Advice: teachers guide to exergaming in school

Exergaming has a place in school, but this place can be different, from school to school. The investment in exergaming equipment gives best return by maintaining high usage rates. In this post we share the uses of exergaming that have been shared with us from schools we know.

Exergaming can span many disciplines and activities within the school environment, all of which could be very different from the initial purchase intention. The obvious choice for exergaming is within core curriculum PE classes. We have covered the various options and techniques in this previous post here.

Looking beyond this core activity we have five other options for the exergaming equipped school to explore.

Option 1 – School Clubs
Out of schools clubs are especially popular for exergaming, with schools using breakfast, lunchtime or after school time slots. These clubs allow a more unstructured use of the equipment than PE class, emphasising the fun element of exergaming. Without set goals, the children can bring in their own games to play and develop the social skills of exergaming. Breakfast clubs encourage school attendance while lunchtime club attendance can be used as reward for academic or behavioural excellence. All time slots are useful to add extra physical activity into the children’s lives.

Option 2 - Day Care
When school is closed for holidays, equipment can be used in supervised child care sessions to provide another activity for the youngsters. To keep children entertained for long periods of time the use of exergaming is invaluable. Parents can testify to the length of time children are engaged by this media. Adding exercise also adds physical limitations on time playing, to ensure rotation of children on the equipment. The exercise burns off excess energy, especially on days when the weather precludes outdoor play.

Option 3 – Cross Academia
Most computer based exergames can be used in IT lessons (computer classes) to add physical activity to IT learning. The addition of exercise has a positive effect on learning, stimulating the mind of the user through physical activity. Both computer and console based exergames can be used in math, history, geography and many other academic disciplines by the appropriate choice of game played. A simple example would be card games used in math lessons, powered or controlled as exergames.

Option 4 – Special Events
From time to time unique opportunities arise for your exergaming equipment. School open days are an excellent chance to showcase the equipment and generate interest. Children trying the equipment will look forward to joining the school while the physical wellbeing of students is clearly demonstrated to the parents. Competition days can also be used to widen the use of your exergaming equipment. These events can be used with inter-school events and alongside traditional sports days.

Option 5 – Employee Wellness
The children should be considered first, but also the health and wellness of the staff is a school priority. During teacher training days or after school, when the children have left, teacher’s use of the exergaming equipment improves employee health and can be used for team building.

The options for exergaming are limited only by the imagination; please feel free to add your own experiences and share new applications in the comments below.

Advice: teacher's guide to ratio of students per exergame

Exergaming is delivering physical activity very well but does not obviously fit in with the traditional teaching of Physical Education. Aside from specialist gymnastics or sports coaching, the majority of classes are based around the whole class being active at the same time.

The engagement levels of exergaming are very high, using technology that is more expensive and requires more space than traditional PE store equipment. The extra cost and space, for many, will reduce the number exergaming stations available compared with the number of students in the class.

This post explores the options to gain benefits from the technology within a physical education arena. The six options are based on a 45 minute class of 30 students. Using 15 minutes for briefing, warm up and debriefing gives 30 minutes for potential activity.

Option 1 – Play and Observe
Three two-player exergaming stations give a total of six available places for students. This represents a typical resource for a small or medium sized school without its own dedicated exergaming space. The 30 students will be just as happy watching the games in progress, often being quite animated and offering game play advice, as they are playing the games. No child will be left excluded by rotating the class through the 6 stations. A typical 5 minute game will involve one minute of changeover, especially as children don’t like to restart without choosing new characters! While the fun factor is high, each student will gain just 5 minutes physical activity and each student is able to play just one game. A high energy output exergame is essential in this scenario to improve fitness levels.

Option 2 - Multi Play
To increase the physical activity, without adding significantly to cost or the storage requirements of exergaming, the extended multi-player features of some games can be used. Increasing the number of players from two to four per screen doubles the places available to twelve. The number of games that support four players is less than those that support dual or solo play. In practice there are plenty of titles and genres to choose from and the restriction to four player only needs a little more care in selection, especially when children bring their own games to class. Now each student will get 10 minutes physical activity and is able to play two games in the lesson. Once again, the higher the calorific burn of the exergame the better.

Option 3 – Split Class
If the school employs teaching assistants or student teachers it is viable to split the class to further enhance the active time of children. Using the exergaming equipment as per option 1 the class can be split with 6 children playing supervised exergames for a lesson, with the remaining 24 children being instructed in traditional PE. The split can be rotated over a number of weeks, making sure each student has a varied curriculum. The intensity of the exergames must be reduced, and lower energy exergames can introduced in this scenario that makes sure all students are active for the maximum amount of time.

Option 4 – Skill Enhanced Reward
Exergaming can be used as the basis of reward for achievement in PE and still deliver physical activity. The imagination of the PE teacher can be used to the full by adding the exergame reward to skill based games. Three two player exergames can be used as the reward for six students. An example would be a team catch skill development game with 5 teams of 6 students, where the team who manages the most number of complete passes over a set course are rewarded with the exergame. While this team is being rewarded, the remaining teams play the skill task again to determine the next exergame rewarded team. The students are active throughout the class and more likely to be anticipating the lesson with PE wear instead of excuses not to participate.

