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These resources have been reviewed and selected by STEM Learning’s team of education specialists for factual accuracy and relevance to teaching STEM subjects in UK schools.

Wii Fitness?

In this lesson, students investigate the claim that using a Nintendo Wii computer game is a good way to keep fit and that people, therefore, should be encouraged to use them. They compare how their resting pulse rate changes when they have been playing a normal games console, playing Wii tennis on the Nintendo Wii, and playing real tennis. The link between pulse rate and the rate of aerobic respiration is made to help explain level of fitness and changes in pulse rate during exercise. The activity also looks at the recovery rates for each activity and consider if this is a useful piece of data to have.

Evaluation of the investigation allows the chance to question the validity of the data, question the size of the data set used and question the time span data needs to be collected over before it can be used to confirm a claim.

The activity, from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), is part of the Wii collection of activities and is supported by the video Virtual Sport.

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