Otara students redesigning their school fitness routine

Otara students redesigning their school fitness routine with sensor technology

August 2016

Students of Rongomai School in Otara are using research science to make their school’s morning fitness routine more fun and effective, in an effort to increase STEM literacy and improve health stats.

They are recipients of funding from SouthSci, the Participatory Science Platform, South Auckland pilot. Dr Sarah Morgan, SouthSci project manager, says “this is one of eight new collaborative community science projects we have funded in South Auckland, and is a great example of student interest in research via a high-tech hook”.

STEM Director at Rongomai School, Nicolas Pattison, is collaborating with scientists from the Liggins Institute, at the University of Auckland, and with engineers from Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, to introduce sensors into his class under a combined health science and technology research project.

Pattison explains “the students are already more engaged in morning fitness with the idea of having ownership over its design, and seeing effort and improvement via the sensor data”.

The students are measuring and learning about heart rate, and exercise intensity, and understanding how a research project has to control the different variables. Woven into the project design are several whanau evening workshops where the students and their family members will have the chance to design and build their own sensors, which the students will validate using the experiment’s heart-rate sensors.

“Technology is such a great way to engage kids and their whanau, and sensor technology is an exciting fast-moving field I’m keen to get the kids interested in, for future potential career paths” says Pattison.

The project is running from the end of July till the end of September, and the team hope to share the idea alongside a challenge to other local schools – “Can your students improve their interest and effort in morning fitness using science as much as we have?”

ENDS

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