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?

An Educational Wii

The Nintendo Wii is an excellent gaming devise that is similar to no other. The Nintendo Wii was designed to target a broad population with the aim that the Wii is for everyone http://www.nintendo.com/wii/what). The wii is not your typical gaming devise where sitting on a sofa and twiddling your thumbs is all that is required. No, the Wii involves a new form of player interaction. Using a remote sensor the wii tracks the user’s movements making it an active gaming experience.

Many schools are beginning to see consoles for their positive aspects rather than as a thing that makes children lazy. By bringing them into schools it seems the Wii has become a useful educational tool. But how educational can a game console be? What are your thoughts on this matter?

This week’s blog is going to be a little different. I want to get an idea of how virtual museums have been used in educational settings. If you have had any experience with this I would love to know how you integrated a virtual museums trip into a classroom.

Better than textbooks?

Could virtual museums be the end of textbooks?

One of the biggest challenges teachers face today is using technology to enhance student learning. A good way to do this is by digitalizing textbooks.

Virtual museums provide a rich collection of primary source materials, in the form oral, visual, and written information. The information is also accurate and detailed.

Using virtual museums in the classroom will make learning more hands on. Not only can pupils use virtual museums as a means of research but they can also design their own virtual museum using information they have gathered. This is an excellent idea for class projects and provides students with the opportunity to design and organize their own leaning.

I stumbled across a link that I felt reinforced the idea of virtual museums leading to the end of textbooks. The link leads to a presentation on the Discovery Channel website and provides not only an interesting account of how humans evolved (something all students learn at school) but more importantly it provides an up-to-date account of what is now believed to be the case. This is a huge advantage over textbooks as they can only provide information that was found to be accurate at the time of being published.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/ardipithecus/ardipithecus.html?campaign=dsc-px09-1-bbc006

A different way for virtual museums to educate pupils.

Okay so we have defined what a virtual museum is and we have discussed the positive and negative aspects of using this type of technology in a classroom setting. Up until now a virtual museum has only been thought of a resource for pupils to explore and discover more on specific topics. To them it is a collection of information that has been created, organized and stored for their benefit. However, what if we are to look at a virtual museum being educational in a different way? What if pupils were to create their own virtual museum?

Teachers give the pupils a project topic, for example one school class looked at the City of Chicago's ethnic diversity. With this topic in mind the pupils research and gather information that will eventually be the force behind their own virtual museum. An excellent example of this can be found at Keith Valley Middle School http://www.hatboro-horsham.org/4067362111456/FileLib/browse.asp?A=374&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=51558
The students here developed two virtual museums from scratch. They were able to do this with the tools provided by their technology teachers. These tools can be found in the link below and are definitely worth a look. I fancy having a go at designing one myself.
http://www.hatboro-horsham.org/4067362111456/FileLib/browse.asp?A=374&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=51541

Not only is this an excellent way for the pupils to become intrigued and interested in curricular topics but they also develop new ways to use and apply technology in an educational setting.

The Pros and Cons of Virtual Museums

Many arguments can be found for the use of virtual museums, especially in an educational setting. In today's world the use of technology appears to be the way forward. Many physical museums are beginning to realise this is now where the audience is at and are turning to the digital world. But what effect does this have on education? Are children going to benefit more or less from the virtualization of such things?

The site Real v Virtual museums http://psyche.terrapolis.org/essays/real-vs-virtual-museums-119 does an excellent job at addressing the issues from both sides. It provides the limitations for both the physical and virtual museum. The site then goes on to address how educational experiences can either be enhanced or damaged by the virtualization of physical museums.

It is a very interesting read and points I had never thought of were brought up. However, I am still undecided on which could provide the best educational experience. If anyone has used either in an educational setting it would be great to hear your thoughts.