Dance, dance: P.E. Revolution
Basketball and kickball are so 1980. Kids today have moved on. My daughter argues that she doesn't need to do swim team this summer -- she'll just play Wii Sports every day.
Now some schools are going with the flow. If kids want video games, then let them play the ones that burn some calories. Read about DDR as PE.
8 comments:
Sarah
4128
Wow, how much things have changed. What technology has created. Just recently I was talking with my mom about how worthless P.E. is these days and how kids are so lazy. She said that when she was young, she had to forced to come inside for dinner. She would be out all hours of the day playing with all the neighbor kids. Now, you can hardly get kids to do anything. They are stuck in front of the tv, video games, and computers. And we wonder why obesity in children has hit record highs? It's hard to get a good workout sitting all day. I think DDR is an excellent idea, because we do need to face the fact that it is the video game generation, etc. so if they are going to play games, they might as well create games that give kids some form of exercise while there at it. It will never be the same as going out and playing ball, but we'll take what we can get I guess. Hopefully they will start to create more games like DDR. I have played DDR a few times and it is actually pretty entertaining and fun. It also seems like it would take a lot of playing though to feel any form of a good cardio workout. or maybe I just wasn't at a hard enough level, because I have seen some hard core dance offs at arcades where the guys were sweating pretty good.
Here's a link I found for easy and effective, family home workout routines. An alternative to video games...
www.mamashealth.com/exercise/famexercise
Seriously, i hate this game everytime i ever played it my legs became a different identity from my body. Its terrible to imagine though that now its being installed into physical education for schools. Sure i think its great idea and all but why must we fix the things that arent broken. I dont b elieve the problems lay in thre physical education it lays in the food. Maybe we should start thinking about how to control food instead of having to reevaluate P.E classes. In the long run i think that D.D.R will just be a quick fix that might not adress the big issue. But anything that gets kids moving and up is a great thing who knows maybe this new direction is the one that will make us think about the foods we eat.
Eduardo 9416
http://www.austin360.com/recreation/content/recreation/video_games/features/29fitgames.html
Video games for exercise... now that's a new idea. With recent additions to the video game industry - mainly the Wii - this concept is becoming more and more accepted. As seen in Sarah's post, each generation has a different experience as technology and times are constantly changing. Maybe video game exercise will become a valid outlet for an increasingly obese society. Children are moving indoors, why shouldn't exercise? It seems that more business is directed towards this entirely new market. One website, exerciseinabox.com, sells only video games that require some form of physical activity. I guess at the very least it is a turn from more violent video games that are exposed to younger children. If more people are happier and healthier because of it, I have no problems.
Karl 4553
Sami
8219
Reading this article, I was very surprised that schools were taking in D.D.R. as a sport in P.E. However, I see what they are talking about. I remember when I was in junior high and I hated P.E. However, when it came to D.D.R., I loved it and I played it everyday. I didn't see it as much of an exercise, but something that I had fun doing like all video games do. Now that D.D.R. is becoming an exercise tool in schools, it is very interesting. Ever since Wii came out, my friends say that it's their form of exercise when they play boxing or tennis in wii sports. I found that funny because I would have never expected video games to be healthy in a physical way. It was quite humorous that physical education teachers were shocked when kids were lined up at arcades paying to do a form of exercise and drinking water, not soda. I find this discussion really interesting because I always said the video games are a waste of time, but after reading this article, my opinion has changed a bit because video games can be useful when helping kids become much healthier.
I found this interesting article in times about wii and other video games being good for someone's health:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1584697,00.html?cnn=yes
Lyndsay 3718
Im a huge fan of DDR. It is a game that requires many different skills to master. I started playing it on one of those trials at Best Buy, then before I knew it, I became attached. My parents bought it for my Playstation, and I would play it for crosstraining exercise. It's nice to be able to keep track of how many calories you burn while enjoying music and "dancing."
Some may argue that they don't like the game, but it is probably because they do not feel like going through the pain and the failure that comes along with trying a new exercise. It is just something one has to go through in order to get better.
Like my dad says, "If what you are doing is easy, it's not the right thing to do."
I do not recommend we replace this type of exercise with outdoor sports, but if one would rather play video games, they should definitely play a game like DDR... expecially if they enjoy fast food like i do :]
just make sure they do not become addicted to this game...
www.flashflashrevolution.com
Silvestre
3714
Finally, this is a great article on how technology is being used to help children. It is used not to get them fat or lazy but rather to help them become smarter and healthier. I have danced for a good portion of my life in various companies, and I have learned alot from dancing. I have been able to over come health problems due to dancing just as being lazy. I have also developed alot of skills that have helped me in sports. This article shows how society can help kids not get fat, have fun, and make dance cool again, especically since many see dance on MTV only. DDR helps them be creative and have a hard workout throughout the time they are dancing to it. Yes I rather have people actually dancing to typical dances swing, tango, tap, but this also gives a great work out to help children.
Here is a link to DDR and society. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1521605/20060125/index.jhtml
Carole 2034
Who would have ever thought that a game intended to be played in an arcade would now be part of a physical education “sport”? DDR is a really fun game to play and it does make a good workout. I think it is a good idea to bring in DDR into schools so that kids could lose weight and have fun at the same time, and it is effective. Though it may produce good results, it may cost a large amount of money to buy enough equipment so that a group of kids can play at the same time. I think that it is a good experiment to test it out with schools but it feels as though it may not last too long. Like every other sport and game, DDR too will become overplayed and kids could start to lose their interest in it. Although this is a pessimistic perspective, no one ever knows what will happen. However, I am hope that the schools who have this game set up, that the children would constantly want to keep playing and eventually have a good workout, keep fit, and be healthy.
Here's a link that ties in video games and a person's health and lifestyle:
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/yeahdave/6042/video-games-good-for-your-health
Justin, 6844
This was a very cool article. I used to love playing DDR in High School and it surely burnt calories. I always did find P.E. useless because I never found myself intensely playing sports or constantly physically active. But using the arcade game DDR as a way to draw students into participating in physical education, it's a good way to keep students wanting to stay in shape or become healthier. By using DDR as a way for kids to exercise, the students are more willing to participate with more effort and in turn will result with healthier students. Of course there are some minor problems with just using arcade games as physical exercise. There has to be some sort of involvement of outdoor activites and fresh air. Also, the sports played during P.E. allow students to learn new sports they may have never tried before. Although DDR may have an overall increase of physical participation, it shouldn't be the main source of exercise.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/25/west-virginia-fully-adopts-dance-dance-revolution-fitness-progra/
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