Author: mickybecks

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Photo by Alexa Williams on Unsplash

Thinking back to my various learning experiences, there are experiences that stand out as outstanding opportunities and others that either challenged me or left me wanting more. On one side of the spectrum, I am reminded of a course I took about the historical and philosophical background of teaching and how politics affects education. This course really challenged me as I had little interest in the subject, which Park’s (2018) refers to as “intrinsic motivation”, and I found it hard to connect with the material and see its learning benefits and applications. As a result, my motivation levels plummeted, and I found it extremely difficult to devote my full attention to the content being covered. As noted by Park (2018), “Students without motivation feel no impetus or inspiration to learn a new behaviour and will not engage in any learning activities.” (p.1) and this was the exact situation I found myself in. In addition, a lot of the topics in this course were controversial. We were presented with various ideas from different philosophers and some of them were so different than anything I had heard that they were very hard to understand and accept. As I am older, my neural plasticity is more rigid (SmarterEveryDay, 2015) and integrating new knowledge into my schema can be difficult when it is vastly different from what I am used to and know. Finally, the way the class was run reflected the behaviourist theory of learning. Emphasis was put on recalling facts and we were often, “provided with conditions and prompts in attempt to elicit a specific response (Ertmer & Newby, 2018, p.5) . Although this type of learning has its place, I struggled not having the opportunity to discuss content and take an active role in my learning. With content that I found dry and hard to accept, and my motivation lacking, this environment really did not work for me. In order to succeed and do my best, I had to be very self-sufficient and go about the course in a manner that I knew was effective for me. Personally, I am very organized and goal orientated. “Goal setting is a key motivational process” (Park, 2018, p.3) and for me, this could not be more true. With this in mind, I knew that these measures were absolutely necessary if I wanted to succeed in this course. I took time outside of class to make various handwritten lists such as assignment due dates, weekly to-do lists, and what I like to call “inspiration and correlation” lists. These lists helped me know what I needed to do and when and helped me find inspiration and establish various connections to the content. This helped increase my motivation and engagement in the class allowing me to succeed; but make no mistake, this class was quite the challenge for me.

On the other side of spectrum, I have had experiences that have been outstanding and have shaped me as an individual and a learner. The first thing that comes to mind is a less formal type of learning experience. One day, my friend lent me a book that she thought I would like called “Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win”. I began reading this book and was blown away with how well I connected to the material. Clearly, I am no Navy SEAL; but the way they wrote the book really tapped into multiple techniques that reach various individuals and help them understand. They provided facts but also provided multiple stories and examples to explain these facts. Each fact was accompanied by a story of how it is used by SEAL teams, as well as examples and stories of how it connects to the real world. When considering that this is just a book and must stand alone, it does a really good job at teaching in various ways to vast audiences. I think that the book was able to effectively utilize cognitivism by creating a resource that allows you to reason, problem-solve, and process information actively. It provides the reader the opportunity and ability to “internally code” and, “…store information in an organized, meaningful manner.” (Ertmer & Newby, 2018, p.8).

Photo by Junior Ferreira on Unsplash

Another thing that stands out to me as a “good” learning experience are the various inquiry projects I have encountered throughout my educational journey. To keep this brief and simple, picking a topic you are interested in and getting to construct meaning and actively learn, have resulted in extremely high levels of learning for me. When participating in inquiry projects, your motivation often increases as it is something you are interested in. The intrinsic motivation that Parks talks about is there in full effect. In addition, you get the opportunity to find facts and associations, process information, reason, compare things to other viewpoints, discuss, relate content to the real world, reflect, and more. These skills and learning outcomes are related to behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism. Inquiry-based projects allow room for all of the theories of learning to work together in a way that enhances learning and produces more in-depth knowledge. Inquiry-based projects are very individualistic and therefore can utilize various learning theories for various students. You may also progress throughout these theories as the individuals needs change and/or progress. Finally, inquiry-based projects allow students to become strong and independent learners which results in increased self-efficacy and motivation.

