Heart Rate for Success Submitted by Brandon Asbury and the Asbury Group

Submitted to Pathways Middle School

Summary Asbury evaluation has been looking into the use of heart rate monitors in the physical education classroom setting for the use of the students to monitor their progress during the course of a class. The evaluation process took place over the course of a semester in the Meridian School District, in Meridian Idaho. The school that was being evaluated was Lowell Scott Middle School. Fifteen students from three eighth grade students were evaluated on performance. The purpose of this evaluation was to see if Pathways Middle School should implement this program in their own physical education department to get more students actively involved. Surveys, questionnaires, and hard data were the source of the evaluation. Students were chosen at random based off of their initial heart rate for the beginning of the spring semester. After finding the students based on numbers only, the teacher than gave me a name for each data sample received. Asbury started with a questionnaire after having student names (appendix A). The questionnaire was an intro to see students feelings on the program. Surveys were used periodically through the middle of the evaluation (appendix B). An exit questionnaire was also used to get students opinions after the program had been completed (appendix A). Sampling will be used for this evaluation, because of the large numbers that attend Lowell Scott. The evaluation has a lot of data that can help Pathways determine if it would work for them. Asbury found that sixty percent of the students that participated in the program actually maintained a steady heart rate over the course of the spring semester. Thirty-five percent of the students actually increased their productivity based on heart rate and five percent actually decreased productivity. There were some weeks where activity levels were low and that was based on the activity that was being taught and participated in. For example, baseball can be a low heart rate activity and the students do not get many oppo9rtunities to elevate heart rate. For that unit Asbury chose to leave that information out. There was multiple units were heart rate data was beneficial. Those units were dance, circuit and multiple team sports units.

Introduction Heart rate for success is a program for students to be able to monitor their own activity level in physical education. Through the use of heart rate monitors students will be able to see if they need to increase their activity, decrease their activity or maintain during the course of a class period. Students receive immediate feedback during the activity-taking place that day. The purpose of this evaluation is to see how students participate in taking an active role in their physical education. Goals of the evaluation are to determine if the program is effective with the use of the heart rate monitors. Do student activity levels increase, decrease, or stay the same throughout a semester of use. The first step of the evaluation is to find a variety of students that are taking part in the program at Lowell Scott. Asbury has chosen 15 students to base the findings off of. The first step involves taking students information from the first class of the semester based only on their heart rate information. Students were put into three groups based on activity level; group one was under the heart rate zone, two was target heart rate zone, and three was over the target zone. The next step of the evaluation was to determine the names of the students so Asbury could give them a questionnaire (appendix A) that would allow for interjection from the students (beliefs, opinions, thoughts). In the middle of the program/semester surveys (appendix B) would be given to those 15 students to monitor what they were feeling for each activity and how they felt afterwards. The final step would be an exit questionnaire (appendix A) that would again give the students thoughts for the entire program. Along with the questionnaires and surveys Asbury will have access to all data from the students heart rates. Description The intended users of the Heart rate for success program are the physical education and health teachers at Pathways Middle School. Pathways is a small alternative school in Meridian, Idaho. The student population is maxed out at 162 students. There are 81 eighth graders that participate in physical education every other day, because they are on a block schedule. There

is one physical education teacher and one health teacher, and all students are required to take both classes. The length of the Heart rate for success program will last the duration of one semester (15 weeks). This amount of time should give the Asbury Group enough data to then report back to Pathways middle school with the findings and proper information for them to make a knowledgeable decision. The context of this program is for the use of Pathways Middle School to determine if this is a technology program that they would like to incorporate into their physical education curriculum. This is a big purchase that can aid in their process of P.E. but at a high expense for the school and department. Objectives The goals and objectives below were developed by the Asbury Group to better aid in determining if the Heart Rate for success program will help Pathways attain a new level of physical fitness. Objective 1- understand more how the students utilize the heart rate monitors. Objective 2- do grades positively reflect student activity and heart rate zones Objective 3- Determine how much heart rate will influence students progress in the classroom. Objective 4- Determine how the heart rate monitors will benefit the physical education program at Pathways Middle School Objective 5- determine which activities are going to be the more beneficial to the program. Components This program contains a service that will directly benefit Pathways Middle School in Meridian, ID. The main service that is being evaluated is the use of the heart rate monitor in the physical education program at Pathways. The heart rate monitors are going to be the main source for students to be directly involved with their grade and the grading process. Students will be able to see immediately whether they need to increase, maintain or decrease their own physical activity in the class. Procedures that are going to take place are questionnaires, surveys, student data and observation. The questionnaires are going to be directed towards students and they will give the Asbury Group a better understanding of where the students mindset is when it comes to the process of

