Biological - NIH Office of Science Education - National Institutes of ...

Sleep, Sleep Disorders, and Biological Rhythms
You may elect to change the times requested for data entry, but only
as follows. The 10:00 a.m. time can be adjusted to correspond with
first or second class periods, and the 2:00 p.m. time can be adjusted
to correspond with the end of the school day. These times were
selected to maximize the chance of detecting the morning rise in
alertness and the midafternoon dip in alertness.
5. You might draw the following diagram on the board to illustrate the
tasks the students have and when they should be accomplished:
Day
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon
Begin 1st 2nd 3rd
daily sleepiness sleepiness sleepiness
diary scale entries scale entries scale entries;
entries begin Lesson 1
6. On the Friday (day 8) of the week during which students are collecting
their data, remind them that they will need their sleep
diary and their sleepiness scale data with them on Monday (day
11) so that they can begin to analyze and evaluate their data.
7. Explain to students that calculating an average bedtime or average
wake time is somewhat complicated by our system of telling time
(24 hours in a day, 60 minutes per hour, and a.m. vs. p.m.).
Instruct students to use Master 0.4, Calculating Average Bedtime
and Wake Time, to obtain their average values. Students should also
calculate their average total sleep time, average number of awakenings
during the night, and average number of caffeine-containing
drinks consumed.
Calculating the average bedtime and average wake time is complicated,
but the worksheets should guide students through these calculations.
Calculating the averages for total sleep time, number of
awakenings, and caffeinated drinks is much more straightforward. If,
however, you feel it is appropriate for your students, review how to
calculate an average with them.
8. Students should keep their copies of Master 0.1, Sleep Diary, and
Master 0.3, Sleepiness Scale, for use in later lessons.
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