The Big Question  Can playing Wii adjust your pulse?  Does it matter if you are older?  Does it matter what game you play? Explanation: I want to test if playing the Wii adjusts your heart rate like exercise.

Step 3: The hypothesis  If playing the Wii adjusts your pulse then it will probably make it higher. I think it will matter more if you are older because your pulse is slower when you are older. I think it will matter which game to play because certain games require certain amounts of energy and energy makes your pulse change

Research  Exergames are electronic games that require the player to be physically active in order to control the on-screen action.  Exergaming research is finding that it can improve players’ stress levels, weight management, fitness, and health  Your heart rate is the number of heartbeats per minute  A child's maximum heart rate is around 200 beats per minute  For people over the age of 20, maximum heart rate is approximated by subtracting their age from 220  Any physical activity that raises a person's heart rate from resting up to at least 50% or more of their maximum heart rate, qualifies as exercise.  The carotid artery in the neck, and the radial artery in the wrist, are the two most common places used for measuring someone's pulse  Never use your thumb to take a pulse. Thumbs also have strong pulses and you may confuse the pulsing of your thumb with the beating of the pulse you're trying to measure.

The Experiment part a.  The Materials: You will need a Wii, test subjects of various ages [family], boxing and tennis games, a watch with a second- hand, and a notebook to write the results

Instructions  Step 1: Plug in the Wii.  Step 2: Turn on the Wii.  Step 3: Put the sports game in the Wii.  Step 4: Measure the person’s pulse who is up first and record in note book.  Step 5: Have them play the Boxing game for 5 minutes.  Step 6: Measure their pulse after they do the game.  Step 7: Record your information and do the next person.  Step 8: Repeat process for each test subject playing Boxing.  Step 9: Repeat the process for each person playing the tennis game.

Variables  Wii boxing vs. Wii tennis  The age of the player  The player

The Control  The pulse before is the control.

Observations  It was harder to take someone’s pulse than I thought it would be.  All players had to rest between games to get their pulse back to normal  It was easier to take the player’s pulse with the carotid artery than the radial artery.  Some games took much longer for a player to finish if they were really good at the game  If you have a higher skill level in the game the game is harder to play  It was fun having my family together and working on this project

Data Player Pulse Before (Control) Pulse After boxing Difference Pulse after Tennis Difference 41 year old male year old female year old male year old male year old female

Data, Pulse Rate Change

Analysis  Yes, the experiment tested my hypothesis because the results show that there was a difference between which players played which game.  On average, the boxing game raised the players pulse by 12.  On average, the tennis game raised the players pulse by 22.  Tennis is more active than boxing.  The younger players were more affected than the older players. I suspect that is because the younger players have higher heart rates to begin with.

Conclusion  My hypothesis was partially correct.  I would change the game to be a game that could be limited to an exact amount of time. The boxing game and tennis game we tested had longer games for some players than others depending on how they did. If the games were played for exactly the same amount of time it would be easier and more accurate.  The questions I have now would be if there is a real difference between male and female players. My experiment did not show there was, but if we had more players to test there may be a difference. I also wonder what would happen if we did completely different game other than boxing or tennis. Maybe next time I would test the wii fit games instead.

References  KidsHealth&lic=1&ps=307&cat_id=20521&a rticle_set=10269  n/exergames.htm  projects/project_ideas/Games_p013.shtml? this=1&from=empty

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