using heart rate monitors for the Heart Rate for success program. They will be given at the beginning of the program and then also at the end. This is will give the Asbury Group the proper feedback on the program from the students eyes. Surveys are another form of feedback that the Asbury Group will gain a better understanding of the program. Surveys will be given after activity has taken place on a given day and will be administered four times throughout the program (one semester). Observations are going to be one of the biggest components of the evaluation. Along with the heart rate data from each student the observation will allow for the evaluator to dive into the data based on what they see in forms of activities being used in the class and then also the activity levels from the students that are participating in the program. Participants The participants in the program were eighth grade students at Lowell Scott Middle School in Meridian Idaho. The participants for this program were chosen based on their initial heart rates for the semester. 15 students were chosen on three categories: those who were under their target heart rate zone, those who maintained their target heart rate zone and then those who were working above their target heart rate zone. These zones are based on the formula, 220 minus age equals max heart rate, times 60 percent. This is the target for everyone one trying to maintain or improve his or her lifestyle. The instructor of the classes was instrumental in the program. He was the facilitator of the students participating. One of the things that could have changed the outcome of the program was the activities the instructor could have chosen for his classes. Some activities would not benefit the stakeholders and Pathways, because they are not as extensive as others (baseball vs. tennis). Parents have been notified that their students from Lowell Scott were taking part in the program to help another school decide if they would like to utilize it. Parent from Pathways were also involved in a discussion at Pathways to ask if this is a P.E. program that they would be willing to support. At the end of the presentation parents were asked to fill out a survey that would ask for their pros and then also concerns with the program. Teachers from Pathways were involved directly as well. Both the health and physical education teacher were involved with looking at data and getting the opportunity to look at the data and student responses to the program. They also got to see first hand how the teacher inputs data and how to manage time with the use of the heart rate monitors from class to class. Procedures

This evaluation began in January of 2012, it was a semester long program that would last to the last week of April 2012. The Asbury Group began by finding a program in the Meridian School District that closely resembled what Pathways was looking to incorporate into their own physical education program. Lowell Scott Middle School was utilizing heart rate monitors in their own program to help evaluate student performance and activity level. The Asbury Groups first step was to go to Lowell Scott and find the blind data of 15 students. Only 15 were chosen on the sheer fact that Lowell Scott is a very large school and the idea of evaluating every student was daunting and time consuming. The Asbury Group looked for students to fall into three different categories; those who hit there target heart rate zone, those who were working above the target heart rate zone and then those who were below the zone. The students weight and age were not known at the time it was strictly heart rate zone that was being evaluated. Five students were found for the three categories that were evaluated. The Asbury Group then collected data on the students, age, height, and weight. The Asbury Group had knowledge of the students names so they could easily recognize them when observing. Parents of the students were contacted to ensure that it would be ok for them to use the data from the program. The students were then assigned a number (1-15) for the evaluation purpose. Students were given an entry questionnaire to answer. This data was going to be used to get idea of any biases the student may have towards the program and their ideas. The students would also complete a quick survey after four separate classes that would determine how they felt about their activity level. Observations were for the Asbury Group to be able to get first hand knowledge on how the student actually moved during the class period. Even though this may not give them actual data they can then relate this information to what the heart rate monitor relayed back. If a student was not moving and their heart rate monitor said they were below the target heart rate zone then the evaluator could have data that correlated. The same as if the student again didnt move much but their heart rate monitor said they were in the zone, then there is two potential outcomes the heart rate monitor was defective or the student could be overweight and their fitness level is low. The end for the students is an exit questionnaire. This is strictly to see if the students had changed their views on the program for the course. The instructor at Lowell Scott will be given a questionnaire (appendix C) to gain his personal feelings on the program, any concerns or aspects that they would consider changing to make the program more conducive to the class environment.

