Objective:

Students will set a personal fitness goal, such as improving running speed or increasing the number of push-ups they can do. Over the course of several weeks, students will collect data on their progress toward their goal and organize it in a chart. By learning how to track and record fitness data, students will develop computational thinking skills such as data collection and analysis.

Materials Needed:

• Fitness goal tracking sheets

• Stopwatches

• Pencils

• Paper

Steps:

• Introduction:

  • Start by discussing with students the importance of setting fitness goals, such as being able to run faster or do more push-ups. 

  • Explain how athletes track their progress toward fitness goals by collecting data like their times or repetitions.

• Group Activity:

  • In pairs, students will choose a fitness goal, such as increasing the number of jumping jacks they can do in one minute. 

  • Each student will act as the recorder while their partner performs the exercise, using a stopwatch to time them or counting their repetitions. 

  • Students will collect this data over the course of several weeks.

• Creating and Organizing:

  • Students will organize their data in a chart, marking their progress toward their goal each week. 

  • They will also graph their data to visually see how they’ve improved over time.

• Testing and Refining:

  • Throughout the weeks, students will refine their fitness routines to meet their goals, adjusting exercises or methods based on the data they’ve collected.

• Presentation and Discussion:

  • At the end of the tracking period, students will present their progress charts to the class and explain how they tracked and improved their fitness levels. 

  • Lead a discussion on how tracking data can be helpful for achieving personal goals, whether in fitness or other areas.

Equity and Access:

Provide templates for fitness tracking charts to support students who may need additional help organizing their data.

Real-World Application:

Relate the activity to how athletes and trainers use data to track performance and adjust training programs to improve results.

CS Practice(s):

• Developing and Using Abstractions: Students track their fitness progress by organizing data into charts to visually display relevant information.

• Communicating About Computing: Students explain how their data charts help them understand their progress toward a fitness goal.

Standard(s):

• CA PE 4.5.2

• CA CS 3-5.DA.8

Objective:

Students will use spreadsheets (e.g., Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel) to collect and visualize data related to their personal fitness goals. They will learn to input data, use formulas, and create graphs to monitor progress, integrating computational thinking through data analysis and organization.

Materials Needed:

• Tablets or computers with spreadsheet software (Google Sheets, Excel, etc.)

• Fitness goal tracking sheets

• Stopwatches for timing exercises

• Pencils and paper for manual data collection

Steps:

• Introduction:

  • Start by explaining how spreadsheets can be used to organize and analyze data. 

  • Show students an example of a fitness tracker in a spreadsheet that logs exercise times or repetitions. 

  • Discuss how data collected over time can be visualized using graphs to see progress clearly.

• Group Activity:

  • In pairs, students will choose a fitness goal, such as running a certain distance faster or increasing the number of jumping jacks they can do. 

  • One student will perform the exercise while the other records the data (time, repetitions, etc.) on paper. 

  • After the exercise, they will input the collected data into a shared spreadsheet.

• Creating and Organizing:

  • Students will organize the data they collect into tables in the spreadsheet. 

  • They will learn to use basic formulas to calculate averages and percentages (e.g., percentage improvement over time). 

  • They will also create graphs (such as bar charts or line graphs) to visualize their progress toward their fitness goal.

• Testing and Refining:

  • As they continue to collect data over several days or weeks, students will refine their exercise routines based on their performance. 

  • They will input the new data into the spreadsheet and observe trends or patterns in their progress using the graphs.

• Presentation and Discussion:

  • Each group will present their spreadsheet and explain how they tracked their fitness progress, using the graphs to illustrate improvements. 

  • Lead a discussion on how data visualization helps in understanding and improving performance, whether in fitness or other real-world applications.

Equity and Access:

Provide a template spreadsheet with pre-made formulas and graph options for students who need extra support with using spreadsheet software.

Real-World Application:

Connect the activity to how athletes, coaches, and health professionals use data tracking to monitor performance, set goals, and make improvements in fitness and health.

CS Practice(s):

• Creating Computational Artifacts: Students use spreadsheet software to create tables and graphs that represent their fitness data.

• Testing and Refining Computational Artifacts: Students refine their exercise plans based on the data they collect and observe trends in the spreadsheet.

Standard(s):

• CA PE 4.5.2

• CA CS 3-5.DA.8