Hello Michael-

My name is Sandee and I currently teach physical education at Delavan Darien High School in Wisconsin. Last year we purchased 50 polar heart rate watches for our physical education program. We found the watches to be extremly helpful in getting students to recognize and understand the FIT principal. Our emphasis in our program is to teach students the value and importance of lifetime fitness and prevention of disease. We have a few pedometers but really utilize our heart rate monitors because they give students immediate feedback about their workouts. In addition to using the heartrate monitors, we encourage pulse checks. We are in the process of collaborating our health program with PE.
Although the heart rate watches may be more pricey, students will gain more from using them because they show the time in and out of their heart zone. It even shows the time they went above their zone.

Hope this helped some!

Hi Sandee.
I decided to respond to you since you are right down the road from me. I teach in Palmyra-Eagle, WI. Do you know Becky Buhler? I do belive she teaches in one of your elementray schools. I used to teach with her.
How did you get funding for all of your heart rate monitors? What is your annual budget? Did you purchase separate chest straps for each student? If students have to share, how do you keep them clean from one person to the next if you have to use them in back to back classes? If you could recommend one good resource for using heart rate monitors, what would it be?
thanks,
Mary

I would definitely suggest only using pedometers in elementary school. The heart monitors are too difficult for an young child to put on themselves. It is too time consuming in an already time limited class. The pedometers are easy to put on and read and give the kids the instant feedback they so love!!

I was pondering something to the same extent. We bought pedometers, because they were cheaper. We are going to try to count their calories burned or distance they run/walk every day in PE. It will be interesting to see how they progress throughout the year.

Scott,

Have several of your teachers and administrators wear them for a day or even a week and compare the results. I have done this with my classes to show students how far people walk daily in their jobs. While pedometers are limited in useage, comparisons can still be made.
Fred

Do you use your pedometers in an elementary school or high school? What are some of the activity that you use to calculate the calories that burned? Also, do you have your students make goals when using the pedometers?

In regards to elementary PE, I totally feel you should use pedometers rather than heart rate monitors due to the fact that they are a nice introductory piece of technology and simple to use. You will not have to eat up valuable class time to show kids how to use the heart rate monitors, as you know there are lot of details to using them. In my experience with middle school students, even they have some difficulty using HRM's, but the pedometers proved to be more enjoyable for them.

I have taught at both the elementary and middle school levels. We chose to use pedometers at the elementary and both heart rate monitors and pedometers at the middle school level. In my experience, heart rate monitors are difficult for students to get used to wearing and getting to fit right. We tend to not use them as often as we would like because of the time it takes up. I know they do use them at the high school level on almost a daily basis.

I would think that pedometes might be a little more fun for the elementary level but there are new less invasive heart rate monitors out there that while basic might be of benefit.
Tanita cuurently offer a heart rate monitor which only requires a finger tip reading - no invasive strapping on the belt around the chest etc.
while the data might not be downloadable it can be manually recorded on a database.
The other nice thing about there Tanitas is the cost approx. $30-$35 per unit.

I have used pedometers in my PE classes for years now. I have found that I am able to use the pedometers with my younger kids and my older kids. The pedometers have kept my students motivated all school year long. The students still try to move around to get more steps. Also, through the research of this class, I have found that pedometers are pretty durable and are low maintenance as far as batteries are concerned.

I agree, I also think pedometers are good for students setting their own personal goal for the class. We start the program with having a 1 minute step test, and use that as a guide for how many minutes they are working out for. For example, I walked 120 steps in 1 min. so that computes to 1200 steps for a 10 minute workout..
I also like heart rate monitors for the same reason; it provides instant feedback to students if their working out hard enough.

I'm a high school teacher but have used both. We used to use the heart rate monitors and the kids hated them. Lots of time they couldn't get them to work and it just wasted time. We now have just heart watches and I love them. I compare their heart rates using the watches and the cardio equipment monitors (treadmills, bikes,elipitcals etc)and they are pretty accurate.
I also use pedometers in my classes. They are quick and easy to use. Personally, I would never go back to heart monitors.

I just purchased a class pack of 30 pedometers for my elementary aged students. I decided upon this due to the cost. Comparing a quality $20 pedometer to a quality $80 heart rate monitor was a no brainer. I just didn't have the funds to get the monitors.

I find the pedometers to be easy to use, and very accessible and usable for my students. They seem to grasp the practicality and purpose of the pedometers. We've just started tracking our steps and miles...and it's gone pretty smoothly so far.

If you're new to using these technology "gadgets" it may be safe to stick with pedometers first before spending the money on the more expensive HR monitors. Let the kids grasp the use of pedometers before adding the more complex devices.

I taught elementary for 22 years and I am currently in the third year at middle school. My opinion is that heart rate monitors are not necessary for the elementary population. They are more willing to move without external motivators and the expense is too great. I currently use pedometers with my middle schoolers and the high school introduces the heart rate monitors. Occasionally you may run into an elementary student that needs something to help them exercise but mostly I don't think you need to go to the expense.

I have a heart rate monitor and a pedometer that I use all the time. Obviously the price range is very different. Pedometers are inexpensive and easy to use. Sometimes you may have trouble with one, but overall they are a good tool to measure students activity.
Heart rate monitors may involve some hygiene issues as well. The sweat students produce may cause for some cleanup issues. Good luck

http://assets.bravenet.com/common/images/forum/icons/set11.gifI feel that pedometers are the way to go in elementary P.E. It is fast, easy and a fun way to integrate P.E. into the classroom. Students when they come to school put on their pedometer and when they leave school they take them off and log their steps. The classroom teacher can integrate the steps into math,science and even writing lessons.

Heart monitors are so difficult to train the students on how to put them on and take them off. They are use up so much valuable time. I just stick to teaching them how to monitor their heart rate by using the old fashion pulse check.

Good luck,

Hi Mike,
I have been trying to decide which direction to go as well. Financially, I think I'm going to go with the pedometer. The heart rate monitors do offer more functions than the pedometer, but the cost is a lot more too. I think the common idea behind both is that they allow student to monitor the exercise and set healthy goals. With my current budget, I going to order a set of pedometer and than next year work on gradually ordering a few heart rate monitors. Eventually, I would like to have a class set of pedometer and heart rate monitors.

Greg-

Greg,
I agree with you and Mike. I purchased twelve pedometers and one heart rate monitor through a grant about nine years ago. I had a schedule where we rotated the heart rate monitor each week and the pedometers to half of the class each week. The heart rate monitor was not a hit. The kids didn 't understand it very well or enjoy putting on the chest strap. Even with the strapless monitors, I am not sure I would invest money there. Go with the pedometers first. Get the kids to understand them and most importantly, take care of them properly before investing in the higher priced heart rate monitors. Good luck.
Joy