WINTER HOME ASSIGNMENT – BIOLOGY

Year Group: FM5 Combined science (IGCSE) Section: _____

Name:
Instructions:
✓ Print the file and write your homework in the printed pages
✓ Perform the undermentioned experiment and record your observations accordingly
✓ Submit an online soft copy in managebac before 18th January, hard copy of the printed sheets to
be submitted on reporting to school.

B11.2 The effect of exercise on breathing

You will probably have noticed that when you run for a while, or rush up a long flight of stairs, your breathing
becomes more rapid and possibly deeper. But how strongly is breathing affected by exercise? This investigation
looks at the effect of different levels of exercise on rate of breathing, and (if a spirometer is available) on depth
of breathing. Work in pairs for this investigation, with one of you exercising and the other recording the results.

Method
1. Decide what measurements you will take, such as rate or depth of breathing and how you will take them.
• Rate of breathing is usually measured as number of breaths per minute, but you can measure just for half a
minute and multiply by 2.
• Depth of breathing will be measured using the spirometer. This may measure only one breath, in which case
you must try to make it representative of your breathing at the time.
2. Decide what levels of exercise you will test, such as the number of steps made in a fixed time, or sitting or
standing still, after walking, after jogging, after running as fast as possible.
3. Decide how long each level of exercise will be carried out before measurements are taken. For example, you
could try a couple of test exercises to see whether 1 minute is enough, or 2 minutes produces higher results.
4. Decide when you will take measurements after the exercise.
5. Decide how long to wait between levels of exercise to allow the body to recover fully before the next test.
6. Decide whether or not you need to do repeat measurements at each level of exercise.
7. Carry out your tests and record your data in a suitable table (space provided in the next page).
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Handling experimental observations and data

8. If you have taken repeat measurements, check first that there are no anomalous values (values that do not fit
the pattern of results). If there are, try to explain them. Then, ignoring anomalous values, calculate average
values for each level of exercise.
9. Use your results to draw a suitable graph or chart.
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10. Describe the shape of your graph, and try to explain any pattern in your results.
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11. If other students have used the same method as you have, compare your graph with theirs. Describe any
similarities and differences between the graphs and try to explain them.
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12. Draw a conclusion from your results about the effect of exercise on breathing.
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Planning and evaluating investigations

13. Explain fully why the student who was exercising needed to rest between tests.
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14. Describe any problems you had with this investigation. How do you think they affected your results?
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15. Suggest how the method could be adjusted to avoid these problems.
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16. This investigation produced semi-quantitative data (the exercise was described in levels, and the breathing
measurements were measured on continuous scales). Suggest how you could adapt the method to make the
exercise levels quantitative, so that you could produce a more reliable conclusion.
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