Student Reading Passage

Coach Miller’s Running Plan

Coach Miller wanted to see if adding regular jogging to PE class would change students’ resting heart rates. She chose two 7th grade classes to compare over four weeks.

• Class A continued doing the usual PE routine with stretching and games.

• Class B added 15 minutes of jogging at a steady pace at the beginning of every class.

At the start of the four weeks, she measured the average resting heart rate in each class:

• Class A: 84 beats per minute (bpm)

• Class B: 83 bpm

After four weeks, she measured the average resting heart rate again:

• Class A: 82 bpm

• Class B: 74 bpm

Coach Miller also noticed that students in Class B said they felt less out of breath during games and could run longer without stopping. Students in Class A did not report much change in how they felt.

Too Tired in First Period

Mr. Ramirez, a first-period math teacher, noticed that several students were yawning, rubbing their eyes, or putting their heads down almost every morning. He wondered if late-night screen time might be part of the problem, so he gave his class an anonymous survey.

The survey asked two questions:

1. About how many hours do you spend on screens after 9:00 p.m. on school nights? (video games, TV, tablets, computers)

2. How often do you feel very sleepy in first period? (almost every day / sometimes / rarely)

From his 30 students, he found this pattern:

• Of the 10 students who reported using screens for 3 or more hours after 9:00 p.m.,

  • 8 said they felt very sleepy in first period almost every day.

  • 2 said they felt sleepy “sometimes.”

• Of the 10 students who used screens for 1–2 hours after 9:00 p.m.,

  • 4 felt very sleepy in first period almost every day,

  • 6 felt sleepy “sometimes” or “rarely.”

• Of the 10 students who said they used screens for less than 1 hour after 9:00 p.m.,

  • only 1 felt very sleepy almost every day,

  • and 9 said they felt sleepy only “sometimes” or “rarely.”

Mr. Ramirez shared the results with the school counselor, who reminded him that bright screens before bed can make it harder for the brain to wind down and fall asleep.

Two Homerooms, One New Rule

The school nurse noticed that many 7th graders were getting colds in the winter, so she worked with two homeroom teachers to try an experiment for four weeks.

• In Homeroom 1, nothing changed. Students followed normal routines.

• In Homeroom 2, the teacher added a handwashing rule: every day, the whole class washed their hands with soap before lunch and after returning from recess or specials.

At the start of the four weeks, both homerooms had 25 students each. During the four-week period, the nurse tracked how many students in each homeroom came to the clinic with cold symptoms like runny nose, sore throat, or coughing.

• In Homeroom 1 (no new rule), 15 out of 25 students came to the clinic with cold symptoms at least once.

• In Homeroom 2 (handwashing rule), only 6 out of 25 students came in with cold symptoms.

The nurse also checked attendance:

• Homeroom 1 had 20 total absences due to illness during that time.

• Homeroom 2 had 8 total absences due to illness.

No other big changes were made: both classes shared the same hallway, used the same cafeteria, and had similar schedules.

Student Reading Passage

Pre-Practice Energy Drinks

The coach of the after-school fitness club at Marble Falls Middle School was worried about students drinking energy drinks before workouts. To see if there was a pattern, the school nurse and coach worked together for two weeks.

On three different club days, they split the students into two groups:

• Group E (Energy): students who chose to drink an energy drink they brought from home before practice.

• Group W (Water): students who only drank water before practice.

The nurse measured each student’s resting heart rate before they drank anything and then again 15 minutes after they finished their drink but before exercise. Across the three days, the average results were:

• Group E (Energy drink):

  • Before drink: average 78 bpm

  • 15 minutes after drink: average 102 bpm

• Group W (Water):

  • Before drink: average 77 bpm

  • 15 minutes after drink: average 79 bpm

Several students in Group E reported feeling “shaky,” “jittery,” or “too hyped up” before practice even started. Students in Group W mostly said they felt “normal” or “ready to exercise.”

The nurse reminded the coach that many energy drinks contain high amounts of caffeine and sugar, which can temporarily increase heart rate and make people feel nervous or shaky.

Too Loud After School

Several teachers at Marble Falls Middle School noticed that students were complaining about ringing in their ears after school. The nurse decided to ask a group of 8th graders about their headphone use over the past week. She focused on students who used headphones or earbuds to listen to music or videos.

