Special Needs Physical Education

Although there are many arguments against the Wii being used in a physical education setting, mainly due to belief that children are not as active playing the Wii as they would be running around a gym hall or out on the field. Good points yes, but what if running around a games hall isn’t an option? Many students with learning disabilities or physical disabilities are often left out of physical education activates and sometimes whole lessons because teachers struggle to find inclusive activates for the whole class to participate in. This is where the Wii has become very popular in many schools. Teachers have found an excellent way to provide inclusive and developmentally appropriate lessons for students with disabilities. http://hamptonroads.com/2009/02/special-physcial-education-class-gets-wii-fit is a good article that demonstrates how effective the Wii can be in a special needs PE setting.

The Wii in PE

For years now there has been a growing concern for the number of school children becoming obese. This rise in obesity is due to many factors, but, one in particular is the lack of participation in physical activity during and after school hours. Today’s world is filled with what appears to be more appealing activates such as watching TV and, of course, playing video games.

Physical Education teachers have been battling with this issue for a while now and many realize it is impossible to force students to participate in PE for the enjoyment that it should be. As a result many schools have decided to stop fighting against the gaming world and instead join them. More and more school are using the Nintendo Wii as a PE incentive to get children involved and active during physical education lessons. Sounds crazy, I know, but Nintendo really have devised something genius! Could this be the solution to many PE teachers nightmares?

Using the Wii in physical education provides a whole class fitness innovation. One game in particular is Wii Fit Plus. This game has been developed to allow a class of X number student to participate all at the same time. Everyone is involved using Wii Active Practice board while one person leads the class with the Main board. While the students are using and developing a number of skills they are also continuously performing at an active level. Teachers found that children of all ages saw it as a fun and exciting way to get involved in PE again.

I have yet to see this being used in any school I have worked at but I can definitely see the benefits. However, like all things there is always a negative side. Can you think of any issue that may arise from using such a devise in a physical education setting?