In conclusion, as mentioned by Ertmer and Newby (2018), “…successful instructional practices have features that are supported by virtually all three perspectives…” (p.15). I agree that all of the learning theories have their time and place. I also agree that effective use of learning theories play a critical role in student engagement and learning. This in combination with motivation are the key to successful learning. With that being said, how do we raise motivation in individuals? What can we do to help motivate students? I would like to provide this article as a starting point for these question. In “The Science of Raising Courageous Kids” by Martin Brokenleg and Steve Van Bockern, it is suggested that we must first fulfill individuals basic needs (belonging, autonomy, mastery etc.) in order for them to reach a state where they feel safe, comfortable, and motivated to learn. This is where this blog post is taking me next. I would love to hear my peers’ thoughts on this, and I look forward to exploring the questions about motivation more in my own time.

Photo Credits: Header photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash

Resources:

Ertmer, P. A. & Newby, T. (2018). Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features From an Instructional Design Perspective. In R. E. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/behaviorism_cognitivism_constructivism

Park, S. (2018). Motivation Theories and Instructional Design. In R. E. West (Ed.), Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/motivation_theories_and_instructional_design

SmarterEveryDay. (2015, April 24). The Backwards Brain Bicycle – Smarter Every Day 133 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0&t=282s

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This week we skipped are regular class on Tuesday in order to partake in an EdCamp on the Wednesday. This was such a cool experience! There was people from all over the place that attended from students to experts in specific topic areas. It was quite intimidating as it was my first time doing something like this but it was super cool and I would love to do it again. Now that I have done one, I think I would be more prepared and less nervous if I did another one.

Originally, I started by joining the inquiry based learning room as this is something I am super interested in. This room was full of people that I did not know and was extremely intimidating. Everyone else in this room seemed to know each other and were chatting and I was kind of off in the corner by myself just listening. The others in this room all seemed to be older than me and were talking about their upcoming practicum. Their conversation was pretty focused on this and inquiry based learning in terms of their approaching practicum which was not really the conversation I was looking for; so, I decided to utilize the hopping rooms to my advantage and switch to a different room.

The next room I joined was the “how to survive your first practicum” room. I came into this room in the middle of a conversation so I just listened but the one piece of information that really stood out to me was a tip that an educator shared. She said the when you are on practicum you should do whatever you can to get involved in the school community. She recommends doing things like coaching, chaperoning a dance etc. Anything you can do to get involved in the community, make connections, and get your name out there. I thought this was genius and really took this tip to heart for future reference. After this tip, there was a call out for some people in the overflow room to join the original room. Since I had shown up late and was not super immersed in the conversation yet, I decided I would jump to the other room so some of the people that were more involved in that conversation could stay. I switched over and one of the ladies immediately engaged me in conversation. It was kind of intimidating but she was super awesome. We talked about a spread of things before more people began to joint the room from what I talked about in the other rooms to first impressions with teachers and students to some of our personal interests to simple things like what to wear to practicums. Once a few others had joined, we began talking about first impression strategies with students. Some of the ideas shared about how to make a good first connection with students included creating a video about yourself to share, creating a quiz about yourself that students would take etc. Basically, you need to establish a relationship in that first day with students and let them see that you are human too.

Lastly, I jumped over to the indigenization of curriculum room before I had to take off a couple of minutes early to make it to an appointment. I did not have much time in this room but in the time that I did have I got a couple of useful tips. One woman suggested really utilizing the FPPL. She said that when using these principles, it is important to make reference to where they are showing up and how for students. This gets them familiar with the language and principles and allows them to see how we are actually utilizing the principles in learning. She also mentioned that including FPPL of every lesson when you are creating should be something we do. Overall, the FPPL can not just be “a poster on the” and as long as we are trying and have humility, people will answer you questions and respond to you trying your best.

