P h y s i o l o g y E x p e r i m e n t
Lower Sixth PE students took part in a focused Physiology experiment designed to consolidate their work on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Using heart rate and breathing monitors, the group observed how the body responds to demanding exercise. Gabe M volunteered to complete a maximal treadmill test, which provided clear data for analysis and gave the students an opportunity to apply theory from their A Level course to a real-time situation.
During the test, students saw that Gabe’s Minute Ventilation rose sharply. It increased more than twentyfold from his resting level, reaching 140 litres per minute. They also recorded his cardiac output, which climbed to 25 litres per minute, five times higher than at rest. These figures allowed the group to examine how ventilation and circulation work together to meet the body’s increased need for oxygen during strenuous activity.
Furthermore, the experiment linked directly to two core areas of the specification: changes in the cardiovascular system and changes in the respiratory system during exercise. Students compared their findings with the values published in the OCR materials and noted how closely the results aligned. This gave the group confidence in the accuracy of both their methodology and the monitoring equipment they used.
By observing these physiological changes first-hand, students strengthened their understanding of key concepts and gained a clear sense of how theory applies in practice.