Education
Start of main content
Age Range: 11-14
Duration: 0-29 mins
  • Biology
  • D&T

Social effects of health management

How could programmable systems be used to allow people to monitor their own health?

This is one of a series of resources to support the use of the BBC micro:bit in design and technology lessons.

There are many reasons to monitor heart rate. For example:

  • There are 2.7 million people in the UK currently suffering from heart problems. The quicker these problems can be found and treated the better the chance of a full recovery.
  • Athletes measure their heart rate during training to ensure that they are training in their optimum physical range.

In this unit, learners will use the BBC micro:bit to develop a prototype for a personal heart monitoring system. 

Activity info, teachers' notes and curriculum links

In this activity, learners will discuss the social effects of good and bad personal health management and the potential benefits that programmable systems can bring to this.

The activity sheet includes teachers' notes, useful web links, and links (where appropriate) to the national curriculum in each of the four devolved nations; England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Download the free activity sheet below!

All activity sheets and supporting resources are free to download, and all the documents are fully editable, so you can tailor them to your students' and your schools' needs.

And please do share your classroom learning highlights with us @IETeducation

Videos

Heart rate monitor

Exploring how the accelerometer function within the BBC micro:bit can be used to measure your heart rate. 

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