Video Games vs. Physical Activity and Heart Rate By: Jeff Till B4 Teacher: Mrs. Taylor

Scientific Method  Hypothesis: If playing the Wii, Game Cube, and playing sports are compared then the sports will yield a greater increase in heart rate than the Wii, and the Wii will yield a greater increase than playing the Game Cube.  Control: A person not playing video games or partaking in physical activity  Independent Variable: Types of video games and the types of physical activity   Dependent Variable: Heart rate of the various people  Constants: Length of time playing video games, length of time doing the physical activity, people partaking in the experiment.

Materials Materials: Materials:  Nintendo Wii game system  Nintendo Game Cube game system  Nintendo Wii controllers  Nintendo Game Cube controllers  Wii Sports (Nintendo Wii Game)  Mario Kart Double Dash (Nintendo Game Cube Game)  Punching Bag  Heart Rate Monitor  5 Experiment participants

Procedure (Game Cube) o Game Cube 1) Assemble all of the needed materials. 2) Take resting heart rate of all participants with a heart rate monitor. 3) Allow participants to play stationary video games for five minutes 4) Take final heart rate immediately after a half hour with a heart rate monitor. 5) Record Results.

Procedure (Wii) o Wii 1) Assemble all of the needed materials 2) Take resting heart rate of all of the participants with a heart rate monitor. 3) Allow participants to play Wii for five minutes. 4) Take final heart rate immediately after a half hour with a heart rate monitor. 5) Record Results

Procedure (Physical Activity) o Physical Activity 1) Assemble all of the equipment in order to play a certain sport 2) Take resting heart rate of all of the participants with a heart rate monitor after. 3) Have the participants play the selected sport for five minutes. 4) Take final heart rate immediately after a half hour with a heart rate monitor.

Procedure (After the Tests) o Afterwards 1) Create another copy of the data for reference. 2) Repeat experiment a certain amount of times. 3) Compare and contrast results. 4) Average the results together. 5) Graph the data. 6) Summarize findings.

Changes o Special Notes 1) Due to the varied endurance levels of the participants the initial test length was decreased from 30 minutes to 5 minutes with all other things proceeding as planed. 2) Due to the time of each test, and the time of year the idea of basketball was replaced with five minutes of punching a punching bag.

Raw Data (Resting Heart Rate) Person 1Person 2Person 3Person 4Control Age Resting Heart Rate

Raw Data (Game Cube) Person 1Person 2Person 3Person 4Control Age Video Games

Raw Data (Wii) Person 1Person 2Person 3Person 4Control Age Wii

Raw Data (Physical Activity) Person 1Person 2Person 3Person 4Control Age Physical Activity

Analyzed Data Resting Heart RateStationary Video GamesWiiPhysical Activity Person Person Person Person Control

Results

Conclusions  It is difficult to say whether my hypothesis was supported or refuted because in the first two subjects the Wii produced a greater heart rate, but in the second two subjects the physical exercise produced the greatest average. I believe that since the first two subjects were of a younger age (6, and 10) that the punching bag offered too much resistance and as a result their heart rates decreased almost as much as they were increasing.  The increase in heart rate for stationary video games was mostly due to tension and not do to amounts of physical activity.  The reason that the Wii produced a very close average as compared to the physical activity of the punching bag is because the Wii has the dodging and ducking as well as the punching.  One possibility that should be taken into account is that the punching bag has a resistance factor and the Wii does not.  Also even though the Wii and physical activity averages were close to each other the physical activity has a greater exercise value due to the resistance that the punching bag offers.

Bibliography Can Video Games Lead To Heart Disease? - study of boys and violence in video games." USA Today May Sept "Exercise." Encarta. CD-ROM ed.Redmond, WA:Microsoft,1999. Fallon, Sean. "Wii Fitness: A Personal Trainer's Perspective." 5 Feb Sept Godsland, John. "Getting Fit with a Computer Game-The Nintendo Wii." Weight Loss Resources 16 Mar Sept Guess, Warren. "Do Video Games Influence Heart Rate?." California State Science Fair 2002 Project Summary. 2 Apr California State Science Fair. 1 Oct

Bibliography (cont.) "Heart Rate." Dictionary.com Lexico Publishing Group. 15 Oct Stahlman, Susan. "The Effects of Video Game Play on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate." California State Science Fair 2005 Project Summary. 2 Apr California State Science Fair. 1 Oct Swang, John. "E-Journal of Student Research:Science." The National Student Research Center. 3 Mar The National Student Research Center. 29 Sept "What do You Think of the Nintendo Wii as a Workout?." Ask Ville. 10 Sept Sept 2007.

Acknowledgements Mrs. Taylor: For helping me with the experiment and preparing it for PJAS. Mary Till: For helping me decide on a project and helping me edit my report. Mark Till: For helping me with the technological aspects. Sharon Burgert, RN: For increasing my knowledge of heart rate and cardiovascular functions. And thank you to all my participants, because without them this experiment wouldn’t have been possible.

THE END Thanks for Listening