This book is a great way to help teachers introduce the use of heart rate monitors to their students. Whether the teacher has never used heart rate monitors in the past or they have some experience, this is a great book to help get students excited about using technology in physical education.

This book provides all of the information teachers need to introduce heart rate monitors to students, including in-depth information regarding the five major heart rate training zones, which is incredibly well presented. Instructions, lessons, worksheets, and data recording strategies are all here. The information presented in this book helps students to individualize their fitness goals and monitor performance and progress.

The book is organized into five separate units: 1. An Introduction to Heart Zone Training, 2. Using Heart Rate Monitors, 3. Managing Heart Rate, 4.Designing a Heart Zone Training Plan and 5. Heart Zone Training Workouts. There is also a section at the beginning that does a nice job explaining how to use the book. There are a number of worksheets such as student journal forms and log sheets found in the appendices of the book.

I have quite a bit of experience using heart rate monitors with my students. The information contained in the book is very useful. The authors do an excellent job outlining the five major heart rate training zones and offer a plethora of sample workouts and lessons that teachers can do with their students. Rational for using heart rate monitors is included, along with 17 lesson plans which emphasize self-directed learning and goal setting. There are 30 pull-out reproducible student worksheets as well as the student log sheets and journal as mentioned earlier.

In order for teachers to take full advantage of using heart rate monitors, it is important for teachers to understand how to incorporate them into their curriculum. Middle School Healthy Hearts in the Zone will help teachers increase student interest and individualize instruction based on students' needs and abilities. I highly recommend this book as an excellent resource.

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