Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Timelessness of skipping

25 minutes

Find Out: Jump Rope for Heart’s impact

15 minutes

Take Action: Jump Rope for Heart’s skipping communities

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

understand why skipping has been a popular activity to use for the Jump Rope for Heart Program
learn about why Jump Rope for Heart’s program has existed for so long
investigate Jump Rope for Heart’s impact over the decades and generations of participants.

Success criteria

Students can:

identify the purpose of Jump Rope for Heart’s program
describe Jump Rope for Heart’s impact
discuss data and information about Jump Rope for Heart’s impact over the decades and generations of participants
survey to find out and measure Jump Rope for Heart’s impact on their local community.

Note: This lesson could be used at the start of a school’s involvement in the Jump Rope for Heart program. The lesson would place the Jump Rope for Heart program in context and enable students to learn about why Jump Rope for Heart has existed for so long, the key impacts of Jump Rope for Heart’s campaigning over four decades and for students to connect to what they are contributing to.

Tune In: Timelessness of skipping

Step 1

Project the Then and Now Poster on the whiteboard and ask students what they think the images show or relate to. Further probing questions you could ask are:

What are these kids doing? (Skipping)
Why are these kids skipping? (For the Jump Rope for Heart challenge to raise money to go towards Heart Foundation-funded research into prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease)

If students need further information, recap and elaborate on Jump Rope for Heart (jumprope.org.au/home):

Jump Rope for Heart is the Heart Foundation’s primary school skipping challenge that helps kids move more, have fun and raise funds for lifesaving research and programs. Jump Rope for Heart excites kids about exercise and eating well, teaching them to form heart-healthy habits that can last a lifetime. They also learn how their actions can help others by seeking donations for their skipping achievements.

Extension opportunity:

As a class, discuss the following questions:

How long has skipping been around for?
Can/do you skip, and/or your friends?
Can your parents skip, siblings, other family members or your grandparents?
Does anyone in your family skip today as a source of exercise?

Show this video about the history of the jump rope

How the jump rope got its rhythm - (youtube.com/watch?v=NuBtcUGqgMc)

Step 2

Ask students to guess how long they think Jump Rope for Heart’s skipping and fundraising program has been running in Australia.

Suggested answer: Since 1983 – over 40 years!

Invite students to form pairs to discuss and then share their answers with the class:

Do you know if your parents or grandparents skipped at school?
Did your parents, grandparents, older siblings, or other family members participate in Jump Rope for Heart?
What do your parents/grandparents know or remember about Jump Rope for Heart?

Step 3

Building on the previous discussion, ask students to work in small groups to brainstorm answers to the questions below about Jump Rope for Heart’s sustainability as a fundraising program (these can be answered on the Student Worksheet).

Why do you think the Jump Rope for Heart program has existed for so long?

What do you think makes Jump Rope for Heart so successful?

Why do you think Jump Rope for Heart chose skipping as the physical activity for their program? i.e. why not walking, running or another physical activity?

Suggested answers:

• the positive impact it’s had on teaching people about heart health and nutrition
• how it makes us aware of how important it is to keep our hearts healthy
• the money it gives to medical research
• lots of people can easily get involved
• it’s fun!

Suggested answers:

• skipping is timeless, i.e. it’s an exercise that has been played and enjoyed by generations
• it’s a simple and effective activity that’s great for improving and maintaining heart health
• it doesn’t need lots of equipment
• it’s accessible, i.e. one rope, and it can be done anywhere;
it’s a cheap activity
• people of different ages and abilities can get involved, i.e. children and adults can do it
• it’s a universal activity and not a culturally specific sport
• it can be done indoors and outdoors
• it can be done individually or in groups with friends, family and others
• you can incorporate music, songs and dance
• it’s great exercise and it’s fun.

Answers can be compared with this information:

Jump Rope for Heart: 8 reasons it's still an Australian Icon at 40 - (jumprope.org.au/blog/8-reasons-its-still-an-australian-icon-at-40)

Learning extension: Invite students to consolidate their ideas by creating a one-sentence summary for each answer to these questions on their Student Worksheet.

Find Out: Jump Rope for Heart’s impact

Step 1

Write ‘$113 million’, ‘10 million’ and ‘90%’ on the whiteboard and ask students to guess what these figures mean in relation to Jump Rope For Heart.

Suggested answers: Over the past 40 years, $113 million has been raised, 10 million Australian kids have participated, and 90% of Australian primary schools have participated in Jump Rope For Heart.

Step 2

Highlight to students that Jump Rope for Heart has been around for a long time (40+ years). Based on these figures, lots of people have completed challenges, and a large amount of money has been raised and donated.

Ask students what this suggests. Answers may include that it’s a popular and successful program, and generations of Australians have participated.

Explain to students that before the next activity, it’s important to keep in mind that Jump Rope for Heart has two purposes:

It’s a program that gets kids excited about exercise and eating well, teaching them to form heart-healthy habits that can last a lifetime.
By seeking donations for their skipping achievements, kids (known as ‘Heart Heroes’) raise funds for life-saving research and see firsthand how their actions can make a difference to the lives - and hearts - of others.