She asked each student two questions:

1. About how many hours per day do you use headphones or earbuds?

2. How often do you notice ringing or muffled hearing after you stop listening? (often, sometimes, never)

From 30 students, she saw this pattern:

• Of the 10 students who listened at high volume for 3 or more hours per day,

  • 7 said they noticed ringing or muffled hearing often.

  • 3 said they noticed it sometimes.

• Of the 10 students who listened for 1–2 hours per day at medium volume,

  • 3 noticed ringing often.

  • 4 noticed it sometimes.

  • 3 said never.

• Of the 10 students who used headphones for less than 1 hour per day and kept the volume low,

  • 0 noticed ringing often.

  • 2 noticed it sometimes.

  • 8 said they never noticed ringing or muffled hearing.

The nurse reminded students that loud sounds can temporarily damage tiny hair cells in the inner ear and may cause ringing or muffled hearing.

Wheezy Days on the Track

Coach Lewis noticed that some students in his 7th grade PE class who had asthma were needing their inhalers more often on certain days. He kept a log for two weeks while students were running on the outdoor track.

He recorded the number of students who needed to stop and use their inhalers during class on each day, and he also checked the local air quality report for pollen levels and air pollution from nearby traffic and construction.

During the first week, pollen counts were low, but air pollution from a nearby highway was moderate. Only 2 or 3 students per day needed to use inhalers.

During the second week, a wind pattern blew large amounts of tree and grass pollen into the area. On those days, pollen counts were listed as high, while pollution stayed about the same. Now 7 to 9 students per day needed to stop and use their inhalers. Several said their chests felt tight just from walking to the track.

On one rainy day in the second week, the pollen count dropped suddenly to low, even though traffic and construction were the same. That day, only 3 students needed their inhalers.

The nurse noted that asthma can be triggered by both pollution and pollen, but different students are sensitive to different triggers.

Science Lab Safety Test

Two 7th grade science teachers, Ms. Chen and Mr. Alvarez, taught the same lab experiment involving a mild acid and base. Students had to pour small amounts of liquid into test tubes and observe a color change.

Ms. Chen is very strict about safety. In her class, students had to wear safety goggles the entire time they were handling any chemicals. Mr. Alvarez usually reminded students to wear goggles but did not always check. During this lab, several of his students took goggles off or pushed them up on their heads while they worked.

After the lab, the nurse tracked how many students came to the clinic with eye irritation such as redness, burning, or watering eyes.

• In Ms. Chen’s classes, where goggles were worn the whole time, 1 out of 48 students came in with minor eye irritation. That student admitted rubbing their eyes with a gloved hand.

• In Mr. Alvarez’s classes, where some students did not keep goggles on, 9 out of 50 students came in with eye irritation. Several said they felt a tiny splash on their face or rubbed their eyes after touching the lab table.

Both classes used the same chemicals, same lab procedure, and same room type. The only major difference was how carefully each teacher enforced safety goggles.

Student Reading Passage

Out of Energy in Fourth Period

Coach Martinez teaches 7th grade PE right after lunch. She noticed that some students had lots of energy at the beginning of class but felt very tired halfway through, especially on certain days. She decided to observe her classes and talk to the cafeteria staff.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the cafeteria offers a special sugary drink at lunch, called “Rocket Punch,” along with the usual choices of water and regular milk. On those days, Coach Martinez saw a pattern.

She asked 30 students in her PE class to fill out a quick survey after warm-ups on both a Tuesday and a Wednesday:

• On Tuesday, when Rocket Punch was served,

  • 18 out of 30 students reported drinking Rocket Punch with their lunch.

  • During PE, 12 of those 18 said they felt “full of energy” at the start but “very tired” or “sluggish” by the middle of class.

  • Only 3 out of the 12 students who did not drink Rocket Punch reported feeling very tired by the middle of class.

• On Wednesday, when Rocket Punch was not served and most students drank water or milk,

  • Only 5 out of 30 students reported feeling very tired by the middle of PE.

The school nurse explained that drinks with a lot of sugar can cause a quick rise in energy followed by a “crash” when blood sugar levels drop.