As you may know the Department of Edcucation launched the Active School Flag in 2009 to promote physical activity within schools and their communities. There are a number of steps that primary or secondary schools have to follow to recieve the flag and these can be found on their website. At the moment my own primary school is submitting our application and during the year we have been looking at different ways to promote physical activity within the school during class time and after school.
How does ICT come into the equation of making pupils more physically active you may ask? Well, the first thing that teachers and pupils found enjoyable was starting off the day with a five minute work out while watching the Wake Up! Shake Up! video on Youtube. The pupils really enjoy seeing the teachers panting during the workout!
[youtube]http://youtu.be/XYvc0SWhQb4[/youtube]
For the older pupils you may like something a bit more age appropriate and you can follow this workout from the 2009 National Sports Week in the UK.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/AKlid_e-loE[/youtube]
For the PE lesson we found that incorporating the ‘Five in Five’ exercises, which are promoted by the doctors from the British Association of Sports and Exercise Medicine, into the PE lesson made a big difference. The ‘Five in Five’ is based on completing five core excercises in five minutes. Video clips of these excercises may be found in the BBC news report on concerns about PE lessons in the UK.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11820324
Of course if you really want to push the boat out and use ICT to promote physical activity within the school community you can follow the lead of Kent County Council, England and allow the pupils to use Nintendo Wiis within the school to work up a sweat! Check out the BBC news report on it here.
