Students learned to “heart” math in Mrs. Mize’s Math 7 class on Thursday. The title of the math lesson was Variables and Expressions. Students learned how to use the variable expression Heart Rate= 4 times the number of times your heart beats in 15 seconds to find their heartbeat per minute. Mathematically they used BPM=4n. Mrs. Mize used a 15 second timer in which the students counted the number of times their heart beat in 15 seconds. Each student then multiplied that number by 4 and recorded their finding. Next, to understand that a variable is a number than can change, each student got out of their desk, ran in place for 15 seconds, then recorded the number of times their heart beat. Then they plugged the new beats into the variable expression to find their heart beat per minute after running.

“The students and I had a great time using a practical application to understand how numbers, variables, and mathematical operations apply to everyday situations and our own bodies,” said Mrs. Mize. Seeing smiles and excitement on students’ faces as they are able to make the connection between math and the real world is always a special moment as an educator.”