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The Mount Everest Challenge and Physical Education Lesson Plan

A Plan 29, 035ft (8850m) above sea level

Objectives:

1. Students will have an understanding of resting heart rate, maximum heart rate and target heart rate. In addition, students will have an understanding of the various training zones.
2. Students will log the distance climbed into a spread sheet.
3. Students will be able to calculate their heart rates and log their results into a spread sheet.
4. Students will analyze the raw data by calculating mean, median and mode, and doing a scatter plot
5. Students will calculate energy consumption by using the internet. Students will also be asked to log these results and calculate the amount of calories burned as fats based on the training zone they have obtained.
6. Students will successfully hike/climb "bald peak" under the guidance of a certified instructor.
7. Students will experience hypoxia by breathing through a straw as they climb to higher altitudes and thus appreciate the conditions faced by climbers on Everest.
8. Students will acclimatize for a certain time at each camp before climbing higher.

Teaching Web Resources:

1. http: // classic.mountainzone.com/everest
2. www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/hil0bio-1
3. www.trektracker.com/CL_HomePg1.htm
4. www.earthtreksclimbing.com/shrdsmts.html
5. www.icsrc.org/TILT/SharedSummits/
6. www.Mnteverest.net
7. www.everestnews.com
8. www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest
9. www.mteverest.ca ( Steve Adamsons' Site)

Everest History:

10.www.everesthistory.com
11.www.mneverest.net/history.html
12.www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/history

Lesson Plans:

13. www.nationalgeographic.com/expeditions/lessons
14. www.everestnews.com/lessonplan.htm
15. www.icsrc.org/TILT/SharedSummits/Lessons.html
16. www.pbs.org /wgbh/nova/teachers/programs/2506_everest.html

High Altitude Physiology:

17. http://classic.mountainzone.com/everest/98/altitude/html
18. www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/exposure

Video Resources:

1. "Lost on Everest"-- pbs program about the search for Mallory
2. "Everest-Into the Death Zone"-pbs program about altitude
3. "Everest"-IMAX documentary
4. "Into Thin Air"-- Movie

Logging and conversion of distances Graphing and Diagrams: showing routes, location of base camps, surrounding mountain ranges, etc. Comparisons: mountains, temperatures, wind speeds, routes, etc.

To get the most health benefits from aerobic activity, you should exercise at a level strenuous enough to raise your heart rate to your target zone. Your target heart rate zone is 50 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate (the fastest your heart can beat).

To find your target zone, look for the category closest to your age in the chart below and read across the line. For example, if you are 35 years old, your target heart rate zone is 93-138 beats per minute.

TRAINING ZONES

Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate:
This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.


Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart
rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90%maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum(the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

Heart Rate Lesson Plan

Objective: To have students record personal heart rates during hikes up and down the surrounding hills of the school. Students will record their heart rates at different phases of the hike and compare them with previous recordings and also with the rest of the class.

Material: Heart Rate Monitor, Log Book, Weighted Back Pack, Ski Poles and Hiking Footwear.

Lesson Development: Students are to first measure their beginning heart rate. Students will them record this rate into their log books. Students weighed down with the back packs begin their journey up the pre-measured hill. At the top students will repeat their measurement's and record their findings. Students will the begin their trek down the hill and at the bottom record their findings again. Students then will record the time it takes for their resting heart rate to return to it's normal range.

Students are then to open up Microsoft Excel and develop a spreadsheet similar to the example. Students will fill in their findings for each day of their hikes until the first base camp is met. At this point students will begin finding out with the use of division and graphing their percentages and losses/gains. Students will then start their second series of recording until they reach the summit. At the conclusion of the hike, students will formulate their results and present them in Excel and/or PowerPoint form to the class.

The lead teachers in this project were Rose Theriault, Sylvie Arseneau, David Shiels and LeRoy Vincent.