In conclusion, what a crazy experience. It was not at all what I expected but it exceeded my expectations. I would definitely do this again and consider running one one day. I think the benefits are undeniable. As one final note, the resource documents that we now have are also a perk. Such a great tool for us to have in the future! I have linked the doc for future reference and so I can dive into some of the topics I did not get to make it to deeper!

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If you have ever played, or watched, a game of volleyball, you know that volleyball players are constantly jumping. They jump to spike, block, and serve the ball and they do this over and over again. Although I have already included a post about leg day and how to go about strengthening your legs, it is also beneficial to think strictly about jumping and how to improve you vertical.

slam dunk GIF
Source: NBA.com

Your vertical is what one refers to when they are talking about how high you can jump up into the air. As you can imagine, this is critical for athletes, especially volleyball players. Although some athletes are blessed with height, others have to work hard to be able to jump high. In order to improve your vertical jump, you must first have a baseline so that you can see/track your improvements and adjust accordingly. To measure your vertical, you will begin by standing on a flat surface with you side facing a wall. With your arm closest to the wall, you will stretch you arm up and mark the highest point you can touch on the wall. Next, you will jump as high as you can and mark where you can reach again on the wall. You then subtract you jumping reach from your standing reach to calculate your vertical jump. One you have this number calculated, you can begin your jump training and check back regularly to see your improvements.

S&C Essentials: Part 3 - Landing Mechanics | DoTraining and Performance LTD

Now that we have our baseline calculated, we can begin training. Training begins with something very simple and that is making sure you jumping and landing mechanics are bulletproof. This is important as it allows you to both jump higher and more efficiently as well as avoid injuries. Jumping and landing mechanics is something you can always practice because the more repetition you do, the more it becomes muscle memory. Practicing your form for jumping and landing is something that can be easily done anywhere. Things such as perfecting form through a standing jumping and repetitively practicing your volleyball approach with proper technique are going to benefit you in various ways. It is important however to be mentally awake and focussed while doing this. It is easy to get side tracked and think about other things when you are doing something repetitive like this, but the whole idea is to really focus on your form with each movement and critique it. You want to consider things like am I bending my knees? Are they tracking over my feet or are they caving in? Am I hinging at my hips and driving through when I jump? Am I swinging my arms effectively or am I doing extra unneeded movements? When I land am I balanced and is my weight spread evenly throughout both feet? These types of reflections will help bulletproof your jumping mechanics and help you jump higher and prevent injury.

Now that we have discussed the basics, it is time to discuss programs. There are countless jump training programs out there such as Vert Shock, Bounce Kit, Jump Manual and several more. These are great resources that I am sure are highly beneficial if you can afford them and have the time for them. Unfortunately, that is not the case for me. Instead, I have been doing research on vert training and trying to come up with my own workout routine. Although this may not be the most efficient workout, anything is better than nothing and I believe that the resources I have found can help me put together a program that I will see some improvements with.

When researching and pulling exercises together for my vert training routine, I used multiple resources:

After looking through various resources this is the workout I have come up with. Please keep in mind that this workout may need to change based on individual needs and may change for that individual as they improve. Also keep in mind that I am no elite jump training coach and can not provide a program such as the ones I listed earlier. This is simply what I am trying for myself based off of the research I have done. So here it is!

The Warmup:

  • 8 minute bike
  • Foam roll legs, glutes and hips
  • Loosen hip flexors by doing lacrosse ball hip flexor releases
  • Leg swings ( front and back, side to side)
  • Air squats (10-15 reps with bodyweight)

The Workout:

jump fitness GIF by CrossFit Inc.
Credit: CrossFit Inc.
  • Jump rope – 1 minute x2
  • Drop jumps – 5 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Banded approach jumps – 4 sets of 8 reps
  • Dumbbell snap down jumps – 5 sets of 3-5 reps *MAX EFFORT*
  • Pogo Jumps – 5 sets of 6-8 reps
  • Lateral jumps – 3 sets of 10 each leg
  • Box jumps – 5 sets of 5-6 reps
  • Jump rope – 1 minute x2

So there you have it! Go forth and jump, skip, and hop! I look forward to trying this out tomorrow and seeing the improvement in my vertical jump over the following weeks!!