Step 3

Organise the class into small groups and outline that students will explore some of Jump Rope for Heart’s impact over the decades and generations of participants.

For example, ask students what one way to measure Jump Rope for Heart’s impact is and try to encourage the students to consider the funds/money raised.

Show students the Impact Data, drawing attention to what is represented in the three columns. Ask students for their first impressions of the data.

Literacy extension: You may want to clarify the meaning of ‘impact’ – to have a strong effect or influence.

Now, invite students to look at the data more closely. In small groups, students should work together to answer the questions below on their Student Worksheet. If you’re running short of time, jigsaw the groups or allocate one question per group to answer:

What trend do you observe in the number of schools participating over the years?
How has the amount raised changed over the same period?
In which year did the most people participate? How does this compare with the amount raised that year?
Identify years where the amount increased significantly, even if the number of participating schools did not increase or decrease. What might explain this?
What factors might influence the amount of money raised each year?

Numeracy extension: Challenge students to

calculate the average amount of money raised per school in a selected year
compare the growth rate of the amount raised versus the growth rate of school participation
create a graph of the data.

Step 4

Discuss responses as a class and ask students what type or category of impact this data shows about the Jump Rope for Heart program.

Suggested answer: Economic or financial impact because the funds raised through the program go to supporting and helping the Heart Foundation with heart disease research, prevention, detection, care and support, and other related efforts (for more information, see here (jumprope.org.au/where-your-money-goes).

Step 5

Ask students to remain in the same small groups and explain that they will find out what other types of impacts Jump Rope for Heart has now and over the last 40 years. If there’s time, encourage students to think of two more ‘impact categories’ of Jump Rope for Heart’s program.

Prompt students with questions like this:

What does raising money for the Heart Foundation through a Jump Rope for Heart challenge achieve?
What does it do for society and individuals, schools/communities who participate?

Otherwise, outline that the other types of Jump Rope for Heart’s impact students are going to find out about are:

Health impacts - for example, how the program influences physical fitness, cardiovascular health, healthy lifestyle choices and heart health awareness.
Educational impacts - for example, how the program helps students learn about physical fitness, health, nutrition, wellbeing, altruism, teamwork and goal setting.

Step 6

Guide small groups to research the Jump Rope for Heart website (jumprope.org.au/) to find answers and examples of the health and educational impacts of the program. Students can also draw on their own experiences, observations or predictions.

While students complete the activity on their Student Worksheet in dot point form, write the two impact categories on the whiteboard and encourage group members to add at least one of their responses to a category.

After this, you may want to draw students’ attention to the fact that many of their answers could be classified as both types of impact as there’s a lot of overlap. For example, some education impacts could also be categorised as health impacts.

Health impacts (How the program influences physical fitness, cardiovascular health, healthy lifestyle choices and heart health awareness)	Educational impacts (How the program helps students learn about physical fitness, health, nutrition, wellbeing, altruism, teamwork and goal setting)

Take Action: Jump Rope for Heart’s skipping communities

Step 1

Point out to students that we’ve established why Jump Rope for Heart’s program has been so successful over a long period of time, and we’ve explored the different types of impact it’s had.

Explain to students that you will investigate, as a class, Jump Rope for Heart’s program's impact on the students’ community.

Step 2

Ask the class how they think they could learn about Jump Rope for Heart’s impact on their community. Lead your students to think about surveys as an effective way to discover something's effect on people.

Step 3

Explain to students that they will survey to learn about Jump Rope for Heart’s personal and generational impact on a community level. Show students the Measuring Impact Survey and go through the questions, clarifying where needed.

Ask students who they think they should survey. Suggested responses could include:

classmates
school community
teachers/staff
parents/carers
grandparents
family members.

Step 4

If suitable and time allows, students could create some more questions to add to the survey.

Step 5

Once the survey is ready, encourage students to survey their classmates.

Outline how students can survey the rest of their school community. Encourage students to take the survey home to ask their family members about Jump Rope for Heart’s impact. Remind students that the survey is designed to be used with people who have previously participated in Jump Rope for Heart or are currently doing so.

Literacy extension: Using their survey data and the information they’ve learned about Jump Rope for Heart’s impact, student groups could create a Jump Rope for Heart ‘impact poster’ that could be displayed around the school. Alternatively, each group could have their poster published in the school newsletter every week that the school participates in the Jump Rope for Heart program.

Numeracy extension: Once the class has completed their survey, collate the data and have students represent it appropriately, e.g., bar charts, pie graphs, etc. Alternatively, students could digitise the survey into a Google Form or Survey Monkey so the results are already collated.

Reflection

What impact has the Jump Rope for Heart program had, or do you think it will have on you?
What do you think is the most important thing you’ve learnt, or will learn, from participating in Jump Rope for Heart?

Skipping Generations – Measuring Jump Rope for Heart’s Impact

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