Posts tagged Games for Health
Exergaming as a P.E. Solution
Jun 3rd
By Dan Lawler, originally released on the Exergame Fitness blog 02/06/10
Tavelli Spark Lab (Exergaming Lab)
Thinking on the Move
What all school administrators are facing today is an increased demand for higher test scores, often times at the expense of reducing physical education or the amount of recess time elementary students receive each day. As a principal for over 30 years, I have to say that I certainly was victim to that pressure until I realized that the approach was fundamentally flawed.
We, as educational leaders, have moved too far away from the thought of a sound body and sound mind. In my former district, students received physical education only five times a month. In addition, the reduction of recess time and the increased seat time in the classroom mirrored what is happening nationally. We actually prescribed to the idea that if we worked harder at doing the same thing over and over, we would get better results. Thus, we had six year olds not receiving any physical activity for nearly three hours of morning instruction! It wasn’t that we were not well -intended, we just were not well-informed.
As a school we started to look deeply into the research on the effects of exercise and learning. It became very clear that we had not only lost balance in our approach to education, we were simply not putting students in the most advantageous position to learn. We began to realize that in this competitive world, the school system that wants to maximize students’ progress must provide a foundation of physical activity to prime cognitive functioning.
Beyond Exciting!!
Exergaming products inside Tavelli School – Colorado
As a school staff, we found compelling reasons to make changes in the amount of fitness our students were receiving. We decided to significantly increase the amount of fitness time for our students through innovative strategies. The most remarkable aspect of that change was the development of an Exercise 4 Learning lab that revolutionized our school. We implemented a 28-station Exergaming lab that changed almost every aspect of our school day. In 30 years as a school administrator, this was the most innovative and exciting intervention I had ever been a part of implementing.
The results were striking. The whole school experience changed when something so fun and so good for students was now embedded into their weekly schedule. The Exercise 4 Learning lab supplemented our current physical education program and enhanced the activity level of students by doubling the amount of exercise our kids were receiving each week. What was even more profound was the enthusiasm displayed by our students—they loved their new experience! When teachers listed their daily schedule on the board in the morning, their students would scream with delight when the schedule included a period of time in the lab. When students were surveyed about they liked most about the school, the lab was listed as their favorite activity. Furthermore, teachers reported a positive change in their students’ focus and attention levels after their students returned from the lab.
Why implement an Exergaming lab in your school? First, exercise fires up the brain for learning, making students better prepared for cognitive retention. Second, students who have daily physical activity demonstrate improved behavior and less disciplinary problems in the classroom. Third, Exergaming provides a new and exciting way to draw students into a healthy lifestyle by letting them experience the fun and confidence associated with being physically fit. Fourth, Exergaming is a powerful way to change the trend that reduces physical education in our schools and will actually enhance your current program. Fifth, from an efficiency point of view, our lab installation cost about half a staffing unit to create but serves over 500 students and will last a significant number of years. The Exercise 4 Learning lab is a very economical intervention for any school looking to improve academic achievement, student behavior, and fitness for all students. Finally, did I mention that we have an obesity and sedentary life style crisis in our country? Our Exergaming lab is the best intervention I have seen that counters both of these patterns while also improving school performance.
Dan Lawler
Dan Lawler, Ph.D.
Exergame Fitness Educational Consultant
www.exergamefitness.com
dlawler22@gmail.com
Games for Health Conference Boston 2010
May 26th
Original post by gamercize on 25 May TEN website
In Boston this week, the annual Games for Health conference takes place. This is perhaps the premiere event fortheGames4Health fraternity and a time to highlight the solutions offered by Exergaming in the health, fitness, educationand rehabilitation sectors.
If you are a member of The Exergame Network’s (TEN) Website, Skype calls, Wiki, LinkedIn or Facebook collaboration groups then here’s a chance to meet outside the virtual world!
Talking of Virtual Worlds, the 25th (traditionally known as pre-conference day) has both “Virtual Worlds, Social and Games For Health” and “Games Accessibility” days. This year sees the addition of the Mobile Serious Games Conference too. I found pre-conference day last year was the highlight of the year for me, very social and serious, serious fun!
Two vocal and well respected exergame advocates Stephen Yang and Dr Alasdair Thin (both very active in TEN) presented last year in the pre-conference event – Alasdair, I think we need a new post on your site 
The Games for Health conference features some of the finest minds (and friendliest people!) in the research world. Highlights will undoubtedly come from the Exergaming Expo, where TEN supporters Tommy Seilheimer and Exergame Fitness USA will be showing how video games such as iDANCE and Gamercize make exercise fun.
The lineup for the two day conference is split into tracks so there are no clashes for your presentation enjoyment, with speakers strongly represented from The Exergame Network. On the final day, TEN advocate and expert researcher Dr Lisa Witherspoon Hansen, kicks off the day with a presentation on new ways to integrate active gaming (Exergaming) into the classroom. We’ve seen successful PE implementation from Lisa before, so don’t miss this, it’s cutting edge stuff!
We have fellow TEN expert Dr. Liz Lyons, looking at the how exergames affect players effort and exertion, so expect to see some great insights from the games savvy Liz, in her second year of presenting at G4H. A slight change of track will let you attend TEN advocate Dr Sheryl Flynn, where Games for rehabilitation is the subject. Sheryl was recently voted Researcher of the month by the Foundation for Physical Therapy and for Physical Therapy of the American Physical Therapy Association. Sheryl has outstanding knowledge in this cutting edge application of Games for health.
To round off the day we have once again Alasdair, Lisa and Stephen, with the former duo getting into some serious theorizing for Exergaming and play. Who better to round off the day than Stephen, who is bringing us more results from his famous Exergame Lab! There is also a rumor going around that TEN tee-shirts will be available, but for the original and best Chief of all Exergaming Evangelists, and TEN supporter, go find Dr Ernie Medina in the Exergaming Tent. Here he is, giving his take on 08!
Hyatt Harborside Hotel, Boston, MA. If you haven’t been to this conference before, now in it’s 6th year, you should Register Here. I hear that there is also a promo code, I’m not sure if I am allowed to share this, so jump on quick before it’s changed for a 10% discount using BOS10 – that’s the letters BOS and number TEN.
Exergaming Fitness Australia (EFA) is also represented by our USA partners who are hosting the Exergaming demo area. Thanks to the hard work of Tommy and Ed from EF USA, we are able to tune into the event with leave streaming and recorded sessions at: http://ustre.am/4eFt
Serious money in Serious Gaming
May 24th
The South Korean government has pledged to invest 80 billion Won (US$63m) into the nation’s growing serious games market – http://bit.ly/fPN0v
“The government expects these investments will catalyse the nation’s Serious Games sector growth to reach a market value of $400 million by 2012.”
The South Korean government and associated partners are to be applauded for the foresight. The market in Serious Gaming, Gaming for Health and Exergaming seems patently obvious, I hope the Australian government is being approached by lobby groups and can take some inspiration to what is happening elsewhere in Australasia.
With Rudds emphasis on bringing our region in from the Broadband abyss, the time seems ripe to develop parallel offline and online technology driven businesses. Australia could be very well placed to deliver worlds best practices in the brave new world of gaming, both for pleasure and enterprise.
Should any Australian ‘games’ practitioners/developers/innovators etc, be reading this, please lend your weight to our fledgling Exergaming google groups at http://groups.google.com/group/exergames-australia?hl=en
