Written by Design Question: How might we increase activity time of Grade 5s outside of PE days while at school?
Well, my timeline quickly went to the wayside as work and family commitments took over! When I shared my plans with my VP, she did mention that my timeline was very ambitious. I clearly had no idea how little things would slow me down!
Here is my Action Plan:
Implement a Grade 5 Fitness Challenge using pedometers. This is to be completed during school time but not on PE/pool days.
So far, I have purchased 50 pedometers, and am waiting for delivery.
Challenge design is slowly taking shape:
- The plan is that there will be a dedicated location for the students to turn-on and attach their pedometers when they arrive on the Challenge Day (Wednesday). This will probably be in class, and I will need help from the classroom teachers at the beginning and end of the day.
- Data will be collected in a notebook that will be located with the pedometers
- For the first two weeks I will collect step data to get an idea of how many steps on average Grade 5 takes on a Wednesday.
- Once I have the average data, I will set challenges. The first challenge will be just slightly higher than average to promote success. I will then continue to increase the target step number in order to increase the step count in Grade 5.
- I would like to get feedback from the initial challenges to see if Grade 5 is feeling challenged, or if I need to increase the step count.
- I am planning to have some sort of incentive for the classes: classes whose students consistently meet the challenge (3+ challenge days) may have a choice games day for their next PE class, or a free swim day.
- Still thinking about walking across Toronto – which class can get there first on Challenge Days? How many Challenge Days will it take? Maybe we try to walk to Niagara Falls?
Do you have any suggestions for incentives?
I like how your Design Question focuses on something so important to a healthy lifestyle and not “just” school. Walking is certainly a simple activity with good health benefits that can be enjoyed throughout one’s life. However, since you are working with 10 year olds, I wondered if you had considered any activities other than walking as options. Finding an activity you enjoy seems so key to remaining active… Since you mentioned that a choice games day might be a good incentive, maybe some students might prefer to play some organized games or dance or something else on non-PE/pool days. Similarly, to allow for some student voice and choice, maybe they could come up with some incentive ideas?
@gmatthews I love this idea! I think it’s awesome you’re giving them challenges of walking across Toronto or to Niagara Falls. Do you have a big map displayed in your room where you could display their progress? This may be incentive enough as it adds a bit of a competitive edge. Once they start to see their progress and the distance to getting to Niagara Falls, or whatever your destination is, getting closer and closer, my guess is they’ll be asking you to go walking as often as possible so they hit their mark.