Daily and safe living is appropriate content used in FSE. These contents are [5]: • The human organism: Students are acquainted with the parameters of the
human body which can be expressed with the aid of quantities, units and laws. Also external conditions are very important for preservation of vital functions of the human organism including health.
• Home, entertainment, sports etc: Students can be motivated by explanation of basic features in everyday life such as heat and light sources, means of transport, audiovisual techniques, chemical agents, domestic plants and animals etc. Information on economical and ecological behaviour in everyday living is growing more and more important.
• Safety risks: Protection against negative extraneous influences on the human organism and information on safe behaviour in transport, at work etc. For students and adults the human organism is an interesting object. An important advantage of teaching and learning about the human organism is that teaching aids are not needed because everyone has a body.
Understanding human body measurement is a very practical approach to the prevention and diagnosis of certain diseases or risks. The important theme is life protection against dangerous influences, which include the fast change of atmospheric pressure and speed, effects of forces, temperature fluctuations, radiation etc.
Every student can be motivated by the combination of hands-on activities and a human body experimenting and measuring within the educational content. With the assistance of hand-on activities with our body we can also diagnose potential health risks. Prevention of at-risk factors is based on human body measurements. Many human body parameters can be measured by students and adults such as temperature, weight, blood pressure, body mass index etc. We realized the research of educational efficiency of these activities in FSE.
Flat foot
We used the measurement of flat feet as the educational content for our research [6]. The research of the effectiveness of FES was carried out twice (in 2006 and 2009). One hundred students in the fourth grade in primary science lessons were taught how to measure flat feet.
Students’ theoretical background:
The foot structure is very important for various movement conditions of the body. The most known disorder of flat feet is caused by fallen arches. Inappropriate footwear is a large contribution to this disorder. That’s why the length and width of the foot is important when buying the correct shoes.
Students’ hands-on activity:
Paint the sole of the foot with water (oil, ink etc.) and step on suction paper. Use a ruler to measure the widest (w1) and narrowest part (w2) of the footprint (Fig. 1). Calculate I = w2 /w1. Evaluate results using the Tab. 1.
Figure 1. Flat foot
I = w2 / w1
normal foot I = less 0, 45 start to be flat I= 0, 45
flat foot I= more 0, 45
Table 1. Flat foot
A questionnaire was distributed to the parents of students after two weeks. Parents were asked to answer four questions concerning the measuring for flat feet. The questions, the percentage of positive answers and the number of questionnaires received back is in Tab. 2.
%2006 %2009 2006/2009 Do you know a simple method
of measuring flat feet? 68 65 75/80 Did you receive this method
from your children? 60 62 75/80
Have you measured your foot
using this method 24 30 75/80
Have you found latent flat feet
in your family? 4 5 75/80
Table 2. Flat foot - research results. Percentage of afirmative answers in 2006 and 2009 together with number of received questionnaries in 2006/2009
The research results verify the effectiveness of FSE in the primary school science by the use of the combination of hands-on activities and human body measurement.
Obesity
The measuring of obesity was used as the educational content for our next research on the effectiveness of FSE in 2008. The obesity diagnosis is also good human body measurement content for FSE. One hundred students of the eighth grade in lower secondary science lessons were taught how to measure for obesity. Students’ theoretical background:
Body weight is defined as an essential parameter that helps us to find out the state of health and even predict health complications in the future. The often used parameter for body weight assessing is body mass index (BMI). The latest investigations verify the importance of the distribution of fat (types of obesity). Fat distribution is possible to find by means of waist and hip circumference which is more predictive of cardio respiratory risks than BMI. The WHR index is the ratio of these two parameters.
Students’ hands-on activity:
Use a measuring-tape to measure your waist circumference and hip circumference. Calculate WHR = waist circumference / hip circumference. Evaluate results using the Tab. 3.
Types of fat distribution / health risk boy/man girl/woman Rather peripheral / no risk up to 0,85 up to 0,75
Balanced / no risk 0,85 – 0,90 0,75 – 0,80 Rather central /low risk 0,90 – 0,95 0,80 – 0,85 Central / high risk above 0,95 above 0,85
Table 3. Obesity
%2008 2008
Do you know a simple method of
measuring obesity using WHR? 50 84 Did you receive a method of
measuring obesity using WHR from your children?
43 84
Have you measured your WHR using
this method? 22 84
Have you found latent obesity in your
family? 12 84
Table 4. Obesity - research results. Percentage of afirmative answers together with number of received questionnaries
A questionnaire was distributed to their parents after two weeks. Parents were asked to answer four questions concerning the obesity measuring. The questions, the percentage of positive answers and the number of questionnaires received back are in Tab. 4. The results of our second research verify the effectiveness of FSE
also in the lower secondary science by the use of a combination of hands-on activities and human body measuring.