Photo Credits: Header photo by Dylan Nolte on Unsplash

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Well, after all of the hard work and practicing, this project is finally coming to an end! I have to say, I am pretty proud of myself. From learning how to play piano while singing, to harmonizing, to figuring out how to use GarageBand, to learning a moderately difficult piano piece in a short amount of time, I think I have accomplished a lot and I have much to be proud of.

This project was such a great experience! At first, I did not know what to expect or what I was going to try to accomplish. I am pretty musical so when I originally thought about this project, I was not sure what I was going to do to push myself. Although I was originally skeptical, this project has pushed me to try things I was not comfortable with and has helped me progress and develop musically. I want to thank my music teach, Hector Vazquez, for providing me with the challenge and opportunity to grow.

As you know, the second half of this assignment, following the midterm demonstrations, was dedicated to learning Sonatina in G major by Muzio Clementi. Over the past couple of weeks, I was not sure if I would be able to accomplish this in time; however, I somehow pulled it off! It is not perfect. It is not as smooth and fluent as I would like it to be, and the dynamics are not fully intact, but I have finished the piece. Considering I was not sure if I would even be able to finish it, I would say this is a win. So, without further ado, here it is. The finale… Enjoy!

Photo Credits: Header photo by David Brooke Martin

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In our future, with the help of this additional research, we both plan to include technology into PHE classes and other curricula. We weighed out the pros and cons of technology in the gymnasium and gave explicit examples on how it can be introduced. Ultimately, it comes down to the accessibility of technology, resources, and a teacher’s comfort level around the use of technology. With a growth mindset and the willingness to be a learner yourself, it can be a rewarding experience to introduce tech to PHE. A few questions we have moving forward are as followed:

  • How can we make technology resources more accessible to teachers and schools?
  • Are there any grants or proactive ways a teacher could utilize to purchase technology resources?
  • In the future, will there be professional development days to incorporate the use of technology in an educational manner? Directly with a PHE focus. 
  • How does utilizing technology in the classroom reflect and promote the BC curriculum and UDL guidelines?
  • Are there specific guidelines that need to be followed in relation to parent permission?

Included below is a link to our annotated bibliography with all the resources we used for this assignment plus a few additional related ones. Please feel free to go through this and continue to learn about the wonders of technology in relation to PE!

Technology in Physical Education – Annotated BibliographyDownload

Photo Credit: Header photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

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Now that we have established some concrete ways you could potentially integrate technology into physical education, it is time to discuss the people who will be doing the integrating – the teachers. Studies have categorized two factors that influence teachers’ readiness for technology integration.  The first factor comes down to the accessibility of technology resources provided by the school or school board.  With lack of resources, budget, inadequate administration support, or excessively large class sizes result in being the most significant barrier.  However, the second barrier happens within thyself of the teacher.  With the integration of technology, a teacher’s prior knowledge, skills, pedagogical beliefs, and attitudes become internal obstacles if they do not see the correlation between the two subjects. Similarly, studies have shown that most teachers do not feel comfortable working with and utilizing technology in their PE classrooms. 

A study was done to gather information on how confident teachers feel using different types of physical activity technologies such as heart rate monitors, accelerometers, sports based simulators, exergames, and more in their classrooms and 85% of teachers rated themselves unready to utilize these technologies in the classroom because of lack of technological proficiency.  This study showed us the teachers feel inadequately prepared to use technology in both PE as well as their regular classrooms; however, it also shows us that more than 80% of teachers believe that technology should be included in student teaching, faculty should be required to attend technology training sessions, technology expectations should be mentioned in the syllabus, and students should be assessed on their use of technology. This is displayed multiple times throughout this study, and there are various charts and graphs about the information, but I have included one chart below for you to quickly look at to see teachers beliefs about technology.

