What Type of Dance Burns the Most Calories?

Research Questions:

• What is cardiovascular health?
• What kinds of exercises contribute to cardiovascular health?
• Can dancing improve cardiovascular health?

Materials:

• Internet access
• Pen or pencil
• Lab notebook
• Poster board
• Markers

Experimental Procedure:

1. Use the internet to research how many calories you can burn in one hour by doing each of the following forms of dance: ballet, hip-hop, and line dancing. Were there any surprises? Record your data.
2. Now research how many calories can be burned by doing the following activities for one hour: walking, swimming laps, lifting weights, playing baseball, and shooting hoops. How does the calorie burn for the different forms of dance compare to the calorie burn of the other activities. Record your data.
3. Research what factors, other than time spent exercising, can affect how many calories you burn? Weight? Body Mass Index? Record your information in your notebook.
4. Analyze your data. Which form of dance burns the most amount of calories in one hour? Which burns the least? Which form(s) of dance burned more calories than the other activities you researched? Could dancing improve a person's cardiovascular health?
5. Record the data you've collected on a graph in order to illustrate your results.

Terms/Concepts: cardiovascular health; body mass index; calories

References:

• "How Many Calories Are Burned With Dance Workouts?," by Alexis Kragenbrink Jenkins, Livestrong.com
• "Dance-Related Science Projects"