This new Human Body Experiment lesson is a thank you to everyone who has already purchased my lessons and albums, those that have downloaded my free lessons, those who have attended my presentations, and for everyone who appreciates my work in person or through social media engagement. I appreciate the Montessori and physical education communities for showing interest in my philosophy of integrating physical education with the Montessori classroom.
Without further ado:
Human Science Experiments: Can Exercise Improve Cognitive Function?
An Excerpt from Montessori Physical Education Volume Two (Both Volumes One and Two on sale for $29 each)
Human Body Experiment: Can Exercise Improve Cognitive Function?
Montessori Physical Education
Introduction:
Most adults have heard about the benefits of exercise. There are many trusted sources where you can find this information, from government websites to human physiology textbooks. We know exercise improves the cardiovascular system, which keeps the heart healthy and strong. Exercising can help with weight management and prevent obesity and type II diabetes. Exercise can make muscles stronger, which helps retain bone mass and improves immune system function. It may help prevent some cancers, improves sleep quality, and improves coordination (very important for elderly to prevent falls). The least well-known and most misunderstood benefit of exercise may be how it improves brain function. There is evidence that exercise may improve academic performance, as well as slow or even prevent degenerative brain disorders.
Some students (and adults) view their mind and brain as independent from their body. Their body is just a thing that takes them from point A to point B. They look at their body more like a vehicle like a car; perform the minimum amount of maintenance to keep it going, and focus more on the driver (their brain). However, the brain is not independent of the body. A poor functioning body an impact the brains ability to perceive its environment and process information. A body that functions at optimum levels allows the brain to also operate at its optimum level as well.
In this human body experiment, the students are going to investigate whether exercise can boost their math-test taking abilities. In the scientific literature, it appears like exercise does help, but which form is the best (if at all)? This lesson works well when taught in conjunction with the Scientific Method and science fair. Maybe the most important function of this lesson is that it (may) reinforces the idea that exercise is good for the brain. For a student who does not like exercise or physical activity, but values their intelligence and academic excellence, though this experiment they may see that exercise helps boost their mental performance. If this encourages the student to begin exercising, then that is a great victory.
Materials:
· A space to run (around the block, the backyard)
· Equipment for your student’s favorite sport to play (soccer, football, etc.) if they have one
· A math fact for every mode of exercise that the student is practicing, plus one more two more for the control experiment. They should be on similar topics, but not identical. For example, if a student is working on their X2’s, have two sheets for that student, but the problems should not be in the same identical order. This can be used as a discussion piece after the experiment. If the math facts sheets were identical, the reason why students improved might be due to memorization and not because of exercise (if there is an improvement). These sheets should have at least one hundred problems; we don’t want most students to be able to finish easily.
· Pencils with erasers
Prior Knowledge: The students should have been introduced to the Scientific Method.
Presentation
1. Explain to the student(s) that they are going to be performing an experiment today. They are going to test if exercise has an effect on their math fact speed and accuracy. Have the student(s) make a hypothesis on whether they think that exercise will improve their math fact recall or not.
2. The instructor should give each student a math fact timings sheet and a pencil. Explain to the students that we are establishing our control with these math fact timings sheet, and they will be doing this again later in the day. Once everyone is ready, have the student’s do as many as problems as they can in certain time limit (2-5 minutes).
3. Once the time is done, collect their papers. Let the students do an activity that is not physically demanding that they want to do (play cards, color, draw, read) for somewhere between 10-20 minutes. Have the students take a new version of the same math fact sheet and time them again. Compare the scores of the two tests (was there any improvement?), and this will be the control.
4. The next three days will test at least three different modes of exercise: anaerobic exercise, aerobic exercise, and aerobic play.
a. The anaerobic day can perform exercise like sprints, pushups, situps, etc. If the student is sprinting, they should run a certain distance, then walk back to their original spot. The reason this is “anaerobic” exercise is that they can perform this exercise without needing oxygen. On the cellular level, the muscles are burning creatine phosphate and glycogen, and don’t have to rely on the Krebs cycle (citric acid cycle) for prolonged energy creation. For pushups and other bodyweight exercises, have the students perform a set (lets say 10 reps), rest 30 seconds, and then perform another set until the time is up.
b. The aerobic exercise day will be jogging (probably around the block or even on a treadmill). This student should go at a pace where they can talk. This is aerobic because the body uses oxygen to continue making ATP for the working muscles.
c. The aerobic play day should play a game that requires some running, but is a fun game of their choice. Good examples of this would be soccer, football, basketball, tag, etc.
5. Have the students play and exercise for somewhere between ten to twenty minutes. This will give the instructor time to grade the first math fact sheet (it is best to have an answer key to accomplish this as quickly as possible).
6. After the allotted time, bring the students back and give them their alternate math-fact timing sheet. Give them a pencil and have them do as many problems as they can in five minutes.
7. Once the time is done, collect the timings and correct them (with an answer key if available). Compare their two timings. Did they improve, stay the same, or do worse?
a. If working with older students, you can have them graph the results of each test. For example, if a student got 70 correct the first test and 80 correct the second time, their score is +10. If a student answered 60 the first time and 50 the second time, their score is -10.
8. Have the students share their results. Did the exercise days do better than the non-exercise days? Why or why not? Was there a mode of exercise that improved more than the others? Why did that happen? What are the mechanisms that exercise could help in taking a math fact test? Possible answers could be increased blood flow with oxygen to brain, helps to calm them down, relieves test taking anxiety, etc.
9. If this lesson is being used to reinforce the scientific method, have a discussion on the different parts of the experiment and how they fit into the scientific method model.
a. Hypothesis: Will exercise improve math fact test taking ability?
b. Materials: Does there need to be an element of fun in the exercise to boost brainpower?
c. Procedure: What is the independent variable (the type of exercise)? What is the dependent variable (the change in number of correct answers)? What is the control (taking the test without exercise)?
d. Results: Did exercise improve the number of correct answers? Was one mode of exercise better than another?
e. Conclusion: Was the hypothesis similar to the results? Why or why not? Would the results be different if it were a spelling test or a memory test?
Aims:
Direct: For the students to perform an experiment using the scientific method.
Indirect: Listening to directions
Math skills
Physical skills practiced:
· Repeated sprinting
· Jogging
· Whatever skills involved in their game of choice
Control Of Error:
The instructor should use an answer key to quickly grade the math fact sheets, or do it by mental math (whichever is fastest).
Points of Interest: The students will be interested to see if they can improve their math fact test taking ability. It will also be interesting to see if one mode of practice is better than another. This will have implications in their own life on how they prepare for tests.
Age:
6-9 (with a lot of help)
9-12 (with minimal help)