With this kind of mindset, fear, and lack of knowledge, it is almost impossible for teachers to integrate technology effectively. As a result, we thought it would be interesting and beneficial to look into how to educate teachers on incorporating technology. 

In an article by Baert,  suggestions were made for how we can better equip staff with the knowledge and tools they need to utilize technology in their classrooms. One suggestion the article makes is creating a clear vision of what technology integration is and why we do it. This means that all faculty members would have a clear understanding of why technology can assist in providing quality instruction in PE and would have a clear vision of what this looks like through, “modelling, reflection, and collaboration.” (Baert, 2011). Next, this article suggests implementing a technology course for teachers to take so they can gain the basic skills and knowledge needed to incorporate different tools in their classes. They then suggest taking it even further by incorporating various workshops for teachers over the years to help keep them up to date with new technologies, sharpen their current knowledge, and help them learn how to incorporate technology effectively. It is important to note, however, that these courses are not sufficient and teachers need exposure in other ways and further support. This is when the article recommends having technology labs where teachers get to practice working with different technological tools, close collaboration amongst PE teachers who are mentors for pre-service teachers as they may not have much experience with technology either, and support within the school for when teachers need it. These ideas are some of the suggestions made for helping educate teachers on incorporating technology.

Photo Credits: Header photo by Mr. Bochelly on Unsplash

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Introducing and adapting to a new teaching tool in the classroom can be daunting and challenging for educators.  Luckily, merging technology with physical health education (PHE) has never been easier.  There are a multitude of ways that you can introduce technology to your next PHE class. In this blog, I am going to highlight some valuable and enjoyable ways to combine the two subject areas together.  

Embracing technology can help create a dynamic class environment. In a world of technology, this cross-curricular connection initiates interest from students leading to an increase in engagement. Some technology services are more common and easily accessed, than others.  If limited technology is available abt one time, stations are an excellent way to make use of tech in small groups.  Below we have listed ways to incorporate technology in a PHE class:

  • Various fitness, fitness tracking, or nutrition apps
  • Video – to film slow motion, instant replay
    • Video resources online eg. gifs (see below)
  • Listen to music
  • Use “Kahoot” or “Google forms” to create simple quizzes to test knowledge
  • Pedometers
  • Heart rate monitors
  • “Exergames,” such as Wii Sports, Dance Dance Revolution 
  • Have students take turns with remote, and have the rest of the class follow along
  • Physical Activity (PA) watches
  • Websites or edocuments
  • Virtual Bicycle Ergometers 
  • Virtual Reality (VR) headsets 

With the use of videos, in a study by Baek et al. (2018), it was determined that students developed a deeper understanding of core skills such as throwing and catching, enhanced ability to connect their performance to the performance of an elite athlete, and overall, had an increased engagement in PHE (p. 28).  

However, to focus specifically on the elementary level, in the same study, educators primarily only used websites or e-documents to incorporate technology in their PHE classes.  This does not mean that it cannot be done though.  Young students can begin learning what pedometers and heart rate monitors are, and how to use them.  They are devices used to measure health related aspects such as steps and heart rate and health tracking are programs used to store and track this information.  With a developed awareness, young students will be better able to consider their bodies health to make positive choices.  

This Technology Integrated Lesson in Physical Education YouTube video by Seth Jenny is an excellent example of young students participating in a technology aided PHE class.  As a class the students watch three different basketball passes in video delay, which slows the moving picture and seamlessly repeats the clip.  Following, Jenny introduces music, timers, a smartboard, and projector at different stations, each with a different objective. 

