Teachers Demand Physical Education Overhaul

Originally Posted At The Exergame Network Blog

Scientific research supports physical activity as an effective approach to minimize mounting health concerns and Physical Education teachers are using this research and exciting new methods to re-define "what is PE". PE teachers are the doing their part by rasing awareness that fitness can be fun, in a way that kids today understand - technology.

These technology skilled PE teachers of today are learning to use "exergames" in classes - exergames are video-games combined with fitness. Nothing engages today's school children more than technology, so it is no surprise exergames dramatically raise interest in PE class by making the class fun, challenging and rewarding. Exergaming is advocated throughout the U.S. by The Exergame Network (TEN). TEN's mission is to share information, success stories and act as a portal resource for exergaming via it's education wiki and blog.

Pioneering teachers PE encountered early challenges, sometimes experimenting with games consoles, like the Nintendo Wii, as a format to drive a PE class. Leading PE teachers now eagerly share the formula for success by using a wide range of exergame implementations. Successfully trailed exergames meet recommended exercise guidelines and can be integrated into structure PE lessons to the enjoyment and benefit of students. Many PE teachers have developed the skills to use exergaming in a developmentally appropriate way, according to guidelines from PE centers of excellence, as a tool can motivate and energize today's youth.

A Florida PE teacher spoke confidently in support of exergaming, "This is the first time in 11 years of teaching PE that I've had to kick kids out of class who don't want to stop exercising." One student summarizes the feelings of those involved in structured exergaming PE class "If the whole United States had a room like this, then this world would be a better place." This evidence, supported by peer reviewed research, comes directly from the University of South Florida's, Active Gaming Research Lab's web archives and represents just two of the many success stories of research into all ages and different implementations of exergaming.

The support for exergaming has reached global proportions, demonstrated by quotes from the BBC News posted in the Gamercize web archives. A PE student talks about the immersive nature of exergaming "Sometimes when you're playing netball or basketball you get a bit tired and then you say 'Oh I don't want to do this anymore' but this is really fun and I think I could do it all day." Her teacher is aware of how exergaming increases student involvement in PE, "Its certainly not physical education as we know it, but thats not what we're looking for. Some kids want to take part in this who wouldn't want to play football or other conventional sports."

Educators, researchers and editors alike are encouraged to use exergaming technology in their classes by first visiting the TEN resource sites to participate, ask questions to the worlds foremost experts, share news and ideas on exergaming in PE and PA. Resource information from TEN includes the five major categories of exergaming implementations, from dance pads to dedicated "workout" games, at http://exergamenetwork.blogspot.com/p/types-of-exergaming.html. TEN has also listed exergaming products available in the US with a collection of nearly 40 different exergaming choices covering aspects of PE with many different modes of physical activity at http://exergamenetwork.blogspot.com/p/exergame-products.html.

The Exergame Network can be joined or contacted via LinkedIn, Facebook, Wiki, Twitter or by email at info@exergamenetwork.org.

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Health Experts Back Video Games

Exercise makes video games acceptable.

A research study has been completed to determine the free choice in activity of children aged between 7 and 11 yrs, when given three activity stations:

• Traditional games with no physical activity
• Gamercize stepper and cycle fitness machines on PlayStation 2
• Traditional stepper and cycle fitness machines with no gaming

Given free choice the children were 6 times more likely to engage in physical activity with Gamercize over traditional fitness equipment and they burned nearly 28 times more calories with Gamercize than playing sedentary games.

Here's what the health experts said after reviewing the findings.

“This test encouraged children to be more active, and that’s a great starting point. I know as a dad that the reason why video games are so popular is because they are so good, and kids will not leave them. It’s better to be smart and work with the games, making children more active in the process.”
Dr Ian Campbell, Medical Director of Weight Concern and Associate Specialist University Hospital Nottingham

“This is a very interesting result – it opens up a possible way of getting children more active.”
Dr Colin Waine, Chairman of the National Obesity Forum

“My feelings are mainly supportive, looking at the study, and the products at face value as a means of increasing physical activity in novel and attractive ways. Childhood obesity is, obviously, a major problem, and conventional methods of tackling it have failed miserably, so congratulations for thinking of an innovative new way.”
Dr David Haslam, Clinical Director of the National Obesity Forum

The study results show the effectiveness of Gamercize and the power of using video games for health. Ultimately the kids win out by keeping active and having fun.

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Exergaming Adventure for Parents and Children

Gamercize gives adventure games some exercise for charity.

This Saturday I went to lend support to a great charity at a fantastic venue. The charity, Parentline Plus has a focus on strengthening family bonds with helpline and email support, this weekend they ran an event for fathers. Parents and children were introduced to quality time activities in one of the UK's top leisure centres which included video game fitness with Xbox and PlayStation made possible by Gamercize.

As Gamercize was created from the experiences and needs of my own family, I was very happy to attend and help raise awareness of the event and introduce other families to Gamercize. The only problem is how can you demonstrate the ability of Gamercize to support every game in such a short period of time? The enjoyment of the products depends on the enjoyment of the game, get it right and everyone loves it, get the game wrong and people don't go home as enthused.

The Xbox 360 Gamercize Gym Pod is available in Chamberlayne Leisure Centre already, so I brought along a standard school set up - the GZ Mini Pod with a regular two player PS2. This is very popular with schools as the cost and range of games is unparalleled in exergaming. I had to choose one game for each console.

There are a lot of games based on first person shooter engines, which is not exactly what the parents of 7 to 14 year old children want to see. Luckily these consoles have been out long enough for some great family alternatives.

I still had to be careful though the games for this event should really be co-operative, and not competitive, to help the bonding theme. I chose Lego Star Wars for the PS2 and Crash of the Titian's for the 360. Both games are excellent action adventures with an emphasis on co-operation, puzzle solving and game progression.

Gamercize levels the playing field for fitness ability, making it the perfect exergame for parent and child together. When you have stood side by side with your child facing the dark forces together you will walk away with a stronger bond.

Both games were a huge hit, parents and children played well together, getting good quality exercise at the same time. Parentline provided fathers with information about Internet safety and the local heath trust showed how healthy eating can be fun too.

Despite all the children I would have thought that the large plates of raw vegetables would have been left at the end. Not so; all of it had been eaten and the trick was low calorie dips! As Gamercize makes exercise fun, this was a perfect healthy partner, making healthy food interesting!

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