Regulation of heart rate (CIE A-level PE)

This fully-resourced lesson looks at the regulation of the heart rate by the cardiovascular centre in the medulla oblongata. The engaging and detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the sixth point of SECTION A9 of Applied Anatomy and Physiology as detailed in the CIE International A-level PE specification. This lesson focuses on the neural and hormonal factors involved.

This lesson begins with a prior knowledge check where students have to identify and correct any errors in a passage about the conduction system of the heart which was covered in an earlier lesson in A9. This allows the SAN to be recalled as this structure plays an important role as the effector in this regulatory system. Moving forwards, the three key parts of a regulatory system are introduced as the next part of the lesson will specifically look at the range of sensory receptors, the regulatory centre and the effector. Students are introduced to chemoreceptors and baroreceptors, as well as receptors in the muscles, and time is taken to ensure that the understanding of the stimuli detected by these receptors is complete and that they recognise the result is the conduction of an impulse along a neurone to the brain. A quick quiz is used to introduce the medulla oblongata as the location of the cardiovascular centre. The communication between this centre and the SAN through the autonomic nervous system can be poorly understood so detailed explanations are provided and the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions compared. The final task challenges the students to demonstrate and apply their understanding by writing a detailed description of the regulation and this task has been differentiated three ways to allow differing abilities to access the work