbE)

Step 3

Ask students to complete a Turn & Talk on the following question:

If exercise is so good for us, why don’t people do more of it?

After students have discussed the question with their partner, invite them to share some of their answers with the class.

Safety first: Make sure students understand that when they start to exercise or train it’s important that they build up slowly and use the right techniques to help them succeed. This helps to gradually improve your heart and lung health so they can support your body to take on more and more difficult tasks. Training your heart and lungs is just like training your muscles.

Step 4

Watch this video on what the Sydney Swans players have to say about building up their cardio exercise to stop them becoming puffed out:

Running Long Distances (https://vimeo.com/674281326)

Part A: Increasing Lung Capacity

Step 1

Ask students to raise their hands if they’ve ever had to stop running because they felt short of breath. Explain that this is completely normal, but there are things we can do to stop this from happening, such as building our lung capacity through training or learning special breathing techniques.

Watch this video of the Sydney Swans players talking about breathing exercises they do:

Breathing Exercises (https://vimeo.com/674281208)

Safety first: If any students in your class have asthma it might be worth mentioning that feeling puffed out doesn’t indicate that you have asthma, although children with asthma might also find exercise difficult. Explain also that if you have asthma and get short of breath when you exercise, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re unfit. Being unfit and having asthma are very different conditions, although they may appear similar.

Step 2

Play this video on how we breathe:

How do lungs work? - Emma Bryce (https://youtu.be/8NUxvJS-_0k)

Explain to students that it’s important to breathe in a way that maintains the right level of oxygen in our blood to allow our brains to work comfortably. If we don’t breathe properly, the level of carbon dioxide in our system will increase, as shown in the video.

Step 3

Play this video:

Proper Breathing While Running | How To (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-2szNtHea4)

Step 4.

Now it’s time to practise some controlled breathing. Invite students to sit tall and place a hand on their stomach just below the ribs. Read:

Breathe in for a count of 4. Hold your breath for a count of 7. Breathe out for a count of 8.

Repeat several times.

Try to encourage students to apply the resting tongue position mentioned in the video. Some students may feel more comfortable completing this exercise with their eyes closed or laying on their backs on the floor.

Explain that while breathing usually comes very naturally to us, we can also control our breath and this can have a huge impact on our entire body system. By slowing our breath, we can increase oxygen to our heart and brain, slowing our heart rate and improving our focus and overall wellbeing.

Learning support: If this breathing sequence is too challenging to start with, you can try a 4 in, 4 hold and 4 out count. Watch out for students who are raising their shoulders when they breathe. Tell them to imagine that they are inflating a balloon in their tummies when they breathe in. This will help them to use their diaphragm more effectively. Some students may benefit from laying on the floor with a book or toy on their tummy that they can see moving up and down when they breathe.

Step 5

Play this video on how the lungs and diaphragm work (from 8:23 to 12:38):

The Epic Abilities of Your Diaphragm | Operation Ouch | Nugget (https://youtu.be/yubMtg1NvbE)

Content warning: If you have any vegetarians or sensitive students in your class you might like to warn them that this video contains animal organs (or skip 9:37 - 10:15).

Sponsorship token alert! This provides a good opportunity for students to win a Sponsorship token. Conduct a competition to see who can hold their breath the longest or hum the longest note. Whoever wins can earn one Sponsorship token to add to their Stadium Scoreboard.

Step 6

Explain to students that they will now make their own working model of the lung and diaphragm.

Help students form small groups and provide them with access to this video on how to build a model of the lungs and diaphragm. You can also refer them to these instructions from Cool Australia: https://www.coolaustralia.org/model-lung/

Ensure each group has the following materials for making the model:

A plastic bottle
An elastic band or masking tape
Blu-Tack or playdough
1-2 straws
2-3 balloons
Scissors

Allow students time to build their models. Move around the room to check that each group has built their models properly so that the ‘lung’ is inflating with a change of pressure in the bottle.

Getting a secure seal over the top of the bottle and straw is the most important part in creating this pressure.

Step 7

Invite students to individually complete questions 1 and 2 on the Student Worksheet:

Are the muscles of the diaphragm voluntary or involuntary? Explain why?
Draw and label diagrams to explain the process of breathing:
.


The lungs are connected to the chest muscles and when we expand them we pull the lungs open.	This creates an empty space in the lungs.

That space is filled by air due to negative pressure.	When we release our diaphragm and chest muscles, the lungs are made smaller, meaning they can hold less air, pushing our breathe out.

Part B: Measuring Cardiovascular Health

Step 1

Show students how to locate their pulse in the hollow beneath their jaw. Invite students to locate the Circulatory System Quiz on the Student Worksheet, then have them measure their pulse by counting the beats while you time them for 30 seconds. They are then to double this count to get the beats per minute and record this value under ‘Resting Heart Rate’.