Gif by: https://www.supportrealteachers.org/technology-in-physical-education.html Photo credits: https://fitnwitpe.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/my-first-ib-article-technology-and-pe-in-the-early-years/ 

Second photo Photo by Anete Lusina from Pexels

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I am at the midway mark and I have decided to refer to it as “Midway Madness”… I may have bitten off more than I can chew. The song is going really well; however, my time is limited and running out very quickly. It has been difficult because with the end of the semester looming, all of our final projects are nearing. I have been so busy that it has been hard to find time to practice. Although I have been practicing often for short chunks, this piece is complex and needs a good amount of attention. With all of this in mind, the song is coming along quite well, I just do not know if I will have enough time to fully finish it and put it all together. We will have to see what happens. I have been thinking about solutions to this predicament in case I cannot finish it and have come up with a few options:

Photo Credit: Prateek Katyal on Unsplash
  1. The final section of the song repeats the first section but adds a more complex ending/finale. If times runs out and I feel I will not be able to finish the song, I could cut out the more complex ending and finish it the same way as the beginning section of the song with solid finale chords at the end instead. This will allow me to focus on solidifying the other sections of the song without cutting/missing out on much of the song.
  2. Finish the song but not up to tempo. I can always learn the whole song slightly slower than it is supposed to be. This will allow me to better sightread the specific parts I am struggling with.
  3. If putting the song together does not go smoothly, I could record the different sections of the song separately and either showcase it that way or find a way to paste them together.
  4. If all else fails, I can admit to taking on more than I could handle and showcase what I have accomplished thus far. Sometimes, with goal setting, things do not go as planned and this is ok! Sometimes, we need to not be so hard on ourselves and realize it is ok that we did not complete our goal exactly as we imagined and planned. This does not mean we cannot finish it on a revised timeline.

I am still hoping to complete the full song, but we will have to see how this goes over the next few weeks. If it does not work out, I do have some good backup ideas that I will try to accomplish instead; but for now, I will keep on trying!

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s talk about how things have been going the past few days. If there was no timeline on learning this song, and I was just doing this purely for fun, I would say things are going great! I have been learning the song relatively fast, I have been able to figure out most of the rhythms without too much difficulty, and I really enjoy this piece and the way it sounds. What has been a struggle so far is the complex ending, and bars 62-68. Both of these small sections have a couple of runs that I stumble over and am having a harder time getting down. Over the next couple of days, I am hoping to section of these chunks and work on them in a loop. By slowing them down and repeating the small chunks over and over again, it will help me solidify the notes and rhythms and work it into my muscle memory. I am hoping to have these chunks down by the beginning of next week so I can begin putting the entire song together.

Something else that is going to be tough to do in a short amount of time is getting all the stylistic elements of the song down pat. I am hoping that at the very least I can some of the main ones such as playing certain notes staccato and others legato. This will come at the very end when the whole song is put together and if time allows for it.

To end this blog, I am going to give a brief preview of the first section of the song. Enjoy!

Photo Credits: Header photo by Markus Gjengaar on Unsplash

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Coding. What, where, why, when, how? Coding is something completely new to many of us. This is something that is becoming more and more common to the point where there is provincial sites that relate coding to the curriculum. So if coding is become more common, how can we get on board and what basics do we need to know in order to wrap our head around this new concept?

What?

Put simply, coding is how we communicate with computers. We give computers instructions and they turn these instructions into games, apps, movies, and more. For kids, this doesn’t necessarily look like the confusing type of coding you may be imagining. Coding has a variety of levels so kids can start at a level where they feel comfortable. This can look like visual block coding, which can be seen in resources like Scratch, and can get progressively more complex to where they are working with typing and syntax.

Where and When?

With the growing interest in coding, and the readily available resources, coding can be done almost anywhere at anytime! Coding can be done on a computer, iPad, phone etc. It can also be done both at home and at school! There are many growing programs and platforms both online and in schools that kids can take advantage of if they are interested in coding.

Why?

Coding has various benefits for kids! First off, coding can help improve problem-solving skills, cultivate technological literacy, foster creativity, improves organizational skills, teaches logic, promotes independent learning, improves communication and collaboration, encourages persistence, and more! In addition to these benefits, coding can also help kids understand the world better. Finally, coding can be fun, satisfying, and rewarding! When kids code they can make beautiful artwork, create a website or fun games, and more. This new world is an adventure and opportunity that many children strive in and enjoy.

