Why Add FootGaming to an Already-busy School Day?
General FAQ | Get Started FAQ | Teacher Resource FAQ | Team E3
New research suggests that play and downtime may be as important to a child's academic experience as reading, science, or math. Try to tell that to the standardized test folks, to parents - even try to believe it yourself. How can that be? Fitness or "play" time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades. A study published in February 2009 in the Journal Pediatrics studied the links between play time and classroom behavior among about 11,000 children aged 8 and 9. Those who had more than 15 minutes of recess (active play time) showed better behavior in class than those who had little or none.
For most teachers there was no need for a study to prove that - we know rainy days, snowy days and days without recess are crazy. Just the same, many schools do not view recess as essential to education. According to the lead researcher, Dr. Romina Barros, of Albert Einstein College of medicine, "Sometimes you need data published for people at the educational level to start believing it has impact. We should understand that kids need that break because the brain needs that break."
The study found that 30% of participating students have little or no daily recess. About 40% of schools have cut back recess time. The connection is being made more and more: physical activity and physical fitness positively impact academic success. With cut backs in PE classes and over-scheduled days there is a greater need for making the most of every school-day minute. Footgaming can occur with hundreds of educational curriculum software, with casual games that reduce stress or provide:
- Eye-tracking
- Eye-foot coordination
- Patterning, prediction and analysis
- Spatial practice
- Kinesthetic learning opportunities
- Watch the following video (4 minutes) for an overview of an Exerlearning program in Naperville, IL that embodies exactly what we're working hard to offer as an easy-to-integrate "plug and play" option for teachers - and at a very low cost.
