Wicked Problem Project

My Physical Education classes have never been bigger. With larger class sizes, I need to change activities to make sure that all students are participating in a safe and meaningful way.

My technology-integrated strategy is to use audio visual equipment to present an interactive Elementary Physical Education curriculum.

I am going to need hardware, software, and content to make this work. I plan on using a laptop, a LCD projector, a P.A. system, and videos from the internet and videos that I self-produced to solve this problem.

My research started last November, when I met Tom Root, CEO of HOPSports Inc. Tom Has connections. Tom works with professional sports teams and he works in Hollywood. Tom told me that evaluation in PE is all about using technology. Tom also said something to the effect of, "teachers that continue to teach sports skills will be fired."

I had a productive weekend, I also met Gary Gray, from Grayinstitute.com. Gary is a Physical therapist and many say that he is the best in the world. Tom and Gary just got back from China where they were setting up brand new schools(full of technology). Tom told me that schools in China are based around the gym. Gary invented a new way of describing and teaching movements, He calls it "The Literacy of Movement". Gary and I talked about how to make Physical Education more like the Kahn academy, where students have to show that they have mastered a skill before they can move on to the next. Gary is a pioneer.

Generation M2 - Media in the Lives of 8 - 18-Year-Olds
A Kaiser Family Foundation Study - JANUARY 2010
by: Victoria J. Rideout, M.A., Ulla G. Foehr, Ph.D., and Donald F. Roberts, Ph.D.

Cardiovascular Fitness is Associated with Cognition in Young Adulthood
by: Aberg, Maria A., PNAS, 8 Dec.2009:vol.106, no.49

Inclusion in Physical Education: Changing the Culture, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Volume 78, Number 2, February 2007 , pp. 1-58(58)

By observing student participation I will know if my solution is successful.

• Indications of a successful project

Indicators of a successful project would be 100 student percent participation without student injury.

• Relevant resources and citations

Interactive Video Games in Physical Education, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Volume 78, Number 5, May/June 2007 , pp. 1-58(58)

A bit out dated but the ideas behind this article are still relevant.

 

Application of TPACK

All students are different and learn differently.  Some students learn better with visual information, others learn better with auditory stimuli, and others learn better through movement. I think I learn best when I am moving.  I think some concepts are best learned through movement.  I think most movements are best taught at a slower speed and then the movements speed and efficiency can be improved.

I think teachers should use a combination of teaching styles to help all students understand content.  The ways and more times you can display information the better students will grasp a concept.  My students are learning about rhythm in my class. Technology allows me to incorporate auditory, visual, and kenistitic learning styles into my lessons.  I am not a dance expert but it is in our curriculum.  I decided to use the video footage from the game Just Dance(1, 2, and 3), for the Wii.  Students were able to see the dance moves on the wall, student were able to listen to the beat of the songs along with my verbal cues, and all students were able feel the beat while moving and participate in the activity. 

Some of my younger students were having difficulty learning different dance steps, so instead of using the Wii, to produce the multimedia experience, I used a program called Virtual DJ to play video files recorded from the Wii.  Using Virtual DJ gave me control of the speed of the videos. I was able to slow down videos for younger students and once students mastered the movement sequence I was able to speed up the videos to keep challenging students.   I was also able to eliminate any loading time.  Using Virtual DJ I was able to Cue up the next song and even mix it in on beat to keep students on beat. 

The content I decided to use was dance.  I decided to use technology, to record Just Dance videos from the Wii game onto my computer.  I wanted the whole class to be able to see the dance content so I used computer and a LCD projector to display the game on the wall. 

 

My project of a technology-integrated physical education class was not implemented as planned. I was unable to get heart rate monitors.  Instead, students learned about how to find our own pulse.  Elementary age students, finding their own pulse, and getting an accurate result is very difficult. I did use audio visual equipment in 100 % of my classes over the last 4 weeks.  

Success:  

      After seeing over 700 students, for 1 hour each week, for the last 4 weeks, I did not have any injury's.

      After seeing over 700 students, for 1 hour each week, for the last 4 weeks, all students participated 100  % of the time.


If I was to try another project like this I would make videos available online so my students could log on, at home, and see what they were going to be doing in gym for that week, so, I would not have to explain how each new activity works, and what was expected of them. This is a "fliping the classroom" idea I got from the Kahn academy and Gary Gray who I met in November.  Now that my students know how to use the new technology like video delay I plan on incorporating it into new skills.  

When we play other activities (like Duck Duck Goose or Basketball) students sometimes have to take turns because of the lack of space. I think students will enjoy the fact that everyone participate in this activity at the same time because all students have their own personal space.