Healthy heart rate
I can describe the impact of exercise on the human body.
Healthy heart rate
I can describe the impact of exercise on the human body.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Your heart rate is how many times your heart beats each minute.
- Stethoscopes, smartwatches and pulse oximeters can measure heart rate.
- Your pulse can be felt at the wrist and other places where an artery is close to the skin.
- During exercise, your heart beats faster so that more blood circulates around your body delivering oxygen.
- Exercise strengthens your heart and improves your circulation.
Keywords
Heart rate - Heart rate is the number of times a heart beats each minute.
Oxygen - Oxygen is a gas in the air that is vital for living things.
Artery - Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart.
Exercise - Exercise means using a lot of effort to move our bodies so that they stay fit and healthy.
Circulation - Circulation is the continuous movement of blood around the body, driven by a pumping heart.
Common misconception
Pupils may think that the heart pumps air through the body, rather than blood, as part of a pneumatic-style system that powers the muscles.
Explain that the heart pumps blood around the body, beating faster when we exercise because it is transporting more oxygen within blood to keep the muscles working.
To help you plan your year 6 science lesson on: Healthy heart rate, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 6 science lesson on: Healthy heart rate, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 science lessons from the Keeping healthy unit, dive into the full secondary science curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
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Content guidance
- Risk assessment required - physical activity
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
Exit quiz
6 Questions
Lying down reading a book.
Going for a slow walk.
Sprinting across the school field.