How?

As I mentioned above, coding can look different depending on the age of individuals and their personal readiness and prior knowledge of coding. Because of this I think the most beneficial way to answer this question is by listing some resources that you can access:

So there you have it! Coding can be fun and easy for children and has many benefits! With the changing times, it is important that we consider coding and how to utilize it as it is becoming more and more popular.

Photo Credits: Header photo by Rick Kimotho on Unsplash

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When debating whether incorporating technology in physical education is worth it or not, it is important to first look into some pros and cons of the implementation. This blog post is not made to sway anyone in a certain direction, but to provide you with information, on both sides of the spectrum, that help you make an informed opinion. There is lots of debate on whether technology is harmful or useful so below I will list examples of some of the pros and cons of technology in relation to physical activity.

Let’s begin with the pros:

· Extending learning opportunities – Technology can extend learning opportunities through things like Google, GPS, and more. For example, students can use Google to find answers to physical health questions from a wide variety of topics. 

· Expressing yourself and your feelings – Technology can be a way to express yourself in a healthy way whether it be through video games or a platform that the PE class uses to answer health related questions anonymously. 

· Helps with physical progression through utilizing things like heart rate monitors and nutrition apps

· Helps reduce stress in 45% of students

· Improves confidence in 46% of students

· Improves efficiency and performance in 57% of students

· Helps better prepare students for class (67%)

· Incorporating administrative software helps students improve study habits and overall learning – By utilizing some form of platform (ie: google classroom) it can help promote organization and improve study habits

· Podcasts, games, and other forms of technology help engage students and get them excited about physical activity

· Improves mental organization of knowledge – Whiteboard, podcasts, and games are just a few of the tools that can be used to better organize information in a way that will stick with students or that they can go back and access later. It is a good source of motivation, can help increase engagement, and improve students understanding and organization of information.

· Increasing physical activity may improve academic performance – Evidence shows that increasing physical activity through physical education, recess, and physical activity in the classroom can improve academic performance. Brain health is the key to academic performance and the brain is highly influenced by physical activity. The brain is responsible for functions such as attention and memory capabilities, all of which are impacted by aerobic fitness. It has been shown that mathematics and reading are the subjects most highly impacted by physical education.

· Active gaming doubles the amount of energy expenditure, increases heart rate and step counts, and may have positive benefits on overall health combating things like child obesity and sedentary lifestyles.

· Helps prepare individuals for their future world

· Promotes parent-teacher communication

Below I have provided a link to a video that talks in depth about the pros and cons of technology in the classroom among many other things.

As you can see, there are a vast number of benefits to incorporating technology in physical education. From improving academic performance to decreasing sedentary lifestyles, to reducing stress, and more, the benefits are vast. Although there are several benefits, we still must consider the disadvantages to technology in the classroom. It is always important to consider the negative aspects of something in order to decide if it is worth utilizing it and to bring our attention to these aspects so we can avoid these problems or combat them as much as possible. So, without further ado, here are some of the cons of technology in PE!

Cons:

· Funding and the disparities that could occur across schools and individuals

· Potential for lack of actual physical activity if technology takes over

· Lack of teacher training in the area

· Potential for lack of team building skills – When things such as exergames are used in Physical Education, only one or two students are playing each game and they are not working as a team

· Setting up/getting technology working can take up time when it doesn’t go smoothly

· Can result in social isolation

· Can result in a dependency on technology rather than finding other ways to be active

· May neglect highlighting “unplugging” and connecting to nature and/or oneself

· Negative impacts on body image

· Can increase individuals digital footprint

Overall, there is lots to consider when deciding whether incorporating technology in physical education is beneficial or not. We think that although there are both pros and cons to technology in the classroom, the important thing to think about is how you can utilize it in a beneficial way while also combatting as many negative aspects as possible. This is what we will discuss in the next blog post, stay tuned!