Are students becoming so inactive that schools feel the Nintendo Wii can help students get moving again? Willow Springs Elementary seems to think so and has introduced the Wii as an alternative to Physical Education classes. Although they are targeting students who normally can not engage in physical activity apparently all students at the school can use the Nintendo Wii during P.E. The school also believes that Wii sports can be an alternative for kids to try sports they would normally not try.
A few weeks ago I wrote how some rehabilitation centers are using the console for Wii-hab and it has been very helpful to many doing rehab. The Nintendo Wii can be useful to those students who cannot normally participate in P.E. but I hope that schools don’t try to substitute the Wii completely. Shouldn’t students be encouraged to workout physically, possibly outside? I wonder what this new idea will be called.. Wii-Gym? Wii-P.E.?
November 18th, 2007 - 4:04 pm
This just makes me madder and madder to see what the schools are doing to the children. It’s called DUMBING DOWN AMERICA and I have been blogging about it for months now. Maybe some day the parents will wake up and do something about it.
Yes, I would love to have been playing games instead of going to school but…..that’s the problem. The kids would definitely love it more than PE or school work. Who wouldn’t? The only ones that would rather see PE are the ones who love PE. The rest would love to play games.
June 9th, 2008 - 9:54 am
I am responding to “Jaz’s” response. To some extent I agree with you, but not all the way. I agree that the students don’t need this “interactive wii-gym”. As a Elementary PE teacher, I constantly see how administrators and teachers are trying to come up with the coolest new ideas for their curriculum. Most of the time, the districts money is wasted on ideas that sound good and are cute or fancy. These ideas are usually something that the administrators and “top teachers” are using to put another feather in their cap. Of course the kids are going to like playing video games. But lets face the facts, when it comes down to it…this is a big waste of money for any school district. There are numerous things wrong here and I don’t have the time to hit them all. DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL. Kids need exercise, movement, directions, instruction, and so much more. Leave the cutsie video games for the time at home when mom and dad are gone and they are in front of the ultimate babysitter, the TV.
On the other hand, I think that something like this might be worth buying only one unit to keep in a PE program for students with disabilities. Many of my MH and MD students will never get a chance to play any sports or even pick up the equipment. These are the only students that I can see benefit with this system in a school setting. There are a lot of positives here for students with disabilities.
Don’t get me wrong….I would love to take 12 or 15 wii systems along with 12 to 15 TV’s to accommodate my children in my classes. Even then the students would have to share each station….wasting there valuable PE time. Until I get those things free, I am going to continue to spend our school’s money on things that are more valuable to a child’s overall health and well-being.
January 25th, 2009 - 8:27 pm
The notion that interactive video games could suffice for a meaningful experience in physical education or movement class is ludicrous. Any school district which short changes their students should have to explain to their school boards or parent bodies why their children are being subjected to increased video game exposure. If those who designed curriculum really cared about the students they teach, experiences in physical education and games need human interaction, and communication between teacher and students. The onus is put upon the teacher in preparing meaningful experiences that challenge thought and understanding about one’s own developing body through movement, even at very early ages, not on simply mimicking a screen someone has put in the classroom. Inviting WII, Playstation or XBox into a physical educatioin class is a cop out and insults the roles of physical educators and movement teachers everywhere.