Jump Rope For Heart - Skipping Experiments

Australian Curriculum content descriptions: 

Year 3 & 4 Health and Physical Education:

• Practise and refine fundamental movement skills in a variety of movement sequences and situations (ACPMP043)

Year 3 Science:

• With guidance, identify questions in familiar contexts that can be investigated scientifically and make predictions based on prior knowledge (ACSIS053)
• With guidance, plan and conduct scientific investigations to find answers to questions, considering the safe use of appropriate materials and equipment (ACSIS054)
• Consider the elements of fair tests and use formal measurements and digital technologies as appropriate, to make and record observations accurately (ACSIS055)
• Use a range of methods including tables and simple column graphs to represent data and to identify patterns and trends (ACSIS057)
• Compare results with predictions, suggesting possible reasons for findings (ACSIS215)
• Reflect on investigations, including whether a test was fair or not (ACSIS058)

Year 4 Science:

• With guidance, identify questions in familiar contexts that can be investigated scientifically and make predictions based on prior knowledge (ACSIS064)
• With guidance, plan and conduct scientific investigations to find answers to questions, considering the safe use of appropriate materials and equipment (ACSIS065)
• Consider the elements of fair tests and use formal measurements and digital technologies as appropriate, to make and record observations accurately (ACSIS066)
• Use a range of methods including tables and simple column graphs to represent data and to identify patterns and trends (ACSIS068)
• Compare results with predictions, suggesting possible reasons for findings (ACSIS216)
• Reflect on investigations, including whether a test was fair or not (ACSIS069)

Syllabus outcomes: ST2-4WS, MOS2.4, GSS2.8, GYS2.10

General capabilities: Numeracy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability

Relevant parts of the Year 3 & 4 Health and Physical Education achievement standards: Students refine fundamental movement skills and apply movement concepts and strategies in a variety of physical activities and to solve movement challenges.

Relevant parts of the Year 3 Science achievement standards: Students use their experiences to identify questions and make predictions about scientific investigations. They follow procedures to collect and record observations and suggest possible reasons for their findings, based on patterns in their data. They describe how safety and fairness were considered and they use diagrams and other representations to communicate their ideas.

Relevant parts of the Year 4 Science achievement standards: Students follow instructions to identify investigable questions about familiar contexts and make predictions based on prior knowledge. They describe ways to conduct investigations and safely use equipment to make and record observations with accuracy. They use provided tables and column graphs to organise data and identify patterns. Students suggest explanations for observations and compare their findings with their predictions. They suggest reasons why a test was fair or not.

This lesson is part of the wider unit of work Jump Rope For Heart: Jump Investigators – Years 3 & 4

Time required: 55 mins

Level of teacher scaffolding: Low – facilitate whole class discussions and support students in conducting experiments and recording data.

• Device capable of presenting a video to the class
• Experiment Record Sheet – one copy per student
• Measuring tape – one per group
• Skipping ropes – short and long – one each per group
• Stopwatch – one per group

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• Communication
• Critical thinking
• Problem solving
• Social skills
• Collaboration

The Heart Foundation’s ready-made skipping program, Jump Rope for Heart, helps primary school students move more and have fun, while they raise funds for heart research, patient support and programs that help save lives.