Taking a Deep Breath
Science is all around us, and sometimes the best way to understand it is to get hands-on… quite literally!
As part of our Biology unit on the respiratory system, Year 9 students recently explored how our lungs work by designing and building their own simple spirometers using everyday materials.
Their mission?
To investigate lung capacity and discover how our breathing changes before and after physical exercise.
Students constructed their own equipment and used it to measure two important aspects of lung function:
A.Tidal Volume (TV): the amount of air we breathe in and out during normal, relaxed breathing and
B. Expiratory Reserve Volume (ERV): the additional amount of air we can force out after a normal exhalation.
By comparing their measurements before and after exercise, students had the opportunity to investigate how physical activity affects our breathing and how our respiratory system responds when our bodies need more oxygen.
Beyond the numbers, this experiment offered another reminder of how Science connects directly to real life. Concepts that might initially seem like textbook definitions suddenly became much more meaningful when students could test them, observe the results and relate them to their own bodies.
Who knew there was so much science behind something we do every single day without even thinking about it…taking a deep breath.