One procedure that is just as important as the data collected from students is a meeting with the parents of Pathways students to inform them of the Heart Rate for Success program that may be implemented in their students P.E. program at Pathways. At the conclusion of the meeting the parents would be given two simple questions for them to answer. 1. What aspects do you think will benefit your child in using the Heart Rate for Success program for P.E.? 2. What concerns do you have of the use of heart rate monitors use in the P.E. class? The Asbury Group was invited to every P.E. class to get observations but choose to go to two classes a week. The instructor at Lowell Scott maintained the structure of the program. There was no modification done to the actual Heart Rate for Success program. The teachers from Pathways were given professional development days from the district to go over and observe Lowell Scott use the program. They were allowed to see the procedures of handing the heart rate monitors out, the cleaning of the chest straps for the program, the structure of time management and then how the instructor would gather the data from students and how it was utilized. Results After determining the students that were going to be participating in the program, data was immediately taken. The data stated that the results were the same as the beginning before the evaluator knew names. 5 students were at the target heart rate zone of 60 to 70 percent of there max, 5 were below the zone and then 5 were above. Asbury group went with the chart in appendix D to track the students over the course of the semester. This chart gives the students id number based on The Asbury Groups numbering, Gender, and target heart rate zone (number of beats per minute) based on the formula; 220age=max HRx.6 & .7. These numbers will be the goal to maintain a proper zone. The height and weight were not necessarily that important to the program but The Asbury Group felt it would be beneficial in case of serious discrepancies. None were found. The following chart demonstrates the max heart rate that each student over the course of the semester. There were 6 different heart rates evaluated during the program. Based on the heart rate formula stated above the students max heart rates during the class period. This data shows that one hundred percent of the students obtained at some point the target heart rate and were able to sustain that heart rate for the duration of the class period. Student 11 was focused on during the program evaluation; they started at a heart rate of 109

for the class and ended with a heart rate of 137. Now even though they had a few heart rates below the target zone this student progressively improved their heart rate for the semester. The Asbury Group did notice that student 13 and student 8 were very consistent in their performance, whether it was above the heart rate zone (student 13) or below the heart rate zone (student 8). There are a lot of factors that can play into this factor such as body chemistry, activity levels and weight and height. The one thing that stands out is that both students found at least one time they both reached the target heart rate zone. The remainder of the students showed heart rate zones that either remained in the heart rate zone, with minimal to no changes in whether they were above or below. The other group of students seemed to demonstrate a chance to try and adjust over the course of a semester, by their numbers jumping above and then going below heart rate zones but at one point finding the target zone.

180

160

140

120 Data 1 100 Data 2 Data 3 80 Data 4 Data 5 60 Data 6

40

20

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

One thing that should be stated about this evaluation is that there is only 6 data collections from the heart rate monitor and some of the students demonstrated through observation that they were active in class when data was not taken. Of the 30 times in class the evaluation team only collected the hard data 6 times. Surveys The students were administered 4 surveys through the course of the year. (Surveys are found in appendix B). The results of this are as follows. Students who originally started in the heart rate zone and those who were above generally like the idea. They liked the fact that they were going to get graded on their personal activity level. Students with a lower heart rate were more inclined to not liking the program because they felt that their grade would be affected harshly.

73% of students thought after each session that they reached the target heart rate zone for the day. 15 percent felt that the choice of activity was not enough for them to accomplish their task. 100 percent of the students felt that having a heart rate monitor on their wrist was easy to use and utilize when they felt the need.

The Asbury Group felt that the numbers from the surveys were beneficial to the staff at Pathways. This shows that even though some felt like they had reached their heart zones somedays they did not. The amount of students that were excited about the heart rate monitors was over fifty percent and based on both surveys and hard data the students. Questionnaires for the students showed that 13 of the 15 students like physical education with a rating of 5 of 5 the other two liked P.E. with a rating of 3 out of 5 and 4 out of 5. 5 was the highest ranking with 1 being the lowest. Students 50% percent of the students felt that P.E. should not change. 95 % of the students were worried that the heart rate monitors would change how the physical education classroom would change. Parent surveys from Pathways were very positive for the Asbury Group. Above 70 percent of the parents felt that this would be a positive factor for their students to get a better education when it came to physical fitness. There were two parents whose concerns were that their student might not benefit from the program because they knew how their student was when it came to being physically active. The questionnaire that was given to the instructor at Lowell Scott was very beneficial. The real concern from him was the amount of time that he felt he lost in the classroom setting by handing the devices out and then having them be cleaned after a class concluded. The one benefit of this for the Pathways teachers is that they are on a block schedule (80 min classes) allowing for a little more time for distribution and cleaning versus Lowell Scott, which has only 40 minutes. This gives the Pathways teachers more time to use the devices for the classroom. Discussion The purpose of the results is to show to the stakeholders (Pathways) that data from the heart rate monitors. Pathways wanted to know if the results were going to motivate students to participate in physical education through the use of heart rate monitors. The data showed that students at Lowell Scott a model school for Pathways enjoyed the program at the end and during showed success in improving or maintaining their activity levels during class to reach the target heart rate zone.

