FootGaming and Math
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The $14 solution: Go buy Tetris for the Gen FIT PS2 you've got in your classroom. Select 3-4 students who are "wiggly", maybe those who love to draw and doodle, and also have a tough time in math. Plug in the FootPOWR peripheral NOT the conventional game controller. If you want to kick it up a notch motivation-wise for today's student, explore Bewjeweled Twist. For more on why Bejeweled Twist played the footgaming way supports brain readiness for learning, especially math, go to the "Why Play Bejeweled" section. |
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Give these student 10 minutes a day for two weeks to play
Tetris while using the FootPOWR pad
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Have them note comments about difficulty of playing the game
that way and what their top scores are
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It's best if they practice Tetris regularly before their math
lessons
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After two weeks have a "reflection" discussion with the
students
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Notice comments from parents
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Prepare to be amazed - why will you be amazed? That's
Exerlearning - for full research paper e-mail us.
For Exercise and Cognition: Short Summary, e-mail
us. For more about FootGaming and Teacher Resources
Briefly: A bit of an overview on why this strategy works:
Spatial Awareness
Spatial awareness is, very simply, an organized awareness of the objects in the space around us, and also an awareness of our body’s position in space. Without this awareness, we would not be able to pick food up from our plates and put it in our mouth. We would have trouble reading, because we could not see the letters in their correct relation to each other and to the page. Athletes would not have the precise awareness of the position of other players on the field and the movement of the ball, which is necessary to play effectively.
Spatial awareness requires that we have a model of the three dimensional space around us and it requires that we can integrate information from all our senses.Studies have suggested a link between a well-developed sense of spatial awareness and artistic creativity, as well as success in math. It can also be important in the development of abstract thought. The ability to organize and classify abstract mental concepts is related to the ability to organize and classify objects in space. Visual thinkers, in particular, will tend to use their visual imagination to organize abstract thought.
Because spatial awareness is so important in all activities of human life, from the most basic to the most advanced, deficiencies in spatial awareness can hold people back from achieving their true potential. However, because spatial awareness requires integrating the information from the different senses into the three-dimensional model of the world provided by the vestibular system, activities which refine the vestibular system and develop sensory integration can refine all aspects of brain processing.
