Story of a Heart
Lesson
Introduction
Coronary Heart Disease is now the biggest killer in the UK, so this lesson is designed to help Key Stage 4 students look at their lifestyles and the habits that might put them in greater danger of developing heart disease.
If you are looking for more information about the heart and healthy living then have a look at the British Heart Foundation website here:
http://www.bhf.org.uk/
And your students might enjoy this site, aimed specifically at young people:
http://www.yheart.net/
Contents
Lesson Overview 2
Film Digest 2
Lesson Plan 5
Resources 7
Overview
Suitable for : Key Stage 4
Lesson Objective: To understand the effects of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and diet on a person’s heart.
Key Question: How does my lifestyle affect my heart?
Time: 1 hour
TrueTube Film: Story of a Heart
Topic: Body and Health
Sub-Topic: Well Being
Resources: Internet connected whiteboard (or you can download the film beforehand);
Enough PCs (or other devices) for the class to be able to do their research.
Key Words: Coronary heart disease
Film Digest
/ Story of a Heart (6:45)Theme: Body and Health
Topic: Well Being
Ever had an annoying friend who just won't leave you alone? Well in Leon's case it's his own heart who is always following him around and nagging him to clean up his lifestyle: "Look Leon, whatever you do to yourself, you do to me...
Lesson Plan
Start the lesson by getting your class to complete the Living the Lifestyle questionnaires. It begins by asking the students to measure their “resting pulse”, so you might like to do this together. Time a minute for everyone to check their pulses and you’ll get a nice quiet, calm start to the lesson!
Some students may need some help to find the pulse in their wrists, and some may find it easier to find it in their necks, but make sure they don’t press too hard, or they’ll end up getting light-headed and fainting. / 3 mins
/ The rest of the questions can be completed as individuals. Make it clear that the students do not have to write answers for the final optional questions, but they should think about their answers. / 5 mins
/ Get some feedback from your class and give them the (not entirely scientific!) results which are on the Living the Lifestyle - Answers sheet in the resources section (from page 7 below). / 5 mins
/ Explain the meaning of the key word:
Coronary heart disease:
A disease caused by a build up of fatty gunk in the blood vessels that supply the heart muscle. This reduces the blood flow and can eventually stop it altogether which causes a heart attack. / 2 mins
/ Main Activities
Before showing the film below, get your class into groups of five and hand out the Sort-a-Sentence strips to each member. There are two sets of five sentences, so groups will have one or the other – don’t get them mixed up! Each student should listen carefully to the film for when their sentence appears.
After the film, each group will decide on the order that their sentences appeared, but DON’T tell them that before they’ve seen it!
/ 2 mins
/ Show the Film: Story of a Heart / 7 mins
/ Now ask the groups to get their sentences in order, according to when they appeared in the film. Depending on how much room you have, the students could either do this sitting down by moving the slips of paper around on a desk, or they could stand up and get themselves in the correct order from left to right according to the slip they are holding.
Go through the correct order with them, getting the groups to help each other out if the order is wrong. Don’t forget to keep one of the Sort-a-Sentence sheets intact so you have the answers to hand! / 3 mins
/ The film shows that Leon’s lifestyle was having a direct impact on his heart. As Larry the Heart says, “Whatever you do to yourself, you do to me.”
Ask your students to identify all the things in the film that were having an effect on Larry, e.g. drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, kebabs.
/ 1 min
/ In pairs, the students can now use the On the Sofa! instruction sheets to find out the effects that one of these things has on the heart:
· Illegal Drugs
· Tobacco
· Alcohol
· Fat
· Salt
…and some good advice to help people look after their hearts.
They should prepare to give a short report to the class in the style of a new magazine TV show called On the Sofa! (think Daybreak, BBC Breakfast, This Morning or The One Show). TV shows run to precise timings, so the report should be as close to 3 minutes as possible – no more, but no less.