Option 5 – Fitness Enhanced Plan
There is an existing traditional PE example where equipment spaces are limited, the fitness circuit. This has been successfully employed in teaching skill and fitness development since long before video games were invented. Using a small setup of two dual-player exergames fits in well with existing circuits and will raise the student’s enthusiasm for the entire class. The students will be keen to get back around to the exergame activity, so may need a little more supervision on the traditional activities. The children all get maximum activity during the lesson.

Option 6 – The 1:1 Ratio
The ultimate flexibility is open to those schools that have the resource and are large enough to dedicate a space for exergaming. With such a facility on site it is possible not only to engage all of the students in a PE class at once, but also introduce more specialist exergames that may have a lower spectrum of games that can be played. Unlike a team game, where one PE teacher can supervise a large number of children, the activities will be split and extra teaching resource will be required to supervise such a large unstructured play. To reduce this reliance on teaching staff the lesson can follow programming that is easily understood by the children and introduces a set routine that children enjoy.

From the options it is clear that exergaming has a place in physical education, and is a very flexible resource, but the applications have yet to be written into curriculum. This gives the PE teacher a chance to take these options as a basis, build on them, alter them and add to them.

Advice: teacher's guide to video game consoles

Most physical education teachers are physically active, having spent a great deal of time from their youth playing sports. When not playing they were training in the gym or on the field to raise their game and improve their best. This lifestyle left little time to indulge in the world of video game consoles.

The video game console is a key component of almost all exergames and this post explains the basics you need to know, so you can concentrate of delivering physical education. The mainstream video game consoles are Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox and, of course, Nintendo Wii. You don't need to know the particular differences between these, they all have the same basic components.

The three main components are the game disc, the console and the controller. The controller is connected to the console and is not interchangeable between consoles of different types. Video game consoles can use up to four controllers at any one time allowing four players to share in the same game. One trick to bear in mind is the PlayStation 2, needs a special extension called a "muti-tap" to enable four controllers to be connected.

The game disc normally holds one game and there are a large number and variety of games available for each console. Games can be either a single player or up to four player, this is shown on the back of the game case. This determines the number of controllers and therefore players that can use a single console simultaneously. You should always check the video game age rating for the suitability of the game.

Loading a game disc and connecting controllers to a console is simple enough. Powering on the console is also straightforward with two main types of power, a simple cord or a two piece cord that connects a power pack to the the console and the electrical outlet. Normally the most challenging aspect of setting up a video game console is the connection to the screen.

Consoles use mainly scart connections or the three of yellow, red and white phono (RCA video) plugs. If your screen only has scart then the little adapter on the right of the above picture is what you'll need to convert from the three plugs to the recognisable scart connection. Your console video lead could, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, be an optional HDMI cable for high definition games which works very well on large screens.

Lastly, don't rule out a projector rather than a screen. These are great for showcasing your exergames during open days and kids like nothing better than playing games on the big screen. Projectors can also be combined with the PlayStation and Xbox consoles to play and show educational DVDs.

If all the video cables still worry you then relax, the good news is that none of these require the set to be "tuned in", it's all plug and play just look for the AV or "source" button on the TV/screen's remote to find the right input. If all this fails, in a class full of children, at least half will know how it all works!

Advice: teacher's guide to video game age ratings

Exergames use video games, which is positive because kids love video games. There needs to be awareness that not all games are suitable for children. Choosing an inappropriate game for exergaming is mentally unhealthy for children and will produce a negative response from some parents. Despite a few high profile games that are considered unsuitable for children, there is a significant number of alternatives. This post is intended to help you when selecting appropriate video games for children related to age groups.

Video games are rated according to age, similar to movies. This rating is typically visible on the outside of the packaging of the video game. There are various styles of age rating scales available -some using numbers and others using letter codes.

The number systems, such as the Pan European Game Information (PEGI), are self explanatory as they provide a number that indicates the lower age limit. Additionally PEGI gives an indication of the type of content on the outside of the package, such as bad language or drugs. The coding systems, such as the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), also include additional information regarding the content of the game, but use letter codes instead of numbers to define an age range. There are additional rating systems, but these are the two main styles you are likely to find.

It is important to implement positive mental practices as well as physical practices during exergame play in physical education. Therefore, paying attention to the video games children bring to class, and considering age rating as an important part of the purchasing criteria for you and the parent is necessary. In practical terms, you will need to decide what the lowest age is during each class, and make sure you are using appropriate video games for all potential users during exergame play.

As an example, to incorporate exergames into a school with children at various age levels, it is essential to avoid using video games designed for older children with children that are below the appropriate age. A game of a low age rating will be a suitable choice that everyone in the school is able to use. Most of the popular sports games have a 3+ age rating; yet, teenagers are also engaged. It is essential that any games with higher age ratings, chosen by older age groups, should be unavailable to younger children.

Allowing your children to bring their own games to class is a great way to get them excited with exergame play. However, if you allow this, simply check the age rating on the package to make sure it fits your standards. And, as we all know how children can be deceivingly smart, make sure the children have not brought an older rated game in by sneaking it into a different package with a younger age rating!

For further reading see http://www.esrb.org and http://www.pegi.info.