The surveys and questionnaires are going to be an added benefit and based on the parent support from Pathways the teachers can look for the best option for them to use the technology in a way that will help the teachers as well as the students achieve a better physical fitness state. The hard data of the program proved to be the most important to the Pathways team. In this section of the result the students demonstrated the ability to achieve and maintain the target heart rate zone for a class period. This may differ for the Pathways team because of the length of the class period, but over all it did show that most achieve. Although some students were mainly above or below the zone about 85 percent of the students found a consistent (3 or more times) target heart rate zone. Surveys proved to be an integral part of how the students were thinking during the program. The students showed that there was not a major problem with they way they were going to be graded after the class. They stated that they liked the fact that they could immediately see what their heart rate was and if they needed to increase decrease or maintain their own activity level for the duration of the class. Questionnaires were used for the program with the students, staff at Lowell Scott and the parents of Pathways. Some biases came out about the grading process but most of the feedback from them was a positive. After evaluating the project the data, surveys and questionnaires, and knowing what the Pathways Middle School Staff is looking to incorporate we recommend looking into finding a program similar to what Lowell Scott is offering. Lowell Scott has an advanced set up and shorter class periods to collect information. They have a system that will do that for them through antenna that picks up every students monitor when they activate them. Pathways can look at doing the same if they would like, but the fact that they have so many fewer students per class and much more time, they can look at alternative heart rate monitors to get the same results from the class as they might get at a larger school. The major recommendation for Pathways is to look at a more cost effective method of heart rate monitors. This program was a formative assessment utilizing a program in the Meridian School District. Pathways is a much smaller alternative school with longer class periods and smaller classes. This is the reason that they can get away from the high cost of using an antenna based data collection services and allow students to help in the process of gathering data and cleaning devices. Project cost

This program was a 15-week program for the spring semester in the Meridian School District. The evaluation team went out a total of 30 times to evaluate what was going on in the classroom. Data was collected through observation, survey, questionnaire, and hard data. The following is a cost of the project based on 500 dollars a day $500 x days (30)= $15000.00 1. This cost will cover the lead evaluator at Asbury Group, any assistance that comes from within the group. 2. It will cover secretarial costs $5000.00 1. This cost will cover office supplies (paper, phones, etc.) 2. This will also cover gas for the team to get too and from work and the schools Lowell Scott and Pathways.

Total Cost 20,000 Dollars

Student Questionnaire1

Name:

1. How do you feel about using Heart rate monitors in P.E.?

2. What are some concerns you may have about the Heart rate monitors in Physical education?

3. What are some positives you can see coming out of the use of the heart rate monitors?

Appendix

End of Class Survey Name:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Do you like using heart rate monitors in class? Do you like to know that you are getting a grade based on your activity? What is your target heart rate zone? Explain why you did or why you did not achieve your heart rate zone for the class period? Do you like the use of the monitors for instant feedback?

Appendix B

Educator Questionnaire

1. Describe what you would change about the program?

2. Describe what you feel is the most beneficial about this program?

Appendix C

Student Chart

Student 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Gender M F F M F F M M M M M F F M M

Age 13 13 14 14 14 14 13 14 13 14 14 13 14 14 13

Height 5-8 5-5 5-7 5-2 5-7 5-4 4-11 5-9 6-1 5-3 5-8 4-10 5-2 5-9 5-11

Weight 130 98 95 95 132 80 75 128 155 104 210 74 142 137 115

Heart Rate zone 124-144 124-144 123-144 123-144 123-144 123-144 124-144 123-144 124-144 123-144 123-144 124-144 123-144 123-144 124-144

Appendix D