They could take the roles of a presenter interviewing a guest expert, or two presenters reading a news item. They can use pictures they find on the web to display on the whiteboard, or even video as long as they play it with the sound off. All dialogue should come from the students themselves! / 20 mins
/ If any students use a PowerPoint presentation, make sure you don’t suffer a slow “Death by PowerPoint”. This is when a screen full of type is displayed and the student faces the board and proceeds to read it word for word to the class. Very slowly. PowerPoint should be used to display pictures and headlines only – no slide should have more than about ten words on it.
/ At the end of the preparation time, give your students 2 minutes to finalise what they are going to say. Also get them to save any pictures, video or PowerPoint presentations to a USB stick or a shared area on your school network. They should be able to display the results of their research on the whiteboard without all the rigmarole of signing out, waiting... signing in, waiting... finding the correct file, waiting... / 2 mins
/ Plenary - Has Learning Taken Place?
Pick at least one pair from each area (Illegal Drugs, Tobacco, Alcohol, Fat, Salt) to present their reports. To make it fair, you could pick names out of hat, or just choose the ones you think will make a point most effectively!
Get the rest of the class to mark each one on the following criteria:
· How informative was it?
· How useful was the advice?
· How entertaining was it?
· How close to 3 minutes was the report?
Depending on how much time you have, you could see some more reports, or see the rest of them in the following lesson. / 15 mins
/ Extension - Suggested Further Activities
Further information and even some games can be found on the British Heart Foundation’s website for young people:
http://www.yheart.net/
Resources
The following resources can be found below:
· Sort-a-Sentence sheet
· Living the Lifestyle questionnaire
· Living the Lifestyle Teachers’ answers
· On the Sofa! Instruction sheets
©CTVC/TrueTube 3 | Page
Sort-a-Sentence
#
Group 1I’ll see you later sweet cheeks. Oh yeah. Bit of Larry.
Hi guys! Got you a beer!
Are you doing drugs? Charlie? Whiz? Blow? Snow? Bumpf? Cha Cha?
Look Leon, whatever you do to yourself, you do to me.
Look yeah, I don’t want no trouble from you tonight, yeah? I can’t be bothered.
Group 2
YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAGH! This party is jumping!
Get me a drink, get me a drink, I’m thirsty. No, no, no! Not beer, not beer, not beer. Water, water, water, water! Get me a water! Get me a water! Come on!
What are you doing? You don’t smoke! Oh come on, give me a break.
Larry doesn’t feel well.
Can I have an apple? No? A kebab! Yay! Salt! Oh, you’ve got chips as well, brilliant! Why not pour milkshake on me? Yeah, I’m falling apart.
Living the Lifestyle
First take your “resting” pulse.
Relax! Sit still and lay one arm on the desk, palm upwards. With two fingers of the other hand, press lightly onto the up-turned wrist where it meets the base of the thumb. You’ll find a groove on the edge of the wrist and with a little searching, you’ll (hopefully) feel the bump-bump-bump of your pulse. If you have trouble finding it, try your neck instead. Press lightly into the soft part of your neck under the corner of your jaw and you should feel a pulse, but don’t press too hard!
Write it here: beats per minute.
Now be honest with yourself and tick or circle the answers that are the best fit for you.
1 / On an average day, how much moderate exercise do you get? E.g. walking, cycling, helping with the housework.a) None at all
b) Up to 30 minutes
c) 60 minutes or more
2 / On an average day, how much vigorous exercise do you get? It has to be something that gets you out of breath and a bit sweaty, E.g. football, running, swimming.
a) None at all
b) Up to ten minutes
c) 30 minutes or more
3 / On an average day, how long do you spend sitting down? At school, on the bus, at home in front of the TV?
a) 10 hours or more
b) 5-10 hours
c) 5 hours or less
4 / How often do you eat food that is high in fat? E.g. fried chicken, chips, burgers, crisps.
