edtechinquiry – Captivating Questions & Enchanting Explorations

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!

When choosing a topic for our inquiry project, we were instantly drawn towards a tech in PE inspired blog as it is something that has always sparked our interest and is something we are interested in learning about. When beginning this project, we looked at the diagram below to help us figure out what to consider and how to go about this project. In this first post, we will be exploring the “I Wonder” block by going over our initial thoughts and questions.

For this inquiry we are hoping to explore technology in the sense of being physical education. We want to dive into the question of how can incorporating technology improve our health and fitness and how can it be utilized in the classroom. With this topic in mind, we will be considering things like:

What are the pros and cons of technology in PE?
What are the risks of technology in PE?
What types of technology can you incorporate?
What different ways can technology be incorporated in the classroom?
What tips do people have for smoothly incorporating tech in PE?
What are the systems current stance on tech in PE? How do teachers currently feel about potentially incorporating it in their PE classes?
How can we educate teachers on utilizing technology in physical education?
What does the future of technology in PE look like?

Now that our questions are laid out, it is important that we consider how we will go about the rest of this project. With these questions in mind, we plan on exploring the investigate, record, discover, think, and try blocks of the diagram above. For the “investigate” and “record” blocks, we will do research on our different questions and begin formulating ideas. For the “discover” block, we will observe and examine different classrooms (as much as possible) and reach out to individuals who may have valuable information for us, for example, our PE teacher. For the “I think” and “I try blocks”, we will relate our findings to ourselves and think about how we could put them into action. Ideally, we would have liked to think of ways we could incorporate this into our upcoming practicum; however, with this being cancelled, it will be more of a theoretical application. Finally, the “reflect” block will be our blog posts where we post our journey of finding information and reflect on the outcomes. It will include some of the research we have gathered and links to sources that have guided our journey and findings. These posts will include pictures/videos of things we found interesting, cool, and educational. The blog posts will also be a place for us to consider how we can change/improve things and ask any further questions that may come up. Overall, with these blogs, our ultimate goal is to figure out something new about technology, expand our mindset on how technology can be used, and learn something that may be beneficial to us as future educators.

Photo Credits: Header photo by Alexandre Debieve on Unsplash & Diagram photo by Brynn Courtney