Anatomy students complete Harvard Step Test

Students in Ms. Lawson’s Anatomy classes performed the Harvard Step Test as a lab during their Anatomy and Physiology classes. The Harvard Step Test helped Ms. Lawson’s students test and see what they had learned in their cardiovascular unit.

Students recorded their resting heart rates before exercising. They then took steps up and down on a stepping stool for a certain number of time. After exercising they took their heart rate again and kept recording it every few minutes until it returned to the previously recorded resting heart rate.

This test provides a good yardstick for measuring overall cardiovascular fitness by monitoring changes in heart rate during and after exercise. The faster the heart rate goes down (“recovery rate”) the higher the level of cardiovascular fitness. After exercise, the students calculated their index of physical fitness using a formula.

Story by Cecilia Collins