a) Every day
b) Maybe every other day
c) Not very often
5 / How often do you eat food that is high in salt? E.g. pizza, kebab, crisps and snacks.
a) Every day
b) Maybe every other day
c) Not very often
6 / How often do you eat food that is high in sugar? E.g. chocolate, sweets, cake, biscuits.
a) Every day
b) Maybe every other day
c) Not very often
7 / How often do you drink fizzy or sugary drinks? E.g. cola, lemonade, flavoured drinks.
a) Every day
b) Maybe every other day
c) Not very often
8 / How many often do you eat a takeaway? E.g. curry, chinese, pizza, fish and chips, chicken and chips, sausage and chips, pie and chips, chips and chips...
a) Most days
b) About once a week
c) About once a month
9 / On a typical day, how many portions of fruit and veg do you eat? E.g. juice, fresh, frozen, tinned, dried (like raisins), or in dishes like spaghetti bolognaise.
a) 0
b) 1-3
c) 4-5 or more
Optional questions
Have a think about these last five questions, but you DON’T have to write an answer down!
10 / Do you smoke?a) I smoke every day
b) I smoke occasionally
c) I never smoke
11 / Do you drink alcohol?
a) I drink alcohol at some point every week.
b) I only drink alcohol occasionally
c) I never drink alcohol
12 / Do you use class C drugs like ketamine or steroids (sometimes known as “juice”)?
a) I am a regular user
b) I have tried C class drugs once or twice
c) I have never tried C class drugs
13 / Do you use class B drugs like cannabis, speed or mephedrone (known as “meow meow”)?
a) I am a regular user
b) I have tried B class drugs once or twice
c) I have never tried B class drugs
14 / Do you use class A drugs like ecstasy, cocaine, or heroine (also called “smack” or “snow”).
a) I am a regular user
b) I have tried A class drugs once or twice
c) I have never tried A class drugs
Living the Lifestyle
Teachers’ Answers!
Resting Pulse
A healthy resting pulse for adults is 60-90 beats per minute, but the general rule is “the lower the better”. Many athletes have resting heart rates as low as 40 bpm, and rates as low as 30 bpm have been recorded.
Because children and young people are growing and going through big changes, resting pulse rates of 50–100 are quite normal, but again the general rule is “the lower the better”.
NOTE: Obviously, if you have students with abnormally high or abnormally low pulse rates, then suggest that they visit their doctors soon. Try not to worry them – there are all kinds of reasons for high or low heart rates, but it’s better to get it checked out! However, if you have a student with an erratic pulse, contact your school first-aider for advice.
The Results
Count up the number of “a”s, “b”s and “c”s you have.
Bear in mind that these results are NOT to be taken as a diagnosis!
If you answered mainly a...
Why aren’t you dead? Your diet is poor, you get no exercise and your habits put an unnecessary and unhealthy strain on your heart. You really need to do something about it.
If you answered mainly b...
Hmm, could do better. Your diet is okay and you’re getting a bit of exercise, but you need to be careful. Don’t risk losing the benefits of exercise and a good diet by taking unnecessary risks with your health. With just a little more effort you will significantly reduce your chances of getting heart disease. And you’ll feel better.
If you answered mainly c...
Well look at you! Just how healthy can one person be? Keep this up and you will significantly reduce your chances of getting heart disease. But don’t be too smug! You will only keep the benefits of your lifestyle for as long as you keep it up, so don’t feel that you can now start eating pie and chips every day.
On the Sofa!
Welcome to On the Sofa!, the new lifestyle TV show with all the news, gossip and advice you need to live your life to the full!
Life in the world of live TV can be hectic and today is no exception. You need to be on air in just 20 minutes with a 3 minute piece on...
How Your Habits Can Help a Healthy Heart
The Producer (your teacher) will tell you which of these five areas you will be concentrating on: Illegal Drugs, Tobacco, Alcohol, Fat, Salt.