Circulatory System Quiz

RESTING HEART RATE	MY PREDICTION	ACTIVE HEART RATE
beats per minute	beats per minute	beats per minute
RESTING CHEST CIRCUMFERENCE	MY PREDICTION	ACTIVE CHEST CIRCUMFERENCE
cm	cm	cm

You might like to use one of these fun online timers.

Step 2

Invite students to find a partner. Using the measuring tapes, help students measure around each other’s chests as they breathe out, then record their own measurement under ‘Resting Chest Circumference’.

Step 3

Inform students they are going to undertake a cardio-intense activity. Ask them to predict how much their heart rate and chest circumference will increase immediately after the activity and write this on their Student Worksheet.

Step 4

Time the class for 60 seconds while they perform jumping jacks continuously for one minute. Have students immediately count their pulse again for 30 seconds, doubling it to get the beats per minute. They can then record this value under ‘Active Heart Rate’.

Step 5

With the same partners, have students measure how wide a circumference they can cause by inflating their lungs to their full potential. They can record their own measurement under ‘Active Chest Circumference’.

Invite students to complete questions 3 and 4 on the Student Worksheet:

Other than your heart rate, what else have you noticed increase when you exercise?
What is the purpose of the heart beating faster during exercise?

Step 6

Ask students what changes they think people with elite fitness will experience in the categories on the Circulatory System Quiz. Will they have a lower or higher resting heart rate? A lower or higher active heart rate? Will the difference between them be more or less? Why?

Explain that a fitter, stronger heart is able to more efficiently pump blood, meaning the resting and active heart rates will be lower since the heart doesn’t have to work as hard to supply oxygen for the body.

Hot tip: You might like to have students complete the Circulatory System Quiz again in a few weeks to see if a training program or participation in the Volkswagen Footy Fit program creates any changes to their resting and active heart rate or chest circumference.

Part C: The Circulatory System

Step 1

Play this video on how the circulatory system works:

THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM | Educational Video for Kids. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9ONXd_-anM)

Take some time to answer any further questions students might have about the heart and circulatory system. You might like to use this website to find some fun facts or help you answer some of those tricky questions: https://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/humanbody/heart.html

Step 2

Distribute the Circulatory System Puzzle Instructions, Circulatory System Puzzle and Circulatory System Answer Sheet to each group and invite them to complete the puzzle using the instructions provided. They will need to first cut out each of the pieces of the puzzle.

Note: The left and right parts of the heart appear to be backwards on the worksheet. This is because we're looking at the heart from the front. If students were to pick up the image and place it on their chests so others could see it, they'd notice that the right and left sides now match their body.

Step 3

Once the puzzle is completed correctly, students draw arrows on the puzzle pieces to indicate the direction of the blood flow. You can refer to this Circulatory System Solution.

Step 4

Invite groups to submit their completed Circulatory System Puzzle.

Award one Body Knowledge token to each group member upon completion.

Step 5

In small groups, students use this video as a guide to making a model of the heart. You will need to ensure each group has the following materials for making the heart:

Blu-Tack or playdough
Plastic straws x 2
Clear plastic bottles - 600 mL x 3
Water

Invite students to answer questions 5 to 8 on the Student Worksheet:

Why does blood travel from the heart to the lungs?
Why does blood then return to the heart?
Valves between the atrium and the ventricle are like one-way doors between the rooms of the heart. Why is it important for the valve not to allow blood back into the atrium when the ventricle contracts or pumps?
Is the heart a voluntary or involuntary muscle? Explain why?

Reflection

Invite students to complete the following questions independently on the Student Worksheet:

Have you thought much about your heart and lungs prior to this lesson? Why/why not?
What is the most important thing you learned today?
What personal action/s might you take as a result of this lesson?

Differentiated Learning

Extension

Some students may wish to complete one of the following activities:

Investigate cholesterol and create a video or poster that answers the following questions:
- What is cholesterol?
- What impact does it have on the heart and circulatory system?

Earn one Body Knowledge token.

Draw diagrams or create a video that answers the following questions:
- What happens when there is a break in the circulatory system, such as a cut on our skin?
- How does the system respond to heal this wound?
- What if arteries and veins are more seriously affected, such as a toe getting cut off? Can the system still function properly?

Earn one Body Knowledge token.

How exactly does oxygen in the lungs get into the bloodstream? Investigate how oxygen gets into the lungs and bloodstream. Draw diagrams or create a video on how these microscopic systems work.

Earn one Body Knowledge token.

Provisions for Learning Support

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Footy Fit - Heart And Lungs

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