Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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.
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First off- I love the wii. I think it's so cool, but I'm not a video game aficionado by any means. However, I will attest to the fact that wii fit will make you break a sweat, and if you box with the wii, you will be sore the next day!
ReplyDeleteTo hear that it's being used in schools to help provide some sort of physical activity for those who aren't capable of engaging in typical physical activity is great. It's nice to see educators thinking outside the box to reach out to students that sometimes get left behind because they're "more work" than a traditional student.
To be completely honest, I never even thought of using the wii for special needs children but I think it is a wonderful idea. As Amber mentioned above, I think it is absolutely inspiring and encouraging to see educators using the wii to think outside of the box and include everyone in physical education!
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly a brilliant idea! We've been talking about and studying inclusive education in regular classrooms for subject learning, but not much has been done for students with special needs in PE classes. I'm excited that you are working to improve